Does anyone else feel like 90% of the population is stupid?
Does anyone else feel like 90% of the population is stupid?
To clarify here, I don't feel like I'm significantly smarter than most people, but I feel like people have a hard time doing any sort of thinking about stuff. Especially when it comes to verifying "facts."
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Yeah, "stupid" is not defined around average intelligence. This whole panel is an example of a straw man fallacy to undermine someone saying "people are stupid".
Sure, "stupid" isn't defined around average intelligence, but "people" is defined around the average person. So, by saying "stupid" is not defined around average intelligence, you're really criticizing the phrase "people are stupid"...
...which is exactly what this comic is doing
Saying "people are stupid" is the same as saying "the average person is stupid". What's hard to understand here?
Frankly, that is just a big pile of babble.
but “people” is defined [SIC] around the average person
There's no "definition" here. The closest to what you said that would make some sense would be "but "people" implies a generalisation around the average person", but it doesn't work in your argument because it does not contradict what BananaTrifleViolin said. Nor it justifies your assumption that
by saying “stupid” is not defined around average intelligence, you’re really criticizing the phrase “people are stupid”…
I genuinely think that you did not understand what the other poster said, so I'll repeat it under different words.
The comic has an implicit definition of stupidity as "lower than average intelligence" (see panel 2).
BananaTrifleViolin is highlighting that this is not the definition that people use for "stupid" when they say "people are stupid". And that leads to a fallacy called "straw man", where you misrepresent a position to beat it. Munroe (the cartoonist) is doing this, either by accident or on purpose. (It is not the first time he does this; his comic about free speech also shows the same irrationality.)
What you're really saying is "other people aren't as smart as me."
I like xkcd but I feel like Munroe is being assumptive here, assuming "your expectations are based on you". Are they?
Agree. When I say "people are stupid" I mean they are living below their potential. The average person may have the intelligence, but consistently refuse to use it.
Yeah, I think that this is part of the deal.
When someone says "people are stupid", they usually are not conveying "the average person has a lower-than-average intelligence". And I don't think that they're even comparing people with some point of reference (the average, or themself, or someone else); in the context they're usually criticising some behaviour that they see as stupid. For you this behaviour would be "living below their potential", for me it's "showing blatant lack of reasoning", for @[email protected]'s (from another comment) "lack of curiosity, drive to learn and critical thinking".
This. I don't mind ignorance. The ignorant can always be educated. I mind WILLFUL ignorance. Those who refuse to look at facts or use reason when confronted with something that contradicts their world view. THOSE are the stupid people.
That’s not how you respond to someone saying “people are stupid.”
