Have you ever asked yourself: “Why are people so dumb?” Be it because of the way they behave in public, the way they drive, or the way they put themselves, intentionally or not, in harm’s way, some people really possess the ability to make fellow human beings roll their eyes in disbelief or sigh in frustration.
Of course, someone might say, “Let people do dumb things if they don’t learn from their own mistakes,” but the thing here is that it is often other people who suffer from the consequences. Unfortunately, one stupid action may lead to a whole bunch of disasters, but the person responsible for it won’t even realize the damage. That’s not to say that smart people never make mistakes, but most of the time, they learn not to repeat them.
Users of AskReddit shared their opinions as to what things exist only because of other people’s stupidity — to either prevent its consequences or, sad as it is, to take advantage of dumb people. They voiced a lot of interesting, thought-provoking points of view. Do you agree with this list? Is there anything else that, in your opinion, exists only because people do dumb things? Share in the comments.
#1
"I know a lot of people say warning labels, but let's be honest... Warning labels have probably never stopped stupid people from doing stupid things. They're just there to protect corporations from getting lawsuits."
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97points
#4
"Expiration date on salt.
It’s been in the ground longer than time itself. Regulations on food have required an expiration date.
That pure salt that was mined out of the earth is not going to go bad sitting in your dry goods pantry."
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73points
#5
"'Wearing this costume does not enable you to fly.' - tag on a Superman Halloween costume."
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69points
#8
"Warning signs on chainsaws that say "do not attempt to stop blades with hands or genitals"."
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65points
#9
Beginnerer wrote:
"The belief of a flat earth."
"The belief of a flat earth."
BATTLEHOOG replied:
"This is by far my favorite conspiracy just to laugh at just cause like.... why? Who would lie about that?! What is there to gain from people thinking the earth is actually a globe?!"
"This is by far my favorite conspiracy just to laugh at just cause like.... why? Who would lie about that?! What is there to gain from people thinking the earth is actually a globe?!"
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64points
#11
"Measles. In 2000, measles was nearly eradicated, but then anti-vaxxers brought it back to popularity. I should mention it was nearly eradicated in the U.S.A. Measles is still very prevalent in other places around the globe."
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57points
#12
"The disclaimer on a microwave that says "you can't dry your cat in this". Some women killed her cat that way."
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49points
#13
"The warning label on my scooter. “Caution: object moves when used”."
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48points
#16
justinwatt wrote:
"'Do not eat contents' on a claymore mine."
"'Do not eat contents' on a claymore mine."
tylerchu replied:
"WWII (or maybe Vietnam?) soldiers actually did eat bits of C4 occasionally because it would give them symptoms mimicking that of the flu, which they’d use to get out of combat."
"WWII (or maybe Vietnam?) soldiers actually did eat bits of C4 occasionally because it would give them symptoms mimicking that of the flu, which they’d use to get out of combat."
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46points
#19
"Low fat food. The reason low fat food became popular was because people wanted to get slim and decided to believe the lies that fat makes you fat instead of the truth being that sugar has a major impact on your weight. So when you buy low fat food with extra sugar to add the taste lost by the fat, then you are actually eating food that is worse for you than the regular stuff."
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42points
#20
"Let's not get on a tangent about the topic of TV ads for prescription medication, but recently (last couple years) they started adding a sentence in the commercials:
"Do not take trivexica if you are allergic to trivexica."
What happened to make that a thing that they need to mention now? Why the hell would anyone knowingly continue to put a drug in their body if they knew or realized they were allergic to it? Answer: people are stupid.
I get that it's to protect them legally, but it's mind blowing to me that it needs to be said even to do that."
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37points