1/ We live in an age of staggering stupidity. That much is known. What seems to get overlooked is a widespread willingness to not only elevate dumb people but to pay them extremely well and treat them as though their dumb opinions have just a much as value as other opinions.
2/ I say this not as some self-declared genius. I don't consider myself to to be all that smart. But I'm confident in the things that I do know, and willing to learn about things I don't know so I can form an opinion that isn't dumb. I'm not perfect, at all.
3/ But I don't pretend to know things I don't know, and I hope that keeps me from seeming dumb. Unfortunately, there are many people out there who are just dumb. They have dumb ideas. They have demonstrably dumb opinions. They dumbly think they can behave in ways that are...
4/ ...unacceptable, and should have always been unacceptable. And for reasons I can't fully grasp, these dumb people are given the benefit of the doubt. It's like we're afraid to just say, "You know what, that's really dumb and you're acting dumb and you need to go away."
5/ Somebody holds a bigoted opinion that ignores facts and science and general human decency, and instead of telling that dumb person to bugger off, we say, "Well, no, that dumb person should be allowed to state his or her dumb case." And so that case gets stated, and we are...
6/ ...all dumber for it, because now we've blurred the line between a reasonable idea grounded in facts a modicum of thoughtfulness and a dumb idea that should have never seen the light of day. We this at all levels, from high-ranking dumb executives who dumbly think they are...
7/ ...awesome and should be able to treat people however they want, to dumb zealots who do their best to screech and caw and get their dumb ideas noticed, even if those ideas are truly hurtful to other human beings. And you know what happens? The dummies win.
8/ The dumb executive gets paid fabulously while treating other human beings like garbage, all because nobody had the guts to stand up and say, "You know what, you're an idiot. You haven't had a smart idea since birth and you make everyone around you a worse person." And the...
9/ ...dumb zealots get elevated because nobody has the guts to say, "You know what? You're ideas are really dumb and cruel and run counter to the things that actually make us human. So you can go scream on a street corner, but we aren't engaging with your crazy anymore."
10/ It's like we, as a society, have become cowed by dumb people. Maybe we just don't want to be rude. Maybe we get overwhelmed by the charisma many dummies use to disguise their intellectual failings. I don't know. But when you're confronted with someone who doesn't share...
11/ ...your views, that doesn't make them a dummy. You know a dummy when you see someone. You can have good, productive conversations with people who see the world differently. Unless those people are dummies, in which case it goes nowhere. Most, regardless of ideology, are...
12/ ...smart enough to know the difference. We just have to get better, as individuals and as institutions, at not being afraid to look at someone who's clearly a wild-eyed misogynist without brains enough to rattle and say, "Move along. No dumbs needed here." Or to look at a...
13/ ...transparently bigoted nutter pushing hatred against other human beings and say, "Yeah, you know what. We're going to ignore you and stick to people who aren't afraid of facts and some common decency." This should't be hard. But clearly it is. Otherwise we wouldn't be...
14/ ...living in an age of staggering stupidity, where idiocy and bad behavior gets rewarded with respect or bandwidth or millions of dollars.
I don't claim to have the answer. As mentioned before, I know my limits. But the sooner we acknowledge this problem, the better. END
I don't claim to have the answer. As mentioned before, I know my limits. But the sooner we acknowledge this problem, the better. END
