Quotation Saturday: Stupidity
Mamacita says: What’s that? STUPIDITY? How intensely politically incorrect!
Gotta love something that’s politically incorrect! Well, I do, anyway. Euphemisms are for the weak. Euphemisms cheapen our language, and draw our attention away from important things.
1. Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. — Albert Einstein
2. Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do. — Bertrand Russell
3. A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need the advice. — Bill Cosby
4. Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped. — Elbert Hubbard
5. With stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. — Friedrich von Schiller
6. When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together. — Isaac Asimov
7. The dumbest people I know are those who know it all. — Malcolm Forbes
8. First, God created idiots. That was just for practice. Then He created school boards. — Mark Twain
9. A stupid person should keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a stupid person. — Muslih-ud-Din Saadi
10. Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. — Plato
11. Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives. — Oscar Wilde
12. It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful. — Anton Lavey
13. There is no sin except stupidity. –Oscar Wilde
14. The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity. — Voltaire
15. Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider! — George Carlin
16. The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. — Harlan Ellison
17. Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance. — William Gaddis
18. In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity. — Konrad Adenauer
19. Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn’t misuse it. — Pope John Paul II
20. There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. — Frank Zappa
21. Stupidity is evil waiting to happen. — Clay Bond
22. When stupidity is a sufficient explanation, there is no need to have recourse to any other. — Mitchell Ulmann
23. Always you have to contend with the stupidity of men. — Henry David Thoreau
24. Stupidity should be painful. — Anonymous
25. You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think. –Talmud
26. He who is born a fool is never cured. — Proverbs
27. By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. — African proverb
28. Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. — P.J. O’Rourke
29. Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity. — Frank Leahy 
30. Here is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this. His name is Legion. — Gustave Flaubert
31. I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it. — Edith Sitwell
32. …right now there’s no rehab for stupidity. — Chris Rock
33. In politics stupidity is not a handicap. — Napoleon Bonaparte
34. It is because nations tend towards stupidity and baseness that mankind moves so slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all. — George Gissing
35. Never attribute to malice, that which can be reasonably explained by stupidity. —
Spider Robinson
36. No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. — Jacques Yves Cousteau
37. Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
38. One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain’t nothin’ can beat teamwork. — Edward Abbey
39. Strange as it may seem, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it. — Stephen Vizinczey
40. Stubborn and ardent clinging to one’s opinion is the best proof of stupidity. — Michel de Montaigne
41. Stupidity is a talent for misconception. — Edgar Allan Poe
42. Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant. — Gustave Flaubert
43. The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty. — John Steinbeck
44. There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity. — Robertson Davies
45. You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public. — Scott Adams
46. Why, sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature. — Samuel Johnson
47. When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. — George Bernard Shaw
48. A stupid child is ruin to a father. . . . — Proverbs
49. Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives. — -Oscar Wilde
50. There are only two races on this planet-the intelligent and the stupid. — John Fowles
51. I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a ‘learning experience.’ It makes me feel less stupid. — -P.J. O’Rourke
52. It is not always easy to diagnose. The simplest form of stupidity – the mumbling, nose-picking, stolid incomprehension – can be detected by anyone. But the stupidity which disguises itself as thought, and which talks so glibly and eloquently, indeed never stops talking, in every walk of life is not so easy to identify, because it marches under a formidable name, which few dare attack. It is called Popular Opinion. — Robertson Davies
53. Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge. — -Horace Mann
54. The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. — -William Osler
55. We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces. — -Carl Sagan
56. A stupid man’s report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. — Bertrand Russell
57. You can be sincere and still be stupid. — Charles F. Kettering
58. Most fools think they are only ignorant. — Benjamin Franklin
59. A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains. — Maxim Gorky
60. Life is tough, but it’s tougher whenyou’re stupid. –John Wayne
I suppose I should be ashamed of myself now, but I’m not. In fact, I feel purged and refreshed.
What did I leave out? Let me know.
Dear Parents: Every Child Deserves An Audience. Stay In Your Seat. And Shut Up.
Mamacita says: I’ve posted about this subject before, but with the approach of holiday season, it’s on my mind again, so I’ve written a new post about this same thing.
We’re tired. We work all day and in the evenings, we deserve a few hours to rest, eat, and just, well, unwind. We deserve some time to ourselves, to put our feet up, watch some tv, sigh a lot, and just BE. We deserve some time to do these things before we go to bed and get some sleep so we can do the same things again tomorrow. Undisturbed downtime. Yes, we deserve some of that.
If you are a parent of school-age children and this is your typical evening, shame on you.
If this is what you choose – yourself – instead of getting up off your, um, couch, and heading out to watch your child participate in something, shame on you.
Shame on you, too, if you stay in your seat just long enough to watch your own child’s part and then leave as soon as you can to get home and commence your well-deserved unwinding.
EVERY CHILD DESERVES AN AUDIENCE. 
For over twenty years, I attended school concerts, spelling bees, science fairs, plays, and other things, and for over twenty years I watched families pack up and leave the very minute THEIR child’s part was finished. These people paid no attention to the fact that the show was still going on while they were loudly bustling themselves up the aisles, out the doors, and across the parking lot so they could beat the rush getting out of the place, and get HOME where they could, finally, after an extra-long day, unwind. After all, they deserved it, didn’t they?
No, they didn’t. In fact, what these people want or think they deserve doesn’t even enter into the equation here. It is the children who matter, not the adults.
The smallest children had the biggest audience, but as soon as the lower elementary’s part in the concert was over, these were also the very people who couldn’t leave fast or soon enough, paying no attention whatsoever to the older children still on stage.
The upper elementary children had a smaller audience, and even those parents often required their kids to find them as soon as their part was over so they could go home and get what was left of that well-deserved downtime-before-bedtime. TV is important, you know, and a kid’s show isn’t, especially when it isn’t even MY kid up there now.
By the time the middle school kids were onstage, only Grandma, Mom, a few antsy siblings, and those families with class remained in the audience. The older kids played mostly to empty seats, because the once filled-to-overflowing, standing-room-only auditorium had emptied like a kicked anthill.
Yes, sometimes a school concert means a late night. You can’t deal with that once a year? Poor you. Your younger children can’t deal with it? Take turns going out in the hallway with them. Let them fall asleep. Your kid can’t deal with a disrupted schedule once a year? Are you sure you’re talking about your child?
There’s FOOTBALL that night? Lost is on? Good parents know that’s not even a negotiable point. Your children come first, or you’re a bad parent.
If you have small children whose part in a concert is usually first, try to picture YOUR child singing his/her heart out before an empty auditorium. Think of how those children must feel when you’re packing up and leaving while they’re on stage singing much-practiced songs meant for you, and you obviously care more about yourselves than about children who aren’t yours . . . .
Oh, and before I forget: even though I pretty much covered the subject of proper theatre behavior in another post, let me repeat a few things here: While you’re sitting in your seat, watching a concert, shut up. Nice people do not talk or otherwise make noise in a theatre. Nice people are quiet as mice in a theater, as well. (Note the spelling difference. Look it up.) In both places, nice people are quiet.
Stay for the whole thing. I don’t CARE if you’re tired or bored out of your mind.
Put your child in those other children’s places. Remember, YOUR child is someone else’s child to everyone else in the universe except you. You don’t want other people treating your child like that, do you?
Stay for the whole concert. You’re bored? Too bad. You hate this stuff? I don’t care.
Don’t detract from the glory and wonder and delight of children singing together just because you’re too selfish to even try to listen properly and enjoy it. Don’t make children feel that their hard work was in vain because all YOU can think about is that if you leave now you might get in on the last quarter of your very important game.
Anyone of any age who does not show respect to those onstage is a rude, childish beast.
I can’t say this enough: Every child deserves an audience. STAY IN YOUR SEAT until the entire thing is over.
Yeah, poor you. Poor you with a child who has the ability and the desire to participate in the arts or the sciences. Millions of parents would give anything they’ve got to be in your shoes, and you would rather throw it away than take advantage of it.
How much would y’all bet that these same parents find no difficulty whatsoever in sitting for hours watching a sport?
I was often bored, watching an overlong school concert. But I stayed for the whole thing. I stayed for the whole thing because those children were far more important than anything else I might have wanted to do that night.
Why are so many parents so childish and selfish? Childhood is such a brief fleeting moment in life; what kind of parents would CHOOSE not to watch every possible microsecond of it that’s possible to watch?
I think we all know what kind of parents would make that choice.
Children singing their hearts out while adults are walking out so they can get home and watch tv. Such people are beyond my comprehension.
Children are singing for us; why don’t we even want to listen?
Oh yeah. Football, Lost, recliners, and entitlement.
Zero Tolerance? Don't Get Me Started. . . .
Mamacita says: It looks so good on paper. You know, like communism and NCLB. The problem with all these things is this: they don’t work.
Like an expensive dog with elite genealogy papers and a genetic flaw, they’ll all eventually bite you in the butt and give you second, and if you’re smart, third and fourth, thoughts about keeping them around. If you’re smart, you won’t keep anything like that around lest it injure a child or neighbor.
Bottom line: Nice people don’t continue doing things that cause harm to the innocent.
If Zero Tolerance were practiced as it is preached, it would be great. However, I’ve heard too many ridiculously lame-brained horror stories about chapstick, cough drops, retainer paraffin, Midol, postage stamp glue, inhalers, Scout camping flatware, plastic knives in a lunchbag, glass containers of Gatorade, a pocket knife still in the pocket, hair clips, and EMPTY beer cans on the back seat floor of a parent’s car in a parking lot, for this policy to hold any water with me.
Water? This policy, utilized as it is, drips Stupid Juice.
I used to scorn many homeschoolers, but now I tip my hat to any family brave enough to withdraw their children from a public school that’s run by Dolores Umbridge and overseen by Cornelius Fudge.
In the words of the almighty Monty Python, “Run away! Run away!”
Fast.
If Zero Tolerance truly meant ridding our schools of dangerous, disruptive students, I’d be all for it. Get those kids out and keep them out. Period. Zero Tolerance.
But our administrators seem to be far too busy terrorizing small children with Scout utensils and chapstick to pay much attention to the dangerous kids with other children’s lunch money in their pockets and other children’s blood under their fingernails.
We don’t want to injure their self-esteem or risk a discrimination lawsuit, you know. These bewildered innocents and their flabbergasted families are a much easier target.
Honestly. Don’t our school administrators realize that “dangerous, disruptive, and disgusting” have nothing whatsoever to do with ethnicity, race, values, customs, color, self-esteem, or anything at all except upbringing, personal choices, family values, support, and innate mean?
Once a student is of a certain age, all behavior is mostly “personal choice.” One can blame all those other things only so long before such excusing and rationalizing becomes ridiculous.
Are we or are we not sentient beings? Then let’s start BEING sentient, because all these unthinking lazy excuse-making societal leeches and exception-mongers are making my soul hurt. People behave themselves and are kind to each other, or they are not. Life is full of such choices. CHOICES.
Bring it on, and don’t anyone DARE bring up the sped issue. That is most definitely NOT what’s being discussed here.
