How to deal with people who are just plain stupid

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Ideally you don't deal with them. Generally I just agree to whatever they're saying for however long I have to and pick my battles elsewhere. I should clarify it's mostly coworkers, be it the well-intentioned but criminally unimaginative gardener who is determined not to understand how any of the machines work (in which case I try to act like I'm having a revelation when I explain), or worse, the staff at the aged care facility who are so set in their ways they oppose any efficient changes I make until I do it so often that they develop a habit/they think someone else is doing it/it's permanent. Case in point, ladles and shit used to go in a low drawer, when I started working I hung them on the wall (it had never occurred to anyone to use the hooks that are there specifically for that purpose). For the first few weeks they were put back in the drawer by my next shift. Then the week after they stayed on the wall. The week after that someone informed me that I should put the utensils on the wall instead of in the drawer. Thanks, I will.

These aren't really ideologically stupid or disagreeable people, just practically stupid, but there are people who fall into the former category.

 

[RJ 17]

As comedian Ron White puts it: "You can't fix stupid."

Both essentially, if I am at a social event or out with friends I can't exactly just walk away frustrated, and online I always feel like leaving is letting the person in question win despite not having done anything, especially if they give you shit over leaving the argument later. It is just so completely frustrating to have someone be unable to say "sorry" or "okay your right" when presented with infallible evidence that goes against their claim. That would be all it took for the entire thing to just be dropped and everyone to let it go and move on.

Note the bold/italicized section of your quote, because there-in lies the problem that leads to your frustration. As dyre said in post #5: "You need to stop caring so much." You present your argument as clearly as you can, citing sources and presenting evidence, yet the opposition refuses to accept what you have to say? Screw it. We're all just a bunch of random jackasses on the internet, that's what it all boils down to. The chances of actually getting someone to say "You know what? You're right. I can't argue against that, I was clearly mistaken" on the internet is slim to none. Oh it happens, on those rare, glorious occasions it certainly can happen. I, myself, have conceded that someone I was in a discussion with was correct while my viewpoint was flawed, this normally happens when I'm presented with evidence that I was, at the time, unaware of. But you should never count on someone being reasonable or even interested in an intelligent discussion based upon solid facts.

In short: if you encounter someone who just puts their hands over their ears and goes "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALALALA!" then the best thing to do is just stop responding. If you're truly in the right, then the people reading your posts will agree with you. In the end, though, you really shouldn't care what other people think - especially on the internet. You made your case, and if they can't except it well that's their own deal, let them live in their deluded fantasy world of wrongness. Because again, just as Ron White said: "You can't fix stupid."

 

[cikame]

I'd love to argue with people like that but it truly is pointless, when i educate someone on something they've got wrong then they continue to be wrong, i give up.

 

[spartan231490]

The willfully ignorant and stupid annoy the fuck out of me. I pretty much ignore them, because conversing with them makes me want to throat punch them with a katar, so for everyone's benefit, I just ignore them.

 

[Haukur Isleifsson]

I find it helps to establish first what kind of things people will take as evidence before you start. Than their moving-of-goalposts and hypocrisy becomes more obvious. Sometimes even obvious enough for them to acknowledge it themselves.

 

[Lynx]

Either 1#, which is what people have already said: ignore.

Or, 2#, a technique I use that I often find helpful: Don't argue. Don't see it as a debate, don't treat the conversation as a battle between opposing parties. Rather see it as two people educating each other on a chosen subject, playing with different ideas and widening each other's perspective. Get excited about the fact that you might learn something new, and they'll likely pick up on your vibe and become more open-minded as well. I've always thought of debates as learning experiences, something that can be fun as long as you remain nice and polite.

I've often found that if you show these people that you're not there to pick a fight but rather you're genuinely interested in hearing what they have to say, they tend to slow down, look a tad puzzled for a moment, and then they open up and the REAL discussion can commence.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Really, I have an admiration for really stupid people.

"Stupid" is a hard word to classify; everyone is good at different things; an artist and an IT worker might think the other is stupid, but that's because their interests don't match, and they're probably not willing to learn from the other.

But really, REALLY stupid people... in a way, their very lack of common sense, intelligence and human decency, deliberate or not, is something that just doesn't make sense. In other words, they're not good at ANYTHING, and they're not even good at being stupid. It's paradoxical.

So, I'm utterly fascinated by these people, and I watch them closely; I don't really need to deal with them.

