Stupid People Give Me Drain Bamage

My best friend Denis told me that the topic of stupid people is an inexhaustible source of "inspiration" for any rant. In fact Denis (who is an excellent writer) has waxed on about the subject for a number of years. What is interesting is the evolution of his coping strategies over the years (from outrage to don't suffer fools - just make room).

This subject is interesting to me because we all are, to one degree or another, stupid. I made a particularly bone headed mistake last week that felt dumb when I did it and boy it delivered on that promise in spades. So in the after-burn of that particular flaming taco I consoled myself with the "I’ll be smarter next time" rationalization. I wonder though, are any of us actually smarter with experience or do we simply find new and innovative ways to express our "inner stupid"?

My inner stupid is a wonder to me, despite all my pretensions of some degree of rationality if it wasn't for the golden horseshoes south of the equator I would shuffled off my mortal coil years ago. So my question is smart people smarter or just luckier than the rest of us? Stupid people on the other hand are always judged through their deficiencies of "process' and often in a judgemental manner as if bad luck is somehow earned (and good luck is given?).

I recently reread "The Marching Morons” by Cyril Kornbluth (1951) for a humorous (and somewhat fascist take) on what happens when the stupid people take over the world. The story is as relevant today (perhaps more so) as it was all those years ago. Did I feel smarter for reading it? Not really but I recommend it anyway. It is interesting because it suggests that society will easily adapt to lowered expectations – whoops hasn’t that already happened?

In the end we are all as god made us, smart, and stupid, whatever – in a hundred years everyone who knows will be gone. That’s ok too, perhaps if there is a grand plan somewhere then that part insures that the terminally stupid and dangerously smart can’t really do any lasting damage to the rest of us marching morons…

"Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do"
Bertrand Russell