Where are all these "stupid people" that supposedly exist?

[Right Hook]

There are a very limited number of people who are just plain stupid, the thing is everyone has areas where they are strong and areas where they are weak, most people recognize strength and weakness so they'll steer towards what they know and are good at and avoid what they aren't so good at. A lot of people have grown up with this belief that they are something special, this leads them to see their perception of reality as the only true one, thus making anybody who falls outside of it a fool in their eyes. I know plenty of people who make poor choices or do something that goes against their interest but they are by no means stupid, it is simply an aspect of their life that they don't operate correctly in. Maybe you are one of those rare people that doesn't judge someone at a glance, you can see this and thus you fail to find prominent examples of stupidity within your life...that's as polite of a way as I can put it.

 

[Olas]

People in my college class don't know Europe.

They were asked to point out Portugal. They pointed to Ireland.

Switzerland went to Poland.

I was one of two who knew what a "Lithuania" was.

That's just knowledge, most likely the locations of the European countries isn't something they need to focus on much in their daily lives? Could you find all the African countries on a map?

I knew a kid who I'm pretty sure was just genuinely stupid. It wasn't one specific thing he was bad at, he just seemed to fail at comprehending things in general. For example he thought that if you played a recording of someone talking in reverse it would just be all the same words in reverse order.

order reverse in words same the all

not

redro esrever ni sdrow emas eht lla

It came up when we were talking about backmasking in music. Of course after explaining it him he seemed to understand why that was wrong but I had to explain it to him in detail first. He also seemed to have trouble with percentages. Like he thought adding 50% and then subtracting 50% meant you had 100% again not 75%. Just stuff like that. Again, he would understand after minutes of explaining it, but he couldn't figure that stuff out through his own intuition, he made the kinds of mistakes I thought only people in sitcoms made.

 

[Serinanth]

Apparently the above image was not enough content, even though I think it stated my experience in the world perfectly, I will add some text that will redundantly state said experience.
They most definitely exist, and I shall say in abundance in Ma.
I must be a stupid magnet as I unfortunately seem to encounter the lesser half of the population more often than not.

 

[Zaik]

Most "stupid people" aren't actually stupid, but rather incompetent through any combination of apathy, selfishness, or genuine inability to comprehend how to do whatever it is they are failing at doing.

While there are obviously always going to be things such as adult illiterates(even among those educated within the last 10 years in mandatory education)and high functioning retards, they make up a relatively small percentage of those people, and people in general.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

In my art class, there is a Freshman. In Highschool. WHO CAN'T DO DIVISION.
No, he doesn't have a mental disability. He is just that stupid.

I bet he's better at art than you

 

[Ieyke]

Search for any movie that just came out in theaters, on torrent sites. You can find the stupid people there, downloading the "DVD/BD rips" of movies.

You want me to explain how that works?
They're not stupid.
A lot of movie theaters show movies off of discs.
When you find a torrent like that, it means an employee of a theater nabbed himself a disc, copied it, and uploaded it as a torrent.
Simple as that.

In understanding intelligence we use IQ as a measure with a score of 100 as a median point. Half of the population are of over 100 IQ and half of the population are under 100 IQ. If you are considerably higher than 100 IQ then people of average intelligence actually appear pretty stupid, while if you are under 100 IQ you generally go through life pretty confused, but think team sport, porn, beer, mainstream music, TV and so forth are pretty awesome but hate things like gaining knowledge and questioning things based on that knowledge.

^This.
My hate of stupid people and my seeing them everywhere...
I'm supposed to have an IQ of 156, or something like that, and I regard it as a mixed blessing.
This is another one of the reasons why.
Everything is relative.
.
.
.
I always feel like an ass when I say stuff like this.....*sigh*

 

[feeback06]

Hey, just come to where I work at =D!

 

[Trippy Turtle]

They travel in packs. If you find one then you normally find many which makes it seem like they are misguided rather than stupid.

 

[Jason Rayes]

So YOU'RE responsible for this?!

<youtube=_c6HsiixFS8>

SHAME ON YOU. D:<

Holy shit. Yeah, definitely NO stupid people out there at all.

OT: My former housemate came out one day a few weeks into autumn. He was quite scared and said to me "Hey Jase, I've noticed something, back a few months ago I would come out here on the porch and it would be light still at 7pm. Now it's only 6pm and its dark already. I tell you, something is going wrong man, do you think it's global warming?". Honestly this guy is in his 30's and he has never noticed that the days are longer in summer and shorter in winter? If you are a generous sort and don't think that is stupid, it is at the very least extremely unobservant.

