Are most people just plain stupid? (page 17)

Oxnard Hamster

If someone said "atheism is a stupid belief", would you be upset? Case in point.

logansrun

Oxnard,

Actually, I wouldn't be upset if someone said atheism is a "stupid belief." I would actually try to engage in an intellectual dialogue on the subject.

Stacey,

I really don't want to press the issue (especially after I said I wanted to kill this thread!) but you did completely ignore the point I was making. Is it an opinion that the dinosaurs existed or is it a fact? Can it be both?

I think you are a bright girl, but you do need to spend more time justifying your statements.

Bradley

one_ugly_time

Is jumping out of a perfectly good airplane stupid ?

That depends. Do they have a parachute on ? If not, not only is the belief stupid, the person is stupid (or mentally unstable)

If they do have a parachute on, have they had lessons ? Do they know the landing sight ? Is the pilot trust worthy, not to bank at just the wrong moment? I could go on and on.

A belief, backed by an individual awareness, without cognitive dissonance, is NOT STUPID. Any neither is the individual that holds the belief.

If I were jumping from that plane, and felt an unusual sensation that could represent a wind gust, a bank, or just a gut feeling that something was wrong, and I still went ahead and jumped... I made a STUPID MISTAKE... my belief was still not stupid, and neither was I. Hopefully, I live, learn, and progress to prevent more STUPID MISTAKES. And teach everyone I know, what I know, so that if they are ever in the same situation that THEIR awareness will alert them and they can prevent a STUPID MISTAKE.

Most people walk blindly through life, making stupid mistake after stupid mistake, going from one belief to another as they grow and learn. Damn, if I wasn't just plain stupid about a few things, I would be GOD. Oh, sorry if I offended your non-belief.

ugly

Stacy Smith

I think you are a bright girl, but you do need to spend more time justifying your statements.
Bradley

I don't need to spend more time justifying Bradley I think you need to spend more time reading, read a little slower. What I said was.

Bradley as long as you continue to confuse your opinion with facts you'll get jumped on.

You have stated opinions about such things as astrology, militant nationalism, new age ect ect. Those are opinions you have stated and your opinion is that these things are stupid. Your opinion is not a fact. Do you understand the difference between facts and opinons yet?

But I give you a C for your effort on trying to deflect things here Bradley, well done.

greatteacher

Stacy Smith,

How do you differentiate fact and opinion?

Will you name one thing you find to be factual?

just curious!

Stacy Smith

Will you name one thing you find to be factual?

Good grief, this is getting pretty pathetic. Want a fact? The newspaper was soggy on our front porch this morning, ok, your turn.

gimmie a break, are you factually challenged???

Abaddon

This thread still going eh?

Bradley:

I think you are a bright girl, but you do need to spend more time justifying your statements.

And I cannot shake myself from an opinion that calling a woman a bright girl is as unneccesary as calling a man a bright boy. If I was a woman I'd see a subtext of 'bright FOR a girl'. You might not mean it that way Bradster, but many people would, so watch your usage boyo, or someone will jump down your throat on that one. Someone's bright (or not) regardless of their gender, so stating gender as you did just opens such a statement to misunderstanding.

Anyway, this is the Internet; Stacey might be a 220lb male bricklayer...

Stacey:

You have stated opinions about such things as astrology, militant nationalism, new age ect ect. Those are opinions you have stated and your opinion is that these things are stupid. Your opinion is not a fact. Do you understand the difference between facts and opinons yet?

Well, there's an obvious difference between the two examples you mention. Astrology has no proof of being anything other than an effective and pleasent way of relieving people of money. This is a fact, as there is no proof it 'works' in the way it claims (although of course it might merely be a 'focus' that allows people to feel beter about themselves or examine life from a fresh perspective and thus have theraputic value in some) . Therefore, if one has a paradigm whereby it is stupid to believe in something without a high order of proof, then astrology et. al. is stupid. A supporter cannot say 'ah, but here's the proof it works', as there isn't any.

Militant Nationalism might be thought of as stupid by some, based on its likely results (from a historical perspective). For PRECISELY the same reasons someone might see it as 'the way forward'. Scarey, eh?

But essentially, although subtlety and fore thought might be skills that would help MANY of us here, in the normal language of the street certain things are stupid, and this is held as fact even though it is an opinion.

I'm sure each of here have opinions we treat on an everyday level as facts.

Stacy Smith

Abbadon I agree that you can't prove astrology works any more than you can prove it doesn't. So we only can have opinions about it's value. No facts are available.

The only point I was making to Bradley is that he confuses his opinions with facts on a regular basis. Now there are times when facts conflict with each other. I could list tons of facts which prove Bush is a great President, you could list tons which proves Bush isn't. What we are left with are opinions so the mere absense or abundance of facts aren't proof in itself. It's only when there is a perponderance of evidence that we can make an honest conclusion that something has been proved. But then again we disagree on what evidence is don't we?

Bradley loves making sweeping statements and he's been bit on his butt and would love this to end.

Me2

Gamaliel

OK. I just read through this whole thread. Now, what was the question again?

Stacy Smith

OK. I just read through this whole thread. Now, what was the question again?

It wasn't a question it was a statement that we are plain stupid.

Are most people just plain stupid?

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