stupid people

[Lark]

I dont think Whatever is mean.

 

[Rail Tracer]

or not having something to do... seriously, I went a year without a job right after we moved and though we had no problem affording anything I was teetering into some serious depression out of feeling that I was of no use in life because I wasn't working

and yet I've known people like that personally, who will happily get their child support and unemployment and spend most of their time having their parents babysit while they go out and party... I don't get it really

We call those people NEET.

Seriously, I'd get into a case of depression too if I weren't in education, employment, or training.

it's kind of like how cops, firefighters and emts develop a rather morbid sense of humor while working around crimes and accidents all of the time... when surrounded by idiots you learn to laugh when you can because otherwise you'll end up pulling your hair out

I've learned by now though that I have the power over how happy I am in the end, and that I might as well laugh when people are willfully stupid because the other option is to rip off their leg and beat them with it or perhaps to douse myself with lighter fluid and decide it's time for a smoke break!

Related to how I see humor sometimes.

People often ask me, why do I laugh so easily. Then, I remember I once heard a line somewhere that life is a big, fat joke.

What this means is, you can take everything seriously and lose your mind, or you can laugh at the seriousness of some of these things and move on.

 

[miss fortune]

[MENTION=10431]Rail Tracer[/MENTION] I've generally taken the idea of you can either laugh or cry at life, laughing is more fun!

 

[Cellmold]

... and that's the category of people who's been pissing me off... people who are incurious and willfully ignorant enough to fail something that even the genuinely "special" people have no problem with once the directions are explained... why oh why would someone NOT want to better themselves?

I suppose it's the culture of expectation again, it's either someone elses or their own. If it's their own then they have somehow been brought up in an environment that causes them to believe they are owed something.

And some environments hate the idea of betterment, as many of the inhabitants within these environments struggle to better themselves, mainly because those around them feel entitled but not entitled to act or put effort in. So instead they try to drag down those around them and further this culture of hatred towards betterment.

Essentially it appears to be: Fuck you for showing me my own inadequacies indirectly with your success.

One of the best analogies of this ive read was in Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals when one of the characters is explaining this very struggle to another character....using the metaphor of a 'crab bucket' You see when you go crabbing, you just need a bucket to put the captured crabs in, no cover is required on the top of the bucket to stop the crabs getting out.

Why? Because the crabs will always try to climb over one another, each one over the next and so they end up pulling each other back in their self-centered struggle; so none of them ever gain freedom or reach the light at the end of the bucket.

And this is most prevalent the further you go down the economic scale. It's frustrating to see because it causes otherwise very intelligent and capable people to be constantly denied any chance of progression....as those around them claw them back into the bucket.

It is one of the most insidious side-effects of class systems, that really all started with nothing more than money.

 

[A window to the soul]

All signs point to illiteracy; meaning, unable to read and write. Maybe they came from poverty. I prefer to reserve judgment on the condition of the inherent cognitive abilities of someone I don't know.

 

[Poki]

People who are quick to judge are usually wrong, all they have figured out is what is obvious. The person is not good at the thing you judged them stupid on. Now here is a challenge, figure out what they are NOT stupid at.

 

[A window to the soul]

Don't know. -sighs-

 

[Ponyboy]

I suppose it's the culture of expectation again, it's either someone elses or their own. If it's their own then they have somehow been brought up in an environment that causes them to believe they are owed something.

And some environments hate the idea of betterment, as many of the inhabitants within these environments struggle to better themselves, mainly because those around them feel entitled but not entitled to act or put effort in. So instead they try to drag down those around them and further this culture of hatred towards betterment.

Essentially it appears to be: Fuck you for showing me my own inadequacies indirectly with your success.

One of the best analogies of this ive read was in Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals when one of the characters is explaining this very struggle to another character....using the metaphor of a 'crab bucket' You see when you go crabbing, you just need a bucket to put the captured crabs in, no cover is required on the top of the bucket to stop the crabs getting out.

Why? Because the crabs will always try to climb over one another, each one over the next and so they end up pulling each other back in their self-centered struggle; so none of them ever gain freedom or reach the light at the end of the bucket.

And this is most prevalent the further you go down the economic scale. It's frustrating to see because it causes otherwise very intelligent and capable people to be constantly denied any chance of progression....as those around them claw them back into the bucket.

It is one of the most insidious side-effects of class systems, that really all started with nothing more than money.

I love this post except for the fact that it is going to make me go get yet another book! I have seen what you (and also that author) described too many times but never quite expressed it as well as you just did.

