When did people get so stupid?

[Cephus]

I really have no idea when it started, but people are turning into complete idiots. When I was picking up my daughter from school today, this one complete idiot mother stops her car *IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BUSY STREET, IN TRAFFIC* and yells for her kid to run across 3 lanes of heavy traffic to the car because she couldn't be troubled to actually park in a parking space. I see this kind of thing all the time, where people violate the law, put their kids in danger and harm other people because they somehow think they are special and nothing applies to them.

When did the human race stop thinking?

[Gorgo]

When did we start?

[Osborn F Enready]

If I had to guess at a period of time, I would say between 1895 and 1933.

[Milton Bradley]

I would say there are two distinct camps, those that think, and those that don't.


I would also tell you that latter are far more prolific, and visable than the former. Wink, wink, nod, nod.

[Trent]

Maybe here in the Western world, it's the easy life that has made people sloppy.
The mother was probably in a hurry to get back to her favouret soap.
Had her kid been hit by a car and killed... she would have been suprised. Death and destruction, grief and tragidy she witnesses everyday - but on the news and the victim sare far away from her personal daily existance.
The rich (I mean the west) get fat and stupid with luxury.

In the end we reap what we sow.

Trent

[RickSp]

I suspect it started about the time that early man figured out that as well as using his or her opposable thumb to use tools or create, he or she could also just stick it up his or her ass. Not long after, a similar discovery was made regarding one's head, at least figuratively.

Not much has changed from the dawn of time.

In the case you cited at least the woman was only risking her own kids on the other side of the street. Not like risking hundreds of thousands of mother's kids, sending them off to a needless war onthe other side of the globe.

[Gorgo]

Actually, I've learned that the stupid I see in others is usually in direct proportion to the stupid I refuse to see in myself.

[Cephus]

I just don't remember people being so mind-numbingly moronic in the past. Sure, there were isolated pockets of stupidity but today... it's just disgusting.

[RickSp]

Quote by: Gorgo Actually, I've learned that the stupid I see in others is usually in direct proportion to the stupid I refuse to see in myself.

Be careful. You are wandering dangerously close to insight, which if I am not mistaken, is specifically forbidden here.

It must be against the rules. Why else would so little be in evidence?

[ericsp23]

I don't know if its fair to say that this woman was stupid for what she did. Of course, it was foolish, but I'm sure if someone were to confront her about it she would have some kind of justification for what she did. Maybe that justification doesn't warrant putting her child's life at risk, but we all make snap decisions like that without really thinking through the consequences.
Maybe she realized how dangerous it was after she did it and had time to think about it, or maybe she just went on with her life without giving it another moment's though. If the former is the case then I would not call her stupid. If she just went on with her life oblivious to the danger she put her child in, then I would call her irresponsible and possibly stupid.

[Cephus]

Quote by: ericsp23 I don't know if its fair to say that this woman was stupid for what she did. Of course, it was foolish, but I'm sure if someone were to confront her about it she would have some kind of justification for what she did. Maybe that justification doesn't warrant putting her child's life at risk, but we all make snap decisions like that without really thinking through the consequences.

I would call her absolutely stupid. It isn't like these people just do this nonsense once, it's an every day occurrence for them. I called the police on someone once because they parked in front of a fire hydrant, in a red zone, every single day, got out of the car and left. They treated it like their own personal parking spot, and apparently, the law doesn't apply to them. I mentioned to her once that it was illegal and she flipped me off so I called the police and had her issued a ticket. I think it stopped her for about a week, then she was back parking in the red zone again.

These people act like the whole world exists for their personal pleasure and if it's inconvenient, no matter how much it harms others, so what? Their convenience is more important than everyone else and unfortunately, it's getting worse. More and more people are acting like they're the only one that matters.

I think it's high time we post a hunting limit on stupid people. You can shoot 5 a day, but you have to prove they were idiots. Might clean out the gene pool.

[Chancellor]

Quote by: Cephus I really have no idea when it started, but people are turning into complete idiots. When I was picking up my daughter from school today, this one complete idiot mother stops her car *IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BUSY STREET, IN TRAFFIC* and yells for her kid to run across 3 lanes of heavy traffic to the car because she couldn't be troubled to actually park in a parking space. I see this kind of thing all the time, where people violate the law, put their kids in danger and harm other people because they somehow think they are special and nothing applies to them. When did the human race stop thinking?

Sometime in the 1960s with the rise of situational ethics and "live for today."

I don't know if I would have considered the scenario you described so much one of when America became stupid but, rather, one of when America decided to be so selfish. This broad (I hesitate to give this woman the honorable title of "mother") didn't want to be inconvenienced by having to actually pull her car over to the curb. She was only thinking of herself and not of her children.

[Cephus]

Quote by: Chancellor Sometime in the 1960s with the rise of situational ethics and "live for today." I don't know if I would have considered the scenario you described so much one of when America became stupid but, rather, one of when America decided to be so selfish. This broad (I hesitate to give this woman the honorable title of "mother") didn't want to be inconvenienced by having to actually pull her car over to the curb. She was only thinking of herself and not of her children.

Oh, but if anyone had hit her children, or her car since it was stopped in the middle of traffic, you can be sure she would have sued everyone. The school, the city, the car manufacturer, the people who made the clothes she's wearing... EVERYONE because, as we all know, nothing is her fault. Nothing. Ever.

We need to execute these self-centered morons with extreme prejudice.

[asterix404]

no I work I tech support, the front lines... trust me people really are as stupid as you think. Just today I hit a dog running across the road... I slamed on my breaks and I was going about 5 miles an hour when I did... didn't even knock the dog over but WHAT THE FUCK Was a human being letting a young puppy run around the road? AND COMPTURS holy shit... if I hear one more thing about how a network doesn't work... and how they don't know what their ip is or how to even get it... ::shivers:: YOU spent about 400-2000$ on a mechine and didn't bother to learn anything about it. AWSOME!

[Gorgo]

Never mind.

[carlessbiker]

Quote by: Cephus I really have no idea when it started, but people are turning into complete idiots. When I was picking up my daughter from school today, this one complete idiot mother stops her car *IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BUSY STREET, IN TRAFFIC* and yells for her kid to run across 3 lanes of heavy traffic to the car because she couldn't be troubled to actually park in a parking space. I see this kind of thing all the time, where people violate the law, put their kids in danger and harm other people because they somehow think they are special and nothing applies to them. When did the human race stop thinking?

Sounds like natural selection to me. Too bad we're not like the rest of the animal world, where the drains on society go first.

[Cephus]

Quote by: carlessbiker Sounds like natural selection to me. Too bad we're not like the rest of the animal world, where the drains on society go first.

Unfortunately, these morons are breeding as fast as they can.

Sounds like an excellent argument for requiring a license to breed. Stupid people don't get one.

[eggosphere]

Natural selection, now theres a concept. I guess we no longer have nature to select us, except the nature we humans built. Were either god or a viral infection. Fuuck it, lets all declare war and erradicate our selfs, and hope a few pacifists survived so we can start over again.

People have just lost interest in thinking at all.

[carlessbiker]

Quote by: eggosphere Natural selection, now theres a concept. I guess we no longer have nature to select us, except the nature we humans built. Were either god or a viral infection. Fuuck it, lets all declare war and erradicate our selfs, and hope a few pacifists survived so we can start over again. People have just lost interest in thinking at all.

Care to explain your post.....Natural Selection is the concept of being able to adapt to ones environment and the ones that do, reproduce. Knowing that, if humans followed this theory, the "dum-dum's" would eventually filter themselves out.

[Cephus]

Quote by: carlessbiker Care to explain your post.....Natural Selection is the concept of being able to adapt to ones environment and the ones that do, reproduce. Knowing that, if humans followed this theory, the "dum-dum's" would eventually filter themselves out.

Unfortunately, natural selection no longer works for the human race. If it did, all the idiots would get killed by their stupidity, but other than the few who get rightfully Darwin-awarded, we live in a society that protects and rewards stupidity because our political leaders need it to get re-elected.

After all, how many politicians would make it into office if the electorate was actually well-educated, rational and informed on the issues?