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| Author | Defining Stupidity |
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Dictionary Definition: Extreme dullness of perception or understanding. Insensibility, sluggishness. (American Dictionary of The English Language 1828)
That definition pretty much nails the basics of it, but only the basics and outer shell, it is way too general. i would like to tell you exactly what stupidity really is, how to recognize it, and to help those who have it to realize they have it (ha! fat chance).
Starting with the basics, stupidity is made of of roughly five main parts (ordered in severity): | -1. Ignorance: [Want, absence or destruction of knowledge; the negative state of mind which has not been instructed in arts, literature or science, or has not been informed of facts.]
This dictionary definition is talking about general ignorance, and the likes of which that is not their faults for being ignorant. Here, I'm going to be talking more about the deliberate ignorance. The ignorance I'm talking about is the kind in people who will remain ignorant to something, deliberately or not, but pretend they do know. Also, the kind where a person will just ignore something and pay no heed to it, even if the point of whatever it is they're ignoring is to help them. | -2. Arrogance: [The act or quality of taking much upon one's self; that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree; proud contempt of others; conceitedness; presumption.]
It is the act and assumption that the person is better than someone or everyone else, or that no one else is equal to this person. An arrogant person will not even consider what the other person is saying or suggesting just because of his/her own self-righteousness. | -3. Apathy: [Want of feeling; an utter privation of passion, or insensibility to pain. As applied to the mind, it is stoicism, a calmness of the mind incapable of being ruffled by pleasure, pain or passion. In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted the term to express a contempt of earthly concern.]
The kind of apathy I'm talking about is different from ignorance, and a little different from the dictionary definition. I'm talking about not caring about other peoples' feelings or opinions, a sort of combination of arrogance and ignorance, but it deserves to be separated and included as a key feature of stupidity because sometimes apathy isn't about ignorance or arrogance. Sometimes its just that the person narrow-mindedness is making it so that the person isn't being ignorant or arrogant to the other people, but just doesn't care. I guess not-caring could replace the word apathy, but I decided not to do that. | -4. Deceitfulness: [Tendency to deceive or mislead. The quality of being fraudulent. The disposition to deceive.]
When talking about deceitfulness, I'm talking not only about the dictionary definition up there, but also the stupidity of lying itself. It doesn't solve anything, ever, lying always finds some way to make the situation worse, and is so persistent that the worsening process may take years. Just be honest people, why lie anyways? It doesn't matter why you're lying, it's always stupid. | -5. Greediness: [Keenness of appetite for food or drink; ravenousness; voracity. Ardent desire.]
the disgusting self-saturation and hoarding of everything. The taking from the weak and keeping for yourself, and the inability to give something to someone without expecting something in return. | Everything that you would call stupid (including people) contain some percentage of these. These are just the five main words, the rest are all made of of these. Please don't be fooled because something isn't obvious, take action and initiative. DONT BE STUPID.
Recognizing Stupidity:
At least one of the mentioned aspects should be obvious, and then some. Remember; stupidity is something in the person's MIND, not just their actions. It's one thing to make mistakes here and there, it's another to be too lazy to learn from, correct and/or realize these mistakes. General rudeness and meanness are big factors too.
DONT BE STUPID BACK AT THEM! That's just being stupid in itself and solves nothing, by reasonable. Be an example.
If you are stupid, realize it quickly and recover, it's never too late, unless you're too stupid to comprehend it.
http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/image_uploads/retard.jpg |
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