Stupidity - the most abundant element

Frank Zappa once said that the most abundant element in the universe was not hydrogen, as "scientists" (them again!) claim, but stupidity.

This thread will eneavour to back that claim with evidence, preferably video evidence.

Now a lot of my initial contributions are going to feature Americans. This shouldn't be surprising because a) there's more TV stations in the US than anywhere else in the English-speaking world, b) it arises from a search I was doing from something else leading to a fertile YouTube vein of "Americans are stupid" videos, and b) Americans are stupid.

Ok, just kidding. We've all got mouth-breathers rattling around in our countries, wasting space, making strange grunting noises and generally frightening the livestock.

And, hey, why not go all out with the stereotypes and kick off with a blonde?



There seem to be a couple of lads in Australia who call themselves "The Chasers" who do have a knack for sending a reporter to expose the dumbest members of US society...

This is pretty startling:


And... let's face it, come on, some people need to learn geography...

This one's a bit of a joy... "name a country beginning with 'U''".... answers include "Yugoslavia", "Utah", and lots of "duhhhh"s. Even I could only think of Uruguay.

The section on "which country should we invade next?" is a joy. Those of you who've had access to maps will appreciate this one...



Poor old Barack Obama... he gets the blame for everything...


I am going to look for "Dumb Brits" too, it's only fair. I suspect it won't be quite as entertaining, though.

Not going to stereotype here, as every nation around the world has those who may apply the logic that there are stupid people in the world.
In my opinion though..can you classify "Stupidity"?

stu·pid (stpd, sty-)
adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est
1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.
3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.
4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.
5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job.
n.
A stupid or foolish person.

www.thefreedictionary.com...

To point out the obvious..there is not one person on the planet who has all knowledge of everything, understands everything,makes perfect decisions, never makes mistakes or never acts carelessly. SO by default, we are ALL stupid.
You cannot use a measurement of your intelligence against another person just because their life experience is different than yours, or their genetics are different.
And to quote the great comic Mr. Ron White....
"YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID.

Americans are not stupid, just lazy. They do not want to learn anything as learning is considered "uncool". They do not do any type of research or work, and use their computers to download porn instead of doing the thesis.

My father also called the camera the idiot box, because people will do or say anything to be on it. They are not thinking about the questions asked, just who they are going to tell they have been on TV.

Either way, it makes our country look quite bad.

Originally posted by AccessDenied
Not going to stereotype here, as every nation around the world has those who may apply the logic that there are stupid people in the world.

I made the same point.

To point out the obvious..there is not one person on the planet who has all knowledge of everything...

Ok. This was supposed to be a light-hearted thread which is why I put it in BTS. However, there is a serious point here. I'm chagrined that I can't find the actual source for the quote, but it's become a cliche to judge from the results of my searches on the subject:

A well-informed citizenry is the basis for a healthy democracy.

On that basis, judging by the responses in the videos, the US is a pretty sick democracy. This is particularly evident in the sections where people state, "if the president says we need to attack Kyrgiszstan, then I'm sure he's right."

You don't have to know about everything. But if your money is going to be used by the state to kill other people, mightn't it be a good idea to have some grasp of what's going on?

And to quote the great comic Mr. Ron White....
"YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID.

Oh... I don't know. I've not heard of Mr. White, but I suspect he doesn't know too much about education, and the debates about dumbing-down. To paraphrase a truly great comedian, George Carlin, "...they don't want people who can make informed decisions - they want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just bright enough to run the machinery and do the paperwork...."

There have been a number of publications of exam papers from the nineteenth century, originally intended for children, that would stump most graduates - myself included.

Like this one:

ENGLISH GRAMMAR

1. Write out in your best handwriting:—

‘O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
Across the sands o’ Dee.’
The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o’er and o’er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land —
And never home came she.

2. Parse fully ‘And call the cattle home.’
3. Explain the meaning of o’ Dee, dank with foam, western tide, round and round the sand, the rolling mist.
4. Write out separately the simple sentences in the last two lines of the above passage and analyse them.
5. Write out what you consider to be the meaning of the above passage.

How about these ?

ARITHMETIC

1. Multiply 642035 by 24506.
2. Add together £132 4s. 1d., £243 7s. 2d., £303 16s 2d., and £1.030 5s. 3d.; and divide the sum by 17. (Two answers to be given.)
3. Write out Length Measure, and reduce 217204 inches to miles, &c.
4. Find the G.C.M. of 13621 and 159848.
5. Find, by Practice, the cost of 537 things at £5 3s. 71/2d. each.
6. Subtract 37/16 from 51/4; multiply 63/4 by 5/36; divide 43/8 by 11/6; and find the value of 21/4 of 12/3 of 13/5.
7. Five horses and 28 sheep cost £126 14s., and 16 sheep cost £22 8s.; find the total cost of 2 horses and 10 sheep.
8. Subtract 3.25741 from 3.3; multiply 28.436 by 8.245; and divide .86655 by 26.5.
9. Simplify 183/4 – 22/3 ÷ 11/5 – 31/2 x 4/7.
10. Find the square root of 5.185,440,100.
11. Find the cost of papering the walls of a room 16ft long, 13ft 6in. wide, and 9ft high, with paper 11/2ft wide at 2s. 3d. a piece of 12yds in length.
12. A and B rent a number of fields between them for a year, the rent and other expenses amounting to £108 17s. 6d. A puts in 2 horses, 5 oxen and 10 sheep; and B puts in 4 horses, 1 ox, and 27 sheep. If a horse eats as much as 3 sheep and an ox as much as 2 sheep, how much should A and B each pay?

Remember - eleven year olds and NO calculators.

I came across an even better one a couple of months back, but I can't find it.

Actually, looking at that again, I could give it a decent go, although the kind of grammar taught these days has changed, so the parsing exercise in the English paper would look quite different from the original answer. I'd be able, with a great deal of brow-furrowing and nail-biting, to answer all of the questions in the maths paper bar two - I cannot for the life of me remember how to extract square roots, so I think I'd have to go with trial and error for that one, and I really don't know what G.C.M. stands for.

The exam I found previously was much harder. Most of it I simply didn't have a clue. And it was for14-year-old kids.

Anyway... more stupid people to goggle at. It's interesting that when I typed the word "stupid" into YouTube, "stupid Americans" had a category all to itself. At least this blonde has a child to be beaten by...



Quiz shows are the best for this kind of thing. People under pressure are apt to flap their gums and come out with all kinds of randomly generated BS... but this is a really soft question...

reply to post by rich23


I would definitely flunk that test!

I also agree with the blind obedience to what the President says. Former President Bush ruled with the fear of another terrorist attack. He milked that one to be reelected to a second term. Most people do not want to look up other countries, and find out what the true reasons for going to war are. It is usually about the oil, or some dictator the President is chummy with.