From I love Amy

Unfortunately for this girl (and for everyone else) all countries are mostly made up of stupid people.

  • pedz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    3 hours ago

    Yeah. Every time I hear someone say they don’t have kids and complain about paying taxes for the education of their neighbours, I like to remind them that having those kids not being as dumb as a rock is also an advantage for them.

    I don’t have kids, and even though I went through public school in Quebec, I can confidently say that I’m more educated than my parents, and I’d prefer my neighbours’ kids to be also more educated than their parents. I hate capitalism but even from that point of view, it’s an investment. Educated people usually earn more and it will prevent the neighbourhood to become overrun by rednecks. Apply the same logic to a city, region, country. I want my neighbours to be intelligent enough to avoid polluting their/my water and air. I want them to be intellectually curious instead of plunging us straight down into another “dark ages”.

    Unfortunately…

  • Jaberw0cky@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    3 hours ago

    Didn’t I read just yesterday that Iranian women have 5x more university degrees in stem subjects than US women?

  • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 hours ago

    Americans on hearing a British accent: “wow, they must be so much more intelligent and cultured than us!”

    Britons: “I’d be fine with migrants if they came here to work instead of just stealing all the jobs. Also, I wonder how many Creme Eggs I can fit up my bum”

  • cRazi_man@europe.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    9 hours ago

    People in other countries are not dumb and neither are Americans.

    Making decisions as a collective and on a national level is really difficult. Americans’ voices are just amplified because they dominate media and the economy. This is further amplified by the fact that the state and structures support perverse incentives and systematically reward people for not acting in collective interest.

    Thinking you’re smart and everyone else is dumb is such immature “I’m 14 and this is deep” kinda bullshit that it really makes me think negatively of any person expressing this opinion. Stop blaming people (who are your peers and neighbours and community) and start blaming leaders and systems.

    But I guess none of this makes for a quick, funny meme.

    • Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 hours ago

      This is a real measurable phenomenon.

      65% of Americans think they have above average intelligence. People who are smart downgrade their own intelligence, slightly. People who are idiots greatly over estimate their intelligence. The deltas are separated by multiple magnitudes.

      A more mundane version of this, 85% of drivers think they are above average drivers.

      If you cannot surmise from this that most people are actually less smart than they think, the most polite way I can put that is that the problem is not with those who are calling out the issue. A quarter of society is unable to recognize they are below average.

      That is real problem. It is serious problem. It’s made worse because a large chunk of society is composed of stupid people thinking they are smarter than the smart people. This isn’t new. It is not imagined. It is not exaggerated. It is measurable. It is very real.

      Denialists doom us all because stupid people glob to their comforting lies.

    • MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      9 hours ago

      A person can be smart. “People” are not. Groupthink changes a person, especially when tribalism is involved. The masses are easily led by “us vs. them” narratives.

    • HalfSalesman@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 hours ago

      68% of them are stupid or evil or both. I can blame both them and leadership at the same time.

      Why should I forgive them? Honest question.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 hours ago

      and neither are Americans.

      The majority of adults in your country can’t read above a 6th grade level. About 25% of adults are functionally illerate.

      Might want to rethink that opening line.

    • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zoneM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      8 hours ago

      This is inaccurate; only a minority of people are meaningfully less “intelligent” and it’s rarely those people who are the real problem. The problem isn’t intelligence, but the foolishness of people unable to see past their own biases or think critically.

      • HalfSalesman@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        The problem isn’t intelligence, but the foolishness of people unable to see past their own biases or think critically.

        “The problem isn’t stupid people, its dumb people.”

          • HalfSalesman@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            5 hours ago

            Being unable to think critically doesn’t mean someone is unintelligent?

            The inability to see past their own bias (or at least show the capacity to actually try) isn’t unintelligent?

            Being able to do those things, by my own measure, is arguably one of the prerequisites for intellect. Those things and curiosity of course.

            • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zoneM
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 hours ago

              I’m telling you, I’ve seen otherwise brilliant people say the dumbest shit. The world is hard to understand in the first place and it’s often too scary to face the facts.

              • HalfSalesman@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                2 hours ago

                Being scared of facing the truth is something I do not respect or identify as intelligence.

                But yes, sure, a person can be both smart and dumb. I actually agree with that. But now we’re talking about selectively intelligent people, and if someone is smart, but explicitly has been dumb about something as important as politics, I still struggle to respect them or think of them as smart overall. I think of them as dumb but with expertise.

                EDIT: Or of course: they’re evil.

                • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zoneM
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  2 hours ago

                  Nah, even people with the right ideas on politics can have these blind spots. Nobody is immune and when everyone is vulnerable to something, those blind spots add up. It’s what allows divide and conquer strategies to expand beyond those who are more conservative.