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Comment by braingenious

2 years ago

What sort of decisions or behavior would lead you to believe that somebody is stupid?

I'll bite

- the ability to explain why you think a certain way or did something (i.e. when you ask a child why they threw a glass they'll say "I don't know"

- the speed at which you learn/process new information

- the ability to understand your emotions and the level of control you have over them

- your willing to engage in debate

- how inquisitive you are

  • In addition to "I don't know" is "I messed up". Everyone does stupid things occasionally. Stupid people double down on their stupidity once they realize what happened instead of owning up to it.

    • There's some nuance there though. Doubling down is (almost) always a stupid move but it isn't always stupid people that do it. It's rooted in insecurity which is independent of intelligence.

Someone who claims to hold a basic concept of something as straight forward as "free speech absolutist" and doesn't see the logical incoherence of proceeding to ban reporters and others who publish and aggregate publicly available information (@elonjet).

  • I personally agree with this.

    Further, I think “somebody that spends an extraordinary amount of money to become admin on a forum (one of the worst jobs on earth)” qualifies as “a stupid person” well before “being incredibly, laughably, hilariously inept at being a forum admin” even gets factored into the “How stupid can a person be?” equation.

Just because somebody does something different than us doesn’t mean they are stupid, how ridiculous and reductive is that?

They might just be evil.

Is it necessary to believe anyone is "stupid" as a personality?

I just disagree with people's opinions on certain things. And if I frequently disagree with someone enough, then I just quietly stop paying any attention to what they say.

  • How is judging people’s way of thinking as being a binary between “necessary” and “unnecessary” not just calling people “stupid” or “not stupid” the same thing just using different words?