How come so many dumb people think they are smart?

Question

What is society's responsibility here? Is it ok to tell people they might have a poor concept of how they come across?

Answer 1

I think a lot of this goes back to elementary school. In elementary school they always had to make sure everyone felt important. That meant some dumb people got praise for dumb things and then felt smart and important. Parents also have been told to always make your child feel good about themselves. I think people need to get real with their children and teacher's need to start telling it like it is. If a kid is a dumb *** then they don't need praise. Too many children are getting pumped out of school and aren't smart enough to even answer basic questions about civilization. Society is too worried about people feeling good about themselves.

Answer 2

Here: for awhile I was on Weight Watchers and it was when they used your current weight to calculate the number of "points" you could have in one day. But for me and my metabolism the number of points I was allowed really wasnt enough as far as hunger. So I had to buy 'diet','low fat','fat free', in order to actually meet my needs and stay within the daily points. A friend of my husband-the guys wife-I was talking to her about nutrition and weight loss and I noticed she was antagonistic about every statement I made.(She was more overweight than I and wasnt really intelligent but up until then she was fairly nice)So then I told her about Weight Watchers and that it was going well but I had to watch my points, that I was allowed 25 points a day. She grimaced like I was an idiot. So to clarify I said "For instance, a slice of bread is 2 points"And she said incredulously "Who eats ONE slice of bread?"

So, she was typically dumb, but thought that I was dumb and she was smart. Smart enough to figure people dont eat just ONE slice of bread and that I was dumb enough to do so. She mulled self-righteously. That she didnt already or immediately figure I was referring to the points of a sandwich, let me know right there not to bother cluing her in. It was very difficult to drop it and let a dumb person think I was dumber than her.

If other people say assinine things and I know by fact better, I will correct.
And if I think I'm saying something true or intelligent and it is assinine and idiotic I'd prefer to be told the true thing.

Friend or family, good naturedly, yes I would say.

Co worker or someone I knew only in one capacity, no I let it go.

So society's responsibility here, FOR ME, its ok to tell me I have a poor concept of how I come across. FOR OTHERS I will tell them if I think it makes a difference, kindly.

BTW, I've stumbled into the philosophy section and have