The Dumb Don't Know They're Dumb

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | March 1, 2012 | Rush Limbaugh

[Steely Tom]

As I've said before here, there is nothing more pathetic than a stupid person who thinks he/she is smart.

The liberal world, and the State-Run Media, is packed to the rafters with persons of this type.

[ngat]

Does amorality deprive people of the ability to recognize their own immorality?

[MNDude]

What’s rich, is a guarantee every one of these people will hear Limbaugh called them dumb, and they won’t be able to say anything back.

[Dead Corpse]

I may be a moron.

Depends on which set of test scores you want to believe and whether or not I am verbally beating you to death during an argument.

:-)

[magslinger]

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

[MrEdd]

Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can’t help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime: the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

Robert A. Heinlein ~ Time Enough For Love

[Inyo-Mono]

Got to hand it to Rush!

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Big difference, right, birth control, having sex? You don't need birth control if you're not having sex.

Maybe they take the pill for the flavor.

[Publius6961]

Bookmark

[Dunstan McShane]

Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can’t help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime: the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

Guess I'd disagree with Mr Heinlein on this point. Ignorance (in the sense of honestly lacking information) is not a sin, but stupidity is, since stupidity is ignorance which, through laziness, arrogance, fatal lack of imagination, hatred or any other attitude which prevents one from removing his head from his rectum, is willingly maintained for purposes other than conforming to what is true. Ignorant people can be filled with information, as a starving man can be filled with food; stupid people are like starving people who either reject the food given them or, consuming it, head directly for the vomitorium. Stupid people may suspect they are stupid, or they may well not know it, but even if they suspect they are, they will never admit it, as this will mean the complete reorganization of firmly-held opinions or fantasies or hatreds that are the foundations for their stupidity.

And, unfortunately, in some professions (e.g., politics, acting, advertising) it can afford some success and a very nice living which can batten the barriers between their lives and reality, allowing them decades of damage. In fact, some professions provide stupidity with a broad, clear field to work in, and reward it handsomely, allowing the stupid to do years worth of damage to the real world before that supposedly inevitable verdict is issued by the universe.

Or maybe not.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

[Graybeard58]

As I've said before here, there is nothing more pathetic than a stupid person who thinks he/she is smart.

Debating with one of them will tend to make one stupid too.

You start out thinking, "this will be easy" but find that to get through to them, you must step it down a notch and then another notch, then another and before you know it, you're as stupid as they are.

Been there.

[magslinger]

Great post. A little slow, maybe ;)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

A little slow, maybe ;)

2 minutes and 28 seconds?

Hey! I was at work!

[ForGod'sSake]

What's worse, much of widespread stoopid is the fault of gummint schools where it is nurtured and cultivated. No one should be made to feel inferior for being a little, well, slow. Wouldn't it be better to come to grips with the reality of not being the sharpest knife in the drawer earlier rather than later??? Not everyone can be a rocket scientist or a Rush Limbaugh. Hitting the real world being unaware of one's "limitations" has got to be a real kick in the teeth. If one doesn't realize they're stoopid, next thing you know they'll feel they're ENTITLED to what everybody else has. Truth is, SOMEBODY'S got to dig the ditches and clean out the septic tanks, eh?

Now just where is it I heard about jobs that Americans won't do??? Small wonder.

[machman]

There is a long history of discussion of the Dunning-Kruger effect here at FR. I posted this article back in 2000......

Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss

[Ronin]

Back when I was a teenager, one of the excuses was “I take them in case I get raped.”

I wonder if they still use that one.

[ForGod'sSake]

Now THAT'S interesting! First I've seen or heard of it. BTW, your wiki link didn't go where it was supposed to so I had to do some digging and found it HERE. ;^)

It does raise some questions about our culture, or maybe more likely our present education system, in light of comparisons to other cultures; in particular East Asians, who seem to exhibit just the opposite characteristics. We may in fact be coddling our future day laborers, leading them to believe they could some day become, say, president. Curious.