The Stupid! It Burns!

[elfs]

Warning: The stupidity in this video may be harmful to your self-worth as an American. This video should not be watched by members of the reality-based community.

Comments

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

Holy shit. Ow. If that entire demonstration were removed from general population, the average IQ of the US would go up by fifty points.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

No it wouldn't.

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

I agree. Taking the 10-20k that was there out of the country's population would be like saying one barrel of whiskey was stronger because it had one less drop of water added to it.

[(Anonymous)]

No, it's because if you sent away all but the top 10% smartest people in America, the average IQ would still be an average.

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hyperbole

Because simply saying, "wow, that's a lot of stupid" would have been an understatement.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

Oh sure. But "average IQ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient)" is both a) repetitive, and b) something that can never change.

A better hyperbole would be "the gene pool sure would be deeper without these folks".

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, fair enough. I just find it more offensive that people can be so willfully stupid than anything else.. Not so much what they say, as their unwillingness to actually think about it.

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

What's disturbing about that video is that, as you listen to it, you hear the occasional rational concern, framed on both sides by utter drivel... and they can't seem to recognize the difference.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

I didn't find it all that stupid. But then, I spent 10 years doing tech support at an ISP. No amount of stupidity surprises me anymore. I did find it interesting that in spite of being a political rally, those present were astonishingly ignorant of politics (kind of like if you were to show up at a Linux User Group and found most people there mostly ignorant of linux - but in reality, ah, that happens too), but the public *is* astonishingly ignorant of politics. Why do you think politicians can get away with so much?

By the same token, if you were to try to speak intelligently to any of the ralliers at a lefty protest, you would get a boatload of similar ignorance, plus new-ageiness and crunchy granola.

I would also be willing to bet that this clip was edited extensively. Of course they don't want to show you the intelligent responses they got. That's not what the reporter was looking for.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I've run into more than my fair share of lefty craziness, from the former legislature who was "so glad Obama will be president when the Mayan calendar runs out because if anyone can handle what's going to happen then, he can," to the union boss who was convinced that flouridation was a threat to our children's health.

Precious Bodily Fluids, I guess.

[edichka2.livejournal.com]

Having grown up in Berkeley and SF, and gone to school in Santa Cruz, I too have met plenty of lefty idiots. The big difference: THEY DIDN'T REALLY MATTER. They weren't stockpiling guns, and they weren't influencing government, much less running it.
- E

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

Naw, I don't think it had to be edited that much. This was a rally for the lunatic-fringe of the right wing. I'm sure someone could have gone to an ANSWER anti-war rally and found the same amount of stupid from the left without editing.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

You'd find the same amount of stupid at a rally against a 1% raise in state sales tax. My point really, is that to find any measure of intelligence in a population, you have to go *looking* for it. If you are going fishing for stupid, all you have to do is cast your line. Any reporter can tell you this.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so glad I moved to the UK! Recession is still very bad here, but because of this our rent is paid, and we will not be homeless. We can go to the doctor without fear. Everyone pays into the system. Taxes may be higher, but if you compare total spends with insurance, deductables and non covered others, it is really the same. A government needs to care as much about its citizens as the citizens need to care about the country. As soon as I qualify, I am taking British citizenship so I can fully participate in the country I now live in.