 

[llubtoille]

While it's quite probable that incredibly stupid people exist,
I imagine the bulk of 'internet' stupidity are mostly rare / one off events.

ie - film the lives of a million people, take all their worst moments and string them together; the resulting movie would make humans look like drooling monkeys.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I like to think that everyone is rational given the information they have. Which means that rather than being stupid, these people have just been marketed to very well, had their stance cemented from a very young age, are doing it deliberately to spite other people, have never tasted better, or have mental conditions. Or any number of other things, but basically, that there is a reason for it. Even still though...cutting NASA funding? Climate change being a hoax? Countries spending more money than they have and expecting to stay rich? CoD? There's alot of unaccounted for stupidity that I doubt many things could mitigate.

You know what, screw rationality, there is an entire country full of only people who have evolved through constant challenges that reward the stupid and kill off the intelligent, and this country have the rights to act as citizens of any country in the world and vote in their elections.

 

[oliver.begg]

i think their isn't so much stupid as ignorance.

also you likely don't work in the places that have truly stupid people, to use the british term, almost everone here is upper lower class, or above, and to drop below that you need to be properly stupid, or unlucky.

go do factory work for 6 months, say food production, or store room work. that will enlighten you

 

[Korolev]

I have only met two people whose intelligence was actually impaired. I didn't hate them - it's not their fault that they were born that way. They made the best of what they were born with.

But I have met a lot of people who just don't want to think. They COULD spend more effort thinking through their ideas, challenging their own beliefs, but they don't want to. They're not stupid - they're lazy.

 

[Unsilenced]

Stupidity tends to be over-represented because 1) people with poorly-thought opinions are often the loudest, and 2) we all love to share stories about other people being stupid.

I mean, really. When was the last time you told a story about someone doing something really smart? Ace a test in advanced calculus and nobody will ever give a lonely shit. Get drunk and piss on a cop car and everyone who talks to any of your friends in the next 10 years will hear about it.

We like stories that make us feel superior about ourselves, because however bad we may fuck up in life, at least we're not that guy who got his dick stuck in a toaster or whatever. We tell these stories over and over, exaggerating details or even just making them up. It may seem like there are a lot of people doing stupid shit out there, but there are 7 billion people out there. It doesn't take a particularly large percentage to fill the internet with stupid stories and quotes.

 

[Tycon]

Very well stated OP, this is a concept I've thought about a lot recently and am very glad that other people have given it open thought on a front page public forum. For the most part (few exceptions apply) no one really is stupid, just our arrogant view as other beneath our high visions of ourselves. Also isn't "stupid" a reference to intelligence quotient, why does your personal experience and beliefs (or your wisdom and morals) reflect your intelligence which is a different entity entirely?

 

[King Billi]

Stupid people?

We're everywhere obviously... and all you supposedly "smart" people out there are most certainly included among us no matter how much you try and maintain that you aren't.

 

[bafrali]

Did you miss them? You probably blank.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Some of the time I'm not sure people are uneducated or they just don't like the same things I like. I went to have my hair cut and talking to the girl doing it was bizarre. I don't think I could have had less in common with someone if I had tried.

She was waffling on about xfactor and stuff. I just defaulted to talking about my niece and nephew.

When I talk to my sisters friends they often look at me like I have grown a second head. I keep expecting them to shout NERD in my face or something. My sister is certainly intelligent but we couldn't be more different, we are like Loki and Thor. She is good with people and where I would be bored to all hell running a shop and terrible at it, she makes assistant manager working part time. I think people are just different rather than some are outright stupid.

That said, my brother in law thinks mayonnaise is a brand name and Canadians come from 'canadia' too but he was a soldier so I have to show him some respect...

 

[Twilight_guy]

You seem to be in a relatively isolated bubble. Coworkers, friends, like minded people. 'Stupid' people tend to be complete strangers from different walks of life that don't mesh with you. That's why people who work in retail and see many types of people see a lot and people who work in offices where they know everyone do not (the worse they get is a few coworkers who they avoid).

 

[Iron Criterion]

There isn't a such thing as stupid people, just people of a personality you don't like.

Partly true.

While many people in this very thread are clearly mistaking "people I don't like" as "stupid people" (which I personally think is one of the stupider things you can do), there ARE some people out there who are legitimately dumb.

This.

Also I don't want to come across as pretentious, but I consider myself to be well educated; I did well in school, and I'm constantly challenging myself to learn new things. I'm always wanting to better myself. So I do look down on people of 'average' intelligence, because they seem content with not bettering themselves; which is something I could never do.