 

[Tiger King]

Title.

But no really, how do you deal with people who are moronic, ignorant, stupid and the like? I constantly find myself surrounded by idiots spouting drivel about things they know absolutely nothing about like it is a fact. These are people who never think they have to prove anything, never have to feel like they should site their sources yet always back their opinion in complete disregard to any evidence brought up before them on the issue. Seeing as this is a gaming focused site lets use games as an example of recent discussions.

*Earlier this week three people were arguing over warhammer 40k lore: One saying that all space marines can die of old age, tau can obviously be psykers and grey knights are vulnerable to corruption and other such shit. The two other individuals bringing up every single piece of evidence imaginable to prove this person wrong before I got involved and yet it didn't even phase them at all. Not once could this person back up their claim, not once did they acknowledge the other persons evidence as solid.

"the wiki can be edited"
"The lexicanum isn't always right"
"I totally read the codex and there have been blood angels who died of old age" (not true)
"Anyone in warhammer can be a psyker the tau even have psyker units in the tabletop" (100% not true)

By the time this conversation ended everyone was pissed, and we couldn't just get distracted or ignore it because someone would post a link or something and get everyone going again and the absolute worst part is this happens ALL THE TIME, even when I am not involved I still have to listen to it. Does anyone else have the deal with this kind of thing constantly? How do you stop yourself from getting involved or infuriated?

I think you should just be happy that you have people to argue over 40k with!
I don't know any 40k fans in real life sadly
Not an expert, but I was of the understanding that space marines could die of old age. Someone above me pointed out the blood angels being 'notoriously long lived' and maybe that could be interpreted in different ways but to me that's says long lived but not immortal.

To answer your question though, sometimes you need to let things go and agree to disagree.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

Well, I find the easiest way to deal with the primary stupid person in my life is fairly simple. I look them right in the eye and say, "Can you try to NOT be as much of a moron today as you were yesterday?"

And then I clean off the mirror and go about my day.

 

[slarlath]

Often I find with people like this is that they are more interested in winning the argument than actually being right. So for me I generally don't enter into the argument with lines such as "I've never heard that. I'll have to look into it." or simply walk away.

This stops the argument happening and takes away the joy of spouting such nonsense. I like to think of it as winning the argument by stopping it on my terms.

Over time these people usually either give up trying to instigate such arguments with me because they no longer derive any pleasure from it or simply stop being my friends because there is nothing more to them than stupid comments.

 

[Drizzitdude]

*Earlier this week three people were arguing over warhammer 40k lore: One saying that all space marines can die of old age, tau can obviously be psykers and grey knights are vulnerable to corruption and other such shit.

I hate (may not really hate) to be that person, but two of those aren't wrong.

Space marines "can" die of old age, they just tend to die of "eated by monster" first. Very rare space marine that gets to live anywhere near that old. Unless you mean there's one type of Space Marine that doesn't die of old age and it's just the "normal" ones that do.

Secondly, Grey Knights are vulnerable to corruption. It's just that there has been no (known) Grey Knights that have succumbed yet.

In the novel Grey Knights, for example, there is a GK Space Marine who has gotten too old and feeble to fight, and will stay on Titan until he dies doing other work. There's also talk of corrupting GKs, and one of them is afraid that he'll be the first this happens to.

Blood Angels are specifically stated to have a higher lifespan than other marines, possibly because of the Red Thirst, which is why Dante has reached over a thousand. Not unlimited lifespan, notably longer than usual.

See this is the kind of conversation I would like to have with someone. If a person can make a claim and back it up with legitimate sources then by all means, enlighten the world. In all the fluff I have read and all the information you can find on the wiki or codex point to space marines being near immortal (aside from a bolter round to the skull of course) and there was a never a recorded instance of one dying from old age to prove otherwise, I will be sure to read Grey Knights again to be on the lookout and I appreciate the honesty and the fact that you had a source that you could draw from by saying "it says so here" instead of "just cus". I always took the blood angels being long-lived thing as a testament to battle skill or natural hardiness rather than speaking of actual body age due to my impression that space marines were near immortal.

Anyway, the 40k thing was just a recent example.

 

[Johnny Impact]

I don't have the option of walking away from stupid people, as they're usually customers. I just nod along with whatever they're saying and pry the few tidbits of info I need to complete their order out of them with a fucking crowbar. After they're gone, I sigh and call them fuckwits. I really, REALLY hate stupid people, and I feel like I've come a long way in learning how to deal with them.

