It’s Time to Shame Stupidity
That’s right, it’s past time to take the gloves off. We live in a culture where we are increasingly burdened with the social, political and economic impact of stupid people. There, I said it: Stupid people. Now, I want to be clear, I’m not talking about I.Q., or level of formal education. When I use the word “stupid”, I am specifically referring to the segment of our population that clearly lacks basic critical thinking skills and is unable to employ reason when reaching conclusions but will arrogantly declare the righteousness of their beliefs. The effect this has on the world we live in is immense and frustrating beyond measure. I mean, I will openly concede that I found the film Idiocracy to be hilarious when I first watched it. Now that it has become a documentary, it’s really not funny anymore.
Of course, whenever anyone suggests something so seemingly pretentious as “shaming the stupid” it will be immediately met with the, “What makes you so smart?” response. This is fueled by the assumption that anyone who would dare to call others stupid must be an arrogant asshole who “thinks he knows everything”. (It’s an ironic reaction, given the number of stupid people who lined up to vote for an uninformed fool like Donald Trump who regularly declared that he, and he alone, had all the answers. He claimed to know more than the politicians, the generals, all our traditional allies, the experts and the scientists. If you doubt me on this, I can spend all day sharing the YouTube clips because, in perhaps what was his greatest demonstration of stupidity, he insisted on making these claims while on camera.) For the record, I’m not suggesting that I know everything — I don’t. But, I am capable of two things that stupid people are not: I can admit when the evidence proves me wrong and, I am willing to acquiesce to the views of others who have demonstrated a greater understanding of a subject than I possess. In other words, I will listen to experts. But when it comes to the stupid, I am reminded of two quotes:
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Charles Bukowski
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov
So, I call upon all reasonable people to please set aside their doubt, if only momentarily, and join me in saying, “It’s time to call bullshit when stupid people express stupid ideas.” And, it’s time to call them stupid. No more of this mealy-mouthed conviction to respect all views regardless of their intellectual validity — if someone says something stupid, please call them out!
What could possibly inspire this rant? Well, the urge has been building up over a considerable amount of time but I would have to say that reached the tipping point thanks my local news. I live in St. Louis, Missouri. Missouri — a state that once prided itself on “common sense” and produced a President who adorned his desk with the simple message that, “The buck stops here!”. A proud history, but hardly evident in today’s Missouri. I could talk about our Republican Governor and his utterly inept response to the pandemic that plagues us, but I’ll leave that for another piece. Instead, I’d like to discuss the videos I watched of several school board meetings in my area that were dominated by heated debates over the (apparently) “outrageous assertion” that children should wear masks while in school. As is often the case, there is little divergence in the opinions of our public health officials. They are nearly unanimous in their view that kids will be safer if they wear masks. These “godless bureaucrats” are actually experts — many are MDs — who understand the important role that masks play in reducing viral transmission. But, sadly, that’s where reason ends.
The louder voices in these meetings arise from individuals who oppose mask mandates as “government tyranny” and punctuate their views with claims that are blatantly…obviously…demonstrably wrong. These people are simply stupid. However, what vexes me most is that no one stands up to point this out.
One of the most frequent claims that stupid people make is, “No one can show me any evidence that masks work!” This is wrong — very wrong. So, which argument should I use first? Should I point out that physicians and surgeons have employed masks for over a century to reduce the dispersal of microbial agents? If these mask-doubting idiots were rolled into an operating room, would they urge the surgeon and attendants to remove their masks because “they don’t work”? Hell no, they wouldn’t. Or, should I point out that a two-minute search on the web will produce numerous videos that show, exactly, how masks reduce the dispersal of water droplets that are expelled when we breathe, cough or sneeze? Follow me here: Masks reduce the amount of water droplets you put into the air. The virus that currently threatens us is transmitted from person to person by the water droplets we release into the air. Therefore, anything that reduces the release of these droplets, reduces the chances of viral transmission. It’s also worth noting that, on the receiving end, a mask may limit the risk of inhaling infected water droplets, but this filtering ability is not really the primary benefit or purpose of mask usage.
That wasn’t so hard, was it? As I ranted to a friend recently, this isn’t “Higgs Boson” science. This is “you need oxygen to live” science. It couldn’t be more basic. I want to emphasize that I have seen MANY people make the argument that there is “no evidence that masks work” — many people! What allows this misconception to survive and propagate? I would suggest that it would have been helpful if someone had followed this ill-informed fool with the evidence I just shared and then had openly condemned his attempt to spread stupidity.
This is why we have people who distrust vaccines dying from taking horse de-wormer medication. It’s why we have responsible people who, through no fault of their own, are denied medical treatment because the ICU beds are all taken by stupid people who refused to get vaccinated and denied BASIC science right up to the point of no longer being able to breathe on their own. (And then, of course, they run to science faster than a banker to a bailout to save their lives.)
So, please! If you see something, say something! Don’t be bound by doubt when the ignorance on the other side is emboldened by the mindless question, “What do we have to lose?”. Don’t be cowed by the fear that you might appear to be an asshole. Historically, there’s a very fine line between “asshole” and “the person who had it right all along”. Instead, be confident that you’re not the only reasonable person in the room. It’s very likely that you won’t be. And, think of all the burdens that we ALL bear when unreasonable views carry the day. Think about how much better our lives would be if, nearly two years ago, we had collectively responded to the morons who said, “This virus is no worse than the flu and will just go away.” with “You’re an idiot and this virus will persist, kill millions of people and change the way we live indefinitely unless we wear masks, self-quarantine and take the vaccine when it’s available.”
We didn’t do that — not in sufficient numbers at least — and we’re going into another fall with infection rates virtually unchanged from a year ago despite over twelve months of data on transmission and best practices. Masks work. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are stupid and you should let them know it.
