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
#2
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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234points
#3
Having even a cursory interest in what the Kardashians are doing.
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231points
#7
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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196points
#8
Active hostility to books (as opposed to simply not reading them).
186points
#9
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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173points
#10
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.
167points
#11
Subscribing to a political party like it’s a religion.
163points
#12
People who don’t accept that people change their minds. Example:
“I actually view things with
differently now, since I did a lot more research into it and have a close friend who understands it more than I do and explained it to me.”
“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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161points
#13
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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158points
#14
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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157points
#15
When they insist that feelings and beliefs are on equal footing to facts.
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148points
#16
When people insult rather than use a counter argument.
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137points
#18
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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122points
#19
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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119points