My all-time favorite was a guy who I and my boss spent over two hours on the phone with. He had placed an order on credit card, then changed the order, which necessitated a second approval on his credit card. The approval process "locks up" the money that is approved, it can't be spent and nobody really has control of it except maybe the bank. Anyway, this cockbite told us since he couldn't access that money we obviously had stolen it. He was going to sue the company, get all four employees who were so much as tangentially involved with his order fired, and have the owner on his knees begging for forgiveness, simply because even after it was explained to him a dozen times, he was too goddamned stupid to understand how credit cards work. I think at one point he threatened to call the President. Yeah, you go ahead and do that, buddy. Good luck.

Another good one was a guy who claimed to have built the business I work at and sold it to the current owner. I have known the "current" owner for 37 years, he is the original owner, built the business from nothing and never sold it. That other guy didn't do fuck-all. He was counting on me not knowing anything about my place of work.

Yet another -- I swear I am not making this up -- when asked whether he wanted ten inch or twelve inch, asked, "Which is bigger?"

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Nod.

Smile.

Back Away.

Run.

Preferably in that order.

Occasionally I like to troll some of them (I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, may he touch me with his noodley appendage!) but these days unless its for work or on the internet I just perform the above four steps.

 

[sanquin]

Unless you're playing a game of some sort with or against them you should just ignore it and walk away. There is no way to convince a stubborn, ignorant person like that.

I've noticed that the less a person knows about a subject, the more he thinks he knows about it. And the more he thinks his knowledge about it is right. It doesn't always apply, but most of the time it does from what I've seen.

 

[sanquin]

Nod.

Smile.

Back Away.

Run.

Preferably in that order.

Occasionally I like to troll some of them (I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, may he touch me with his noodley appendage!) but these days unless its for work or on the internet I just perform the above four steps.

Psh, the Flying Spaghetti Monster? I know for a fact that the real god is The almighty Turtle of Wisdom.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Nod.

Smile.

Back Away.

Run.

Preferably in that order.

Occasionally I like to troll some of them (I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, may he touch me with his noodley appendage!) but these days unless its for work or on the internet I just perform the above four steps.

Psh, the Flying Spaghetti Monster? I know for a fact that the real god is The almighty Turtle of Wisdom.

Ohh, tell me more!

I need another 'religion' as I've already used Pastafarism, Jedi, The God Emperor of Mankind, Nuggan, The Maker, and The Outsider.

 

[sanquin]

Ohh, tell me more!

I need another 'religion' as I've already used Pastafarism, Jedi, The God Emperor of Mankind, Nuggan, The Maker, and The Outsider.

The almighty turtle of wisdom bestows anyone who prays to him with wisdom. What kind of wisdom you might receive is up to it though. You pray to him by meeting people, and together enjoy life and talk. About anything really. Just talk with each other. Oh, and you have to buy a small turtle statue and put it on a surface facing you while you do this. Any turtle statue will do as far as I know.

See, it's a self-fulfilling religion. As when you talk with more and more people you automatically learn new things. And if everyone would just come together, enjoy life and talk with each other the world would be a better place. So yea, I'm a firm believer in the almighty turtle of wisdom.

A friend of a friend of mine started this religion. (*cough* I mean received divine inspiration.) So far I'm one of the few believers in...wisdomism I guess? Or...turtleism?

----------

Oh, and you also have The Great Green Arkleseizure from Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. Go look it up.

 

[Idsertian]

(I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, may he touch me with his noodley appendage!)

Spoiler: Glory be unto he!

"And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder.
One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see".
And I saw. And behold.
Spaghetti."

OT: Due to my introverted nature, my experience with such people is fortunately limited. I do occasionally hear people say some very stupid shit, but due to an instinctive need to preserve my brain functions, I tend to immediately forget whatever it was they said.

That said, one incident not overheard by me, but by my father one night on his way home from work on a bus. Two lads behind him, of early teenage persuasion, talking amongst themselves. One suddenly pipes up loud enough to be heard clearly:

Spoiler: Slightly NSFW subject matter

"You're so gay, you don't know what cum is."

Yeah. Try not to think about that one too long.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

On the Internet I troll them. In real life I ignore them. Somebody stating a thing doesn't inherently make that thing a valid enough opinion to be worth retort.