Are people dumb?

[Citizen James]

Two part question, one part yes/no, second part essay.  Adapted (and somewhat simplified) from
An interesting political quiz


If you're answer is yes, what makes you so special.  Why do you consider yourself so unique and elite to be better than the rest?  (Or do you hold a similar contempt for yourself?)

If the answer is no, how do you deal with the times when you find yourself in disagreement with the majority - especially when you find yourself in strong disagreement?

[John Dibble]

Yes, people are dumb.

"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything.  Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true.  People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true.  People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all easier to fool." - Terry Goodkind

Of course, a person can be harder to fool, especially a cautious one, but large groups of people are easy to fool if you know how. Essentially we are all gullible, though sometimes we need to be motivated or emotional to be so, and being in a crowd of our peers can make it so(if one person takes a position in a crowd, others will be more likely to follow, and the more people who do so the more likely others will take it so they can be accepted).

[Jake]

People in a group are stupid. There are so many things, peer pressure for one, that will make people follow the trend, thus producing stupid people. The way to get out of this is to have confidence in yourself.  Anyone who doesn't conform or follow the trend has confidence. Why am I different? I don't know that I really am. I follow some trends, share many opinions with other people, like the same things as others, and on occasion follow stupid ideas to fit in.

[Joe Kakistocracy]

Yes, and I include myself in that sweeping judgment.

[A18]

No, but when it comes to government, I wouldn't be surprised if most were basically clueless.

[Rob]

People are stupid.

[Nym90]

No. I think most people are pretty smart. Most people don't know as much about politics and government as the average person on this forum, but they probably know more about certain other things. It all balances out. We have to keep it in perspective, and remember that our likes and dislikes are not necessarily better than anyone else's preferences when it comes to things like this.

I have a great amount of faith in the average human being, as long as they have reasonable access to information.

[John Dibble]

No. I think most people are pretty smart.

You've never worked at a Burger King, I take it.

[Nym90]

No. I think most people are pretty smart.

You've never worked at a Burger King, I take it.

No, though I have worked fast food.

[Erc]

People are Stupid.

Persons may or may not be.

[TheWildCard]

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

-Albert Einstein

[MaC]

well I'm gonna use an analogy to defend "dumb" people.  It's the same defense fat people use when they say they're big boned.  They're not dumb, they just haven't thought about something for long enough, or they're too quick to open their mouth, or their blonde, or they're undereducated, or apathetic.  The list goes on.

[Nym90]

I think most people are smarter than they might seem, they just choose to apply it in different ways. Everyone has to decide where to focus on. The "smarter" you are, the more different things you can handle at once, and the more things you can have a large degree of knowledge about. But most people do have quite a bit of intellectual capacity, it's merely a matter of how they choose to use it, or not use it, as the case may be.

[Gabu]

Alone, left to their own devices, people tend to be smart enough.  When they get into a situation when they feel they need to live up to others' standards, however, all semblance of logic and intelligence tends to go out the window.

[Nation]

It's just like your old junior high teachers pointed out -- everyone's smart, but not everyone applies themselves

[John Dibble]

It's just like your old junior high teachers pointed out -- everyone's smart, but not everyone applies themselves

He should meet my senior year English teacher - one of his favorite words was 'pathetic'.