All signs point to illiteracy; meaning, unable to read and write. Maybe they came from poverty. I prefer to reserve judgment on the condition of the inherent cognitive abilities of someone I don't know.

Did you just make 2 judgements and then say you prefer to reserve judgement??

People who are quick to judge are usually wrong, all they have figured out is what is obvious.

I agree with that but would add what is obvious to what they have been taught. Unfortunately, ignorance is a learned trait.

 

[Istbkleta]

I can't understand it... I tried but I can't and if I try any further my brain may rebel

Try it out yourself before you knock it down. Next time you deal with customer service or whatever else, just be rly dumb!

I talk dumb, ask dumb questions, make rly dumb statements, assume I'm right and stupidly demand what I want. Makes my life much easier!

Thing is, life is structured to be easier when you are dumb. Getting free stuff, discounts, extra service, etc. Somehow people just don't want to argue with me so they go with the least resistance.

Like you - you spend more energy explaining and helping a dumb person than the average person just to get the job done. Is that fair to the average person? No.
So if you can't change the system, do what it tells you to do - be dumb.

No child left behind kind of translates into the adult world and breeds idiots.

 

[Ponyboy]

Try it out yourself before you knock it down. Next time you deal with customer service or whatever else, just be rly dumb!

I talk dumb, ask dumb questions, make rly dumb statements, assume I'm right and stupidly demand what I want. Makes my life much easier!

Thing is, life is structured to be easier when you are dumb. Getting free stuff, discounts, extra service, etc. Somehow people just don't want to argue with me so they go with the least resistance.

Like you - you spend more energy explaining and helping a dumb person than the average person just to get the job done. Is that fair to the average person? No.
So if you can't change the system, do what it tells you to do - be dumb.

No child left behind kind of translates into the adult world and breeds idiots.

Or you could try being nice to them, that always works for me. You know, treat people like people.

 

[Istbkleta]

Or you could try being nice to them, that always works for me. You know, treat people like people.

You are rly nice. INFPs are the most gentle type. I like you.

 

[Ponyboy]

Awww, shucks

 

[xisnotx]

It's a lot easier to be stupid.
And, why make life harder than it already is?

 

[miss fortune]

wow... getting accused of being judgmental by people who obviously didn't read the entire thread before leaping to conclusions... kind of funny

obviously the people I'm bitching about aren't illiterate- we require high school diplomas or GEDs, they have driver's licenses (state law requires a written test that must be passed that's a hell of a lot more complicated than the skills test!) and most of them spend most of the time that I'm trying to explain the directions to them texting instead of listening... which is why they suck at doing things

I'll be nice until someone acts like I'm there to serve them, in which case I'll let them know that I most definitely am NOT and then I leave them to their own devices... I am in charge of around 30 to 40 people at a time and they all have questions... I don't have the time to type someone's stuff for them. We're not talking about one on one interaction here and we're not talking customer service... I'm there to make things efficient, I smile and let them know what's going to happen next, but I am NOT paid to do their work for them

and no, I'm NOT going to feel sorry for the people who don't give a fuck and therefore won't listen or try... willfully stupid people don't deserve sympathy

** please actually read the thread before jumping to conclusions... it's already been explained that I actually am happy to help people with learning disabilities and probably run about 10 tutorials a day on how to most effectively hold a mouse... people who just don't care and don't pay attention and expect others to do their work for them are not worthy of my help... not when there's 30 or 40 other people there who need direction as well

plus, my job isn't to be nice to everyone, my job is to make things efficient, explain things in an entertaining way and troubleshoot... I never said I was a nice person, I'm showing a lot more patience than comes naturally to me

 

[A window to the soul]

wow... getting accused of being judgmental by people who obviously didn't read the entire thread before leaping to conclusions... kind of funny

obviously the people I'm bitching about aren't illiterate- we require high school diplomas or GEDs, they have driver's licenses (state law requires a written test that must be passed that's a hell of a lot more complicated than the skills test!) and most of them spend most of the time that I'm trying to explain the directions to them texting instead of listening... which is why they suck at doing things

I'll be nice until someone acts like I'm there to serve them, in which case I'll let them know that I most definitely am NOT and then I leave them to their own devices... I am in charge of around 30 to 40 people at a time and they all have questions... I don't have the time to type someone's stuff for them. We're not talking about one on one interaction here and we're not talking customer service... I'm there to make things efficient, I smile and let them know what's going to happen next, but I am NOT paid to do their work for them

and no, I'm NOT going to feel sorry for the people who don't give a fuck and therefore won't listen or try... willfully stupid people don't deserve sympathy

