Stupidity is the enemy

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Zzyzx
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Stupidity is the enemy

Post #1

Post by Zzyzx »

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Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgement simply need not be believed–in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical–and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Bold added.

Does this seem to ring true?
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ANY of the thousands of "gods" proposed, imagined, worshiped, loved, feared, and/or fought over by humans MAY exist -- awaiting verifiable evidence

GTO50
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Re: Stupidity is the enemy

Post #21

Post by GTO50 »

bluethread wrote:
GTO50 wrote:
bluethread wrote:
GTO50 wrote:
bluethread wrote:
No one is born stupid or acquires stupidity via battery or brain decomposition?
This is correct.
Source please. Can you support this with references? I understand the word has been removed from most clinical literature, due to it's having evolved into a pejorative. However, if one uses only the pejorative definition, I don't know how one could be so definitive with regard to it's cause. Pejoratives are general and not literal by nature.
What source do you require
from me as a reference?
Any source that shows that every known case of stupidity was directly caused by the rejection of wisdom.
Evil is the source for all stupidity.
Evil is the rejection of Wisdom.

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bluethread
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Re: Stupidity is the enemy

Post #22

Post by bluethread »

GTO50 wrote:
bluethread wrote:
GTO50 wrote:
bluethread wrote:
So, you have first hand experience with regard to all forms of stupidity and can attest that there is no form of it that is not the result of something other than the stupid individual's unwise acts? No one is born stupid or acquires stupidity via battery or brain decomposition?
I have first hand experience with regard to all forms of wisdom
and can attest that there is no form of it that is not the result of something other than the Spirit of Wisdom?
However, we are not talking about wisdom, but stupidity. One can be unwise and still not be stupid. Many perfectly rational conclusions are highly impractical and therefore, unwise. However, they are not devoid of reason. Wisdom would call for the most optimal course of action. Many things are less than optimal, but are not stupid. They are reasonable, but not wise. It appears that you are elevating stupidity from the lack of mental capacity to any mental deficiency regardless of how miniscule. That would make everyone stupid, because no one is perfectly wise in every decision. If everyone is stupid, then the term is useless, even as a pejorative.
Source please. Can you support this with references?
References for a rational argument? I am asking you for references because you state definitively that all cases of stupidity are caused by the rejection of wisdom. I am starting with the definition of stupidity and making a logical argument. However, here are references in support of that defintion.

Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, wit or sense. Stupidity may be innate, assumed or reactive – a defence against grief[1] or trauma.[2]

The causes mentioned in this definition are grief (Diane Vaughan, Uncoupling (London 1987) p. 135) and trauma (M. Rustin/J. Bradley, Work Discussion (2008) p. 76). Do you contest this and have references to refute them and establish the rejection of wisdom as the sole known cause.

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Re: Stupidity is the enemy

Post #23

Post by GTO50 »

bluethread wrote:
GTO50 wrote:
bluethread wrote:
GTO50 wrote:
bluethread wrote:
So, you have first hand experience with regard to all forms of stupidity and can attest that there is no form of it that is not the result of something other than the stupid individual's unwise acts? No one is born stupid or acquires stupidity via battery or brain decomposition?
I have first hand experience with regard to all forms of wisdom
and can attest that there is no form of it that is not the result of something other than the Spirit of Wisdom?
However, we are not talking about wisdom, but stupidity. One can be unwise and still not be stupid. Many perfectly rational conclusions are highly impractical and therefore, unwise. However, they are not devoid of reason. Wisdom would call for the most optimal course of action. Many things are less than optimal, but are not stupid. They are reasonable, but not wise. It appears that you are elevating stupidity from the lack of mental capacity to any mental deficiency regardless of how miniscule. That would make everyone stupid, because no one is perfectly wise in every decision. If everyone is stupid, then the term is useless, even as a pejorative.
Source please. Can you support this with references?
References for a rational argument? I am asking you for references because you state definitively that all cases of stupidity are caused by the rejection of wisdom. I am starting with the definition of stupidity and making a logical argument. However, here are references in support of that defintion.

Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, wit or sense. Stupidity may be innate, assumed or reactive – a defence against grief[1] or trauma.[2]

The causes mentioned in this definition are grief (Diane Vaughan, Uncoupling (London 1987) p. 135) and trauma (M. Rustin/J. Bradley, Work Discussion (2008) p. 76). Do you contest this and have references to refute them and establish the rejection of wisdom as the sole known cause.
This is what I stated word for word.
" Stupidity comes from doing the opposite
of that which is wise. "

Therefore stupidity is not produced till
the action of that which is not wise.

The reaction to the action
of wisdom is never unwise.

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Re: Stupidity is the enemy

Post #24

Post by GTO50 »

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Moderator Zzyzx removed one-line, non-contributing post.

And, GTO50 has been banned for multiple rule infractions.

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Re: Stupidity is the enemy

Post #25

Post by Genevieve »

Zzyzx wrote: .
...In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Bold added.

Does this seem to ring true?
If a stupid person is "easily irritated" and responds by attacking, then are they not acting with malice? At that point what disguishes them from a malicious person, except that I would think a smart malicious person would be far more dangerous than a stupid malicious person.

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Re: Stupidity is the enemy

Post #26

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 1 by Zzyzx]

I think stupid and evil are unity. They are one.
You see my new tag-line to this effect.

Though after a long life of contemplating and even making advancements in various disciplines, I am always confounded by how you make money in them.

You can't, not really. Do you know any genius who dies rich?
No, but you can name quite a few used-tissues who did.

Most of them really.

These used tissues are also those who great wars where thousands die, so that they can bump up the economy, so they can turn a buck.

This is idiocy.

I saw the paradigm for the first time when I left my first job... I though I was the stuff... I could do anything.

I sat across from some moron, making the proverbial six figurers, back when that was alot of money, and broke it down for him...

So you want to pay me 30k for a job that will make you millions, and full well intend to lay me off if I succeed?

Yeah.

No thanks.

Little did I know that was the only game in town.

Now, there may well be those who invent something and become rich, but Jobs and Gates were essentially Congressionally nominated thieves, and so, these heroes are much rarer than you believe, if not actually myths of the American dream.

What it really takes to make money initially is to do the same thing over and over again in a way that would make most of us prefer to put a bullet in our brain.

Imagine owning the first McDonald, and performing the crowning achievement of making and selling hamburgers. Today we give folks minimum wage for it.

The problem seems to be, morons are able to make money. Someone convinced us money, not the labor and people it represents are valuable.

From there we let the people with money make decisions, because we ain't too bright ourselves... and so....
I will never understand how someone who claims to know the ultimate truth, of God, believes they deserve respect, when they cannot distinguish it from a fairy-tale.

You know, science and logic are hard: Religion and fairy tales might be more your speed.

To continue to argue for the Hebrew invention of God is actually an insult to the very concept of a God. - Divine Insight

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