Stupidity.
What causes it?
Cring starts off the New Year with an intelligent challenge: let’s question whether the new ideas are really new at all.
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We Don’t Have to Be as Stupid As We Appear
If you spend all your time trying to find a nicer way to say bad things, you will end up with bad things still in play because you’ve wasted all your time.
When I look in the mirror, what do I see? Factually, I see a bald, aging fat man. Now if I say that out loud to friends, family or even those of a sensitive bend, they frown and insist that “I’m promoting poor self-image.”
They immediately insist that I change these words to more cuddly terminology. In other words, phrases that embrace my uniqueness instead of critiquing it.
- So “bald” must somehow ease its way toward “distinguished.”
- “Aging” might better be phrased as “well-experienced.”
- And “fat” finally settles in on a word that is still less-than-appealing: plump.
I am told that I am NOT a bald, aging fat man, but instead, a distinguished, well-experienced, plump fellow. Of course, as soon as I offer these different terminologies, people translate them in their own minds, to bald, aging and fat.
Being frightened of the truth forbids the truth from making you free.
And so it is with the word STUPID.
There are people who find it very distasteful. They opt for the word “ignorant. There’s a large portion of our population that will shudder upon hearing this word, though. So, in our clumsy need to constantly be affirmed, we have come up with “uninformed.”
Dumb is debilitating. Retarded is completely unethical. So, we pridefully cling to the term uninformed.
Problem is, if we are informed or if we are being informed, and yet our intelligence is not improved, then we may PUBLICLY be considered uninformed, while privately deemed stupid.
When does truth get the chance to produce its sting, allow us to recoil and alarm us to the point that we repent?
And while we’re at it, how can we determine what is stupid and what is not?
A very wise man once said, “there’s nothing new under the sun.” Although a bit cynical, there is some validity to the thought. In other words, the turmoil, lying, cheating, insolence and partisanship in Washington, D.C., was not introduced in 2016. Our history is littered with scandals, false campaigns, innuendo, sexual misconduct, dirty deals and pernicious Presidents who deemed themselves kings.
WHAT IS STUPID?
There are three questions that help determine the answer to this questions:
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What is the history?
Has this happened before? What was the conclusion? It the actions continue, why would the conclusions be different just because we change names and centuries?
What is the history of the idea I find myself promoting, and the notions that are being advertised as fresh concepts—are they really just broken-down cupboards with a new coat of paint?
In other words, calling it “culture” does not prevent it from being racism.
Presenting the platform of an ancestral lineage does not stop it from being prejudice and for that matter, ridiculous that DNA can carry character.
What is the history of what I am pursuing?
Is history kind to overly zealous politics?
Has history proven that staunch religion actually initiates good will?
Has the battle of the sexes promoted equality or unity between men and women?
If not, and I insist on chasing the latest offering, I can officially call myself stupid.
I am not uninformed, because history is available to me.
I am not absent understanding, because those who preceded me have thoroughly immortalized their folly in books.
I don’t have to be as stupid as I appear if I will just study the history of bad ideas.
2. What is the available information?
I’m not talking about the tainted versions promoted on cable television.
If we use the term “socialism” what is the information we have on socialism?
If we’re going to toss around the phrase “border wall,” what do we actually know about the effectiveness of such structures, and how have they worked in the past? Were they worth their gold in weight?
Since we have an information superhighway, it might be a good idea to pull our train of thought out of the ditch and get on the right track, heading toward the depot of deeper understanding.
You can’t learn without information.
You can’t get information by hanging around people who agree with you.
It is possible for us not to be as stupid as we appear, if we will sort through the opinions and find information.
3. Can I pulse the passion?
If we’re not excited, we’re not excited. If it doesn’t ring your bell, it’ll be difficult for you to chime in.
We can’t give in to the pressures of society, trying to get along, when our passion for the ideas is vacant.
I need to do something more than “believe in God.”
I need to get a pure heart, so I can see God.
I need evidence that God is real in His workings on Earth, or I will cease to be passionate and drone along, dragging my feet as a follower.
Is there any power in being a Republican? How about a Democrat? I need an answer that ignites my passions instead of merely proclaiming myself “red’ or “blue” and ending up with a black heart. If something is good, if something is real, if something has a sense of practicality, it will churn an energy in our beings that produces the faith that will endure our belief while we set in motion our works.
If you’re not passionate, don’t slap yourself in the face. Realize that you’re probably pursuing things you know are stupid, which makes you appear to fall in that category.
I don’t want to be stupid anymore, and I don’t want you to relieve my responsibility of being stupid by patting me on the head and telling me “I’m just uninformed.”
I feel stupid because I am stupid because I live in a stupid world that accepts stupid because we don’t want to change stupid.
So, I’m going to go check out the history of what I’m being told. I going to find information that doesn’t come out of “headquarters.”
And I’m going to check my own heart, to meter whether my passion is being stirred, or if I’m being left cold because I’m listening to bullshit.
The good news is, you don’t have to be stupid.
The better news is, history is available to inform us where we should place our passion