Flying the Flag of Stupid

Asking a timeless question

Many, many people have wondered whether the Internet has made people more stupid than was so in generations prior to the Information Age and I’ve wondered about this also. I still think that the answer is ‘no’ and ‘yes.’ 

No: because of instant connection, we not only have access to uncountable amounts of information, but also access to people who, forty years ago, we wouldn’t know existed. The downside to this is that we also have access to a greater amount of stupid people. 

They were always there; you just know more of them.

Yes: Many mistake large amounts of information for intelligence. It is in that way that  the Internet has provided many stupid people with the illusion of intelligence. Be advised: stupidity is not defined as lack of information. Stupidity is the limited ability to interpret information, coupled with the refusal to acknowledge the need for this ability.  Ever know an idiot who was full of hubris and arrogance about some information she has that you don’t have? When attempt to interpret the information, that’s when the name-calling starts - usually involving your alleged lack of brainpower.

Thus, a stupid person is the inverse example of Harry Callahan’s timeless axiom.

A man’s got to know his limitations.

In action, this state of affairs is demonstrated by a false dichotomy I’ve seen all over the place for a couple of decades: why do non-Muslim observers judge Islam for what some Muslims do, but do not judge Christianity for what some Christians do?

Someone asked me that question a while ago. Here was my answer:

Both Christians and Muslims have individual standard-bearers. The standard-bearer for Christians: Jesus of Nazareth. The standard-bearer for Muslims: Mohammed. 

When observers attempt to determine whether self-described Christians or self-described Muslims are true believers in their respective faiths and are acting as such, the logical thing do is to measure their words and/or actions against the teachings of the appropriate standard-bearer and, then, come to a cogent conclusion [about the actor and his religion].

From the subsequent part of our conversation, the inquirer had no understanding of standards or standard-bearers and wasn’t inclined to consider the definitions and implications of either. 

We all know he’s not alone. However, he did seem proud of the amount of information he was able to call forth about the Bible. There, he had me. But the Devil is able to quote scripture better than any of us, so that’s a contest I don’t care about. (And, yes, I can see it now: “she called that man the Devil because he disagreed with her.” To infer that would fall under the stupidity umbrella which I described earlier.)

And here’s something that puts me further into the ‘yes’ category: stupidity has fewer lethal consequences than it did in the days of yore. This story, however, suggests that those types of consequences are making a comeback.

A dangerous TikTok challenge has gone viral as summer heats up in the Northern Hemisphere. The trend involves people jumping off the rear of a moving boat. Tragically, this viral challenge has already claimed the lives of four individuals in Alabama. 

"The four that we responded to when they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck and, you know, basically an instant death," Capt. Jim Dennis of the Childersburg Rescue Squad told NBC News. The deaths have occurred in the last six months. 

Standard-bearers, indeed.