SO, WE SEEM to be having this ongoing conversation, that's now reached nearly a million people. Started by the hornet's nest I kicked by saying that people have a responsibility not to be stupid. A grown-up human, civic responsibility. Yeah, it's a pretty blunt message. It was directed—pretty much—toward those who like to call themselves MAGA. And everyone else, too, of course.
Well. You would have thought I'd lit a blowtorch to their hair or stuck a cattle prod up their whatever. Yikes!!! I didn't call them MAGAts. I didn't call them R--tards or f---ing libtards, or anything, really. I didn't use any bad words. I just said we all have a responsibility not to be stupid. So it now occurs to me--belatedly?--that a short, simple guide to what is--politically and intellectually--stupid, might be helpful. Maybe? Maybe not.
But here goes--without a thesaurus or dictionary or a copy of the NY Times, or Fox News on the TV. Just a very few items or examples of what is and is not stupid. In no particular order:
Thinking that experts--in science or climate or medicine or public health, who have spent years and decades in closely monitored, peer-reviewed, highly accountable situations, don't know what they are talking about. And that they're out to hurt you. And it's a conspiracy. Yeah, that's stupid.
Secretary of Health (!!!) Robert Kennedy Jr. Stupid.
Ensconcing a 5th tier, untalented, idiotic, alcoholic, self-absorbed, Fox TV talking head as Secretary of Defense--then renaming him Secretary of War. Stupid.
Not knowing that native-born citizens are over twice as likely to commit violent crimes as undocumented immigrants; then calling immigrants animals and pet-eaters and scum and invaders and... Well, stupid.
Voting against your own interests in election after election. Stupid.
Believing that sexual identity is immutable; either-or, black and white, when in actuality it is on a spectrum and quite fluid, and that people can rightfully feel profoundly uncomfortable with a rigid identity... Stupid.
Making that your go-to reason for how you vote on the fate of a country. Stupid.
Saying blithely in this regard that God 'doesn't make mistakes'--where one's sexuality is not a mistake' but an identity. And meanwhile ignoring that God--or the Universe--makes all kinds of 'mistakes'--with birth defects and congenital disorders and Down's Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis and Spina Bifida and Congenital Heart Defects and Microcephaly and cancers and... well, things that modern medical science (the damned experts again) try hard to combat and ameliorate and cure... Not understanding that sometimes mistakes and bad things happen, and we do our best FOR and WITH one another to make life worth living... Well, that's just stupid.
Believing that one 'race' (we're all one race) or one's skin color or country of origin is superior to another. Stupid.
Believing--after 250 years of democracy and a functioning Republic that rightfully was long the envy of the world--that fascism just might be a better way to go. Especially stupid!
Making political martyrs out of the blanking idiotic treasonous imbeciles who tried to overturn a national election, defecated in the halls of the Capitol, beat police officers nearly to death, tried to kidnap the Speaker of the House and hang the Vice President, then SUPPORTING their corrupt pardons. Stupid.
Electing a profoundly failed and failing, multiply bankrupted, multiply convicted, felon/sexual abuser/ fraudster/charity fraudster/tax cheat/conman/probable child abuser as *president of the United States, calling him 'God's Chosen One' and worshiping at his swollen feet. And doing it twice. Or three times!!! Yeah, sorry, that's just stupid. It's even worse than stupid.
So there ya go. The Top Twelve. Or at least my Top Twelve. (I think it was twelve?) You can make your own list. But let's just remember one simple thing. We all have a responsibility. An important, American, civic responsibility--not to be stupid. It's a thing. An actual thing. Important to ourselves, to each of us. Important to our country. Let's just remember that. If it's not too much trouble.
Oh. I guess forgot to include what's NOT stupid. Well, next time. - D Wood