In his famous satirical poem "The Ship of Fools", the outstanding German philosopher Sebastian Brant, in particular, wrote that our world is mired in stupidity, that modern society needs immediate change, and that it cannot go on like this for a long time - after all, ordinary human stupidity will sooner or later destroy everything good that surrounds us.
If you think that Brant is our contemporary, you are definitely wrong. The "Ship of Fools" was first published in 1494, but even today, more than five centuries later, much of what its author wrote about is more than fair. If there's anything in it that has not changed since then, it's the amount of great and small stupidity around us.
No, of course, we are not talking about such striking manifestations as, let's say, wearing clothes upside down, investing in financial pyramids, or perhaps choosing Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan in the NBA draft. We are talking about some obvious or less so cases which clearly signal to us that we are dealing with someone with a pure lack of intelligence.
And just recently, this particular thread appeared in the AskReddit community, which has gained around 6K upvotes and almost 8K various comments to date. The author of the thread asked the readers just one simple question: "What makes you instantly question someone's intelligence?" And you know what? It turns out that there are so many options that Sebastian Brant, if he lived today and read the full list, would definitely write a sequel to the "Ship of Fools".
But the great philosopher passed into the best of all worlds exactly 500 years ago, so Bored Panda took over his function and collected a selection of the most extraordinary, aptly and wittily described observations that demonstrate how to recognize any slightest manifestation of human stupidity literally out of the blue. So please feel free to read all the signs we've selected, and of course add your own observations. After all, no one is immune from the fact that what today is considered absolute wisdom will be no less true nonsense tomorrow.
More info: Reddit
#1
I just heard a guy say "God gave us the right to have a gun, if you're against my right to have a gun, you're also against God."Politics aside, whether you're for or against gun laws; that is a ridiculous statement.
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#2
Littering.
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#3
Having even a cursory interest in what the Kardashians are doing.
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#4
People who unironically use the words "alpha male"
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#5
An unwillingness to learn new things.
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#6
When they like andrew tate
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#7
Active hostility to books (as opposed to simply not reading them).
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#8
When they post one of those things on Facebook saying "only a few will share!" or when they comment on one of those clickbait "God has a blessing for you today say amen!" posts
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#9
Subscribing to a political party like it’s a religion.
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#10
talking about horoscopes"I'm toxic and clingy because i'm a caprisun"
no sharon you're just a c**t, the stars had nothing to do with it
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#11
People who don’t accept that people change their minds. Example:“I actually view things with
“Well if you don’t stick to your guns, how are you supposed to stand up for yourself?? You can’t just let people change your mind like that!!”
Yes, yes you can. People grow when they’re introduced to new information. If you don’t change at all, you’re not “sticking to your guns”, you’re being an idiot.
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#12
Everything is black and white, there are no middle grounds. You either support and agree with every little thing they do at full force, or you're a worst enemy.
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#13
The act of being rude or condescending to retail workers or waitstaff, in my opinion, is indicative of poor education and social skills.
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#14
When they use the Bible as their go to defense for anything they do. Especially when they misquote it or point to something that isn't in the Bible.
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#15
When they insist that feelings and beliefs are on equal footing to facts.#16
People who can only argue by raising their voice.
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#17
When people insult rather than use a counter argument.
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#18
Claiming to be a sovereign citizen.#19
Interest in a pyramid scheme
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#20
Just a complete lack of critical thinking. They cannot trouble shoot anything. I have an employee like this and it’s painful watching them sometimes.
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#21
When people constantly go on and on about how such and such is overrated or people who's favorite thing is X are idiots then I suspect they are being immature or dumb. I recognize this because I used to do it constantly. I now realize how stupid and immature that was. I am not perfect and still find myself doing it sometimes. It such an easy trap to fall into.The example I like to give is the band Rush. I'm not a fan of their music but it would borderline criminal of me to say they are overrated or that people who like their music are dumb. Those three dudes are/were insanely talented and had more musical talent than I could ever dream of. Their music just doesn't speak to me and that's not on them that's on me.
So now I try my best to say things like "Big Bang theory" just isn't my cup of tea rather than everybody who likes BBT is dumb. Calling people dumb for having different opinions about subjective things is dumb.
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#22
If every mistake in their life is blamed on others... Dropped out? Thats the schools fault. Didnt get a GED? Thats their parents fault for not helping them. Electricity wasn't paid on time? Yeah the company is out to get him...I mean an excuse for EVERYTHING
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#23
Being confidently ignorant
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#24
Talks a lot and never listens.
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#25
They aren't open to changing their beliefs when given new information.
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#26
The kind of dogmatic anti-education sentiment you see going around the internet. "I learned more in this 10 minutes video than in 3 years of highschool", "College is a scam, my friend's cousin's dog dropped out to run his own business and is now a multimillionnaire".The education system is imperfect and you don't *need* a college degree to lead a successful life, but people who outright dismiss college as a useful tool or ask why highschool doesn't teach us about taxes after they slept through algebra and ~~home-ed~~ home-ec just seem to be complaining for the sake of complaining. "Oh look at me I'm a contrarian that likes to s**t on some of the most useful established tools in modern society".
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#27
I have absolutely no idea why, but people here seem to think that poor grammar = unintelligent, without considering people who don't speak the language and are trying their best.People can be Intelligent in other ways some are good at solving puzzles, some are good at mathematics or physics, some have excellent memory and some are good at quizzes.
#28
"could of", "would of"#29
Using the wrong their, there, they're, where, were, wear. We all slip up sometimes but habitual abusers grind my gears !#30
If they believe in TV magicians, ghost hunting show, or that most other reality shows are not scripted
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#31
Oddly enough, when they try and tell me their IQ.
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#32
When they ,type Like This.. Did You not learn, ,how to write?#33
The inability to distinguish between subjective and objective reality
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#34
Anyone that says, "My truth". A*****e there's only THE truth. You can have FEELINGS but you arent entitled to your own truth.#35
They make their political affiliation into their entire personality
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#36
Arguing without listening
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#37
Using Facebook posts/status updates as personal diary entries.
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#38
When you prove your point in a discussion and the other person explains that it doesn’t even matter because their REAL point is something that’s an off-shoot of that subject in a “gotcha!” manner.
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#39
When they repeat a certain statement word for word I get the impression that they memorized something to sound more intelligent than they are.
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#40
“I do my own research”
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#41
Them calling other people dumb or them praising their own intelligence
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