** please actually read the thread before jumping to conclusions... it's already been explained that I actually am happy to help people with learning disabilities and probably run about 10 tutorials a day on how to most effectively hold a mouse... people who just don't care and don't pay attention and expect others to do their work for them are not worthy of my help... not when there's 30 or 40 other people there who need direction as well

plus, my job isn't to be nice to everyone, my job is to make things efficient, explain things in an entertaining way and troubleshoot... I never said I was a nice person, I'm showing a lot more patience than comes naturally to me

I didn't accuse you of being judgmental. I do think you're sensitive and bitter though.

 

[A window to the soul]

Did you just make 2 judgements and then say you prefer to reserve judgement??

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[garbage]

Holy hell. The sanctimony, man.. the sanctimony.
Nobody ever ought to judge anyone, ever, and you're a terrible person if you do

Of course, that's an obvious exaggeration and a regress to absurdity.. but, c'mon. We should all have to explain that we do all have at least a modicum of sympathy for people who are less fortunate, because it's part and parcel to the human condition and it's a part of how we operate. A vent post/thread is obviously not an insight into a person's whole worldview.

Anyway.

it is MUCH easier to have sympathy for the automatons who don't give a fuck when you don't have to deal with a good number of them on a daily basis! I didn't care nearly as much in the past because I didn't have to deal with something like 50 people a day who just don't care or take personal responsibility for their lives... when you deal with that number you start to really wonder about what happened so that so many people just don't care...

[snip]

The subject does get me thinking about 'redemption,' so to speak.

I know someone who was really, really lazy and demanded that others pick up the slack for him. Now, he's very sick and incapable of fending for himself, but he's left a lot of resentful people in his wake who do not want to help him. He still demands their help, but, at the same time, wonders why they refuse.

Another person--similar situation. He wasn't lazy, but codependent and manipulative as shit. Now he's in jail and completely dependent--but, again, lots of resentful people around who have abandoned him now that he needs them.

And the fiancee, an ER nurse, has tons of stories. Tons.

From one perspective, it's sad. From another, they all made decisions that severely bit them in the ass.

--

If we had infinite time and capacity to learn from our mistakes--if we could truly learn, redeem ourselves, strive to 'do better next time,' and always get second chances--these stories wouldn't be so sad.

It's also more difficult to sympathize with so-called 'stupid people' if you yourself have clawed your way from the bottom--for good or for bad, it's more difficult to get into the mindset of (or 'forgive') those who have not or cannot do so themselves.

People gonna be what people gonna be, I guess

I think 50 years ago and before that you might have had people that couldn't have completed the skills test described in the OP yet might have developed other skills or even artistic abilities (I'm reminded of Norman MacLean describing mule packing as an art in one of his short stories about life in Montana). Yet, over the years with the rise of technology people without the ability to perform well on a computer test or fill out a form find themselves without a means to find a rewarding job.
[...]
So you see for people without the basic skills required by our culture our culture doesn't provide ample opportunity or incentive to acquire them.

This is a very good point. Once in a while, we must ask--do our tests actually measure what we intend them to measure? Does the structure of the test itself get in the way of properly assessing a person?

 

[A window to the soul]

Holy hell. The sanctimony, man.. the sanctimony.
Nobody ever ought to judge anyone, ever, and you're a terrible person if you do

Man, tell me about it. I threw out a couple of ideas, but ultimately said I prefer to reserve judgment since I don't know the people. Apparently the word judgment is offensive.

Drama baby, drama.

 

[miss fortune]

[MENTION=5578]bologna[/MENTION] is right as usual about the boy who cried wolf effect AND the fact that I'm venting here because I spend 6 days a week dealing with people who refuse to pay attention and then fail ... The test does accurately measure skills needed though... Identifying things and English... Not my call, it's what the company we're hiring for needs!

 

[A window to the soul]

[MENTION=5578]bologna[/MENTION] is right as usual about the boy who cried wolf effect AND the fact that I'm venting here because I spend 6 days a week dealing with people who refuse to pay attention and then fail ... The test does accurately measure skills needed though... Identifying things and English... Not my call, it's what the company we're hiring for needs!

I apologize for my earlier reply; I was going for laughs by stating the obvious. Not funny. In all fairness, most of the time you are fun to be around (just not when you're stressed).