Most people are idiots.
I know, it is a harsh thing to say about other people, but it’s the truth. The hard truth is, we all have done something stupid in our lives, regardless of our intelligence. Maybe it is our mind’s way of humbling us. Maybe there is some greater reason for it. The point is, though, that most people routinely and habitually engage in stupid behavior, usually unknowingly.
This does not make them malicious, because malice takes some degree of logical thinking in the service of that misunderstood and misused emotion known as hatred. On the contrary, most acts of stupidity stem from irrational selfishness and a complete unawareness of other people. At least that has been my observation over the years. In this regard, I have myself probably acted with idiocy at infrequent more often that I have probably even known. But at least I am aware of the possibility.
I wonder if humanity has always been like this: living out their lives without a care about others or without a kind thought about strangers. It’s worse in the big cities where people will be completely unaware of the long lines of pedestrians or cars behind them and instead opt for their own selfish needs. In stores, people block whole aisles with their carts while they stare dumbfounded at the shelves trying to do basic math in their head or whatever it is people do when they shop.
It gets worse in some areas. My wife lived in a small town where people would wave at you when you honked your car horn, not realizing that you were trying to tell them that the light had turned green and that you were trying to get through the intersection.
And don’t get me started on the people who hold up traffic to let one car in front of them for whatever reason. I am so glad that I now work from home because of the many traffic-related idiocies I had to deal with every day.
The entertainment industry has really lowered the bar across the board. From making heroes out of serial killers to children’s programs which only seem to have flashy colors and stupid noises thrown around while pretending to be educational in some way (here’s a hint: if your kid doesn’t answer Dora when she asks a question, it isn’t helping him or her learn). Then there is the reality television which now seems to be focused on celebrities (aka idols) who have fallen off the popular radar. Show me the celebrity rehab of Tom Cruise as he realizes that Scientology isn’t a religion; it’s just ridiculous. But you won’t see anything that “edgy” on television, except on a comedy show.
Meanwhile, our kids are getting dumber as teachers take to the streets to protest getting a pay cut instead of actually asking what they can do to try and earn a raise. In the real world, you don’t just get a raise, you earn it through hard work. Well, that’s at least what I hope is the case most of the time.
Teachers in public schools are not the best instructors. The century-long monopoly that the government has held on education has done a very good job at ensuring that teaching is no longer a valued career track. They play favorites, usually favoring girls over boys, and often times fail to teach in the best way possible for students, instead focusing on useless and pointless things that most kids don’t give a damn about. Indeed, the movie To Sir, With Love should standard viewing material for all education majors.
But this is all just a sliver of the sheer stupidity that abounds. From people who actually believe that outlawing any product or service, especially one that is high demand like alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or firearms, will somehow make the world a better place to the curious correlation between police brutality and how it always targets people who are generally physically weaker than your average male police officer, it is a wonder that our entire civilization hasn’t collapsed and been overrun by wild packs of dogs.
Most people are idiots. And somehow, they all think that with the wave of the government’s magic wand, it can fix whatever major problem is facing them and that is entirely out of their control.
Idiocy at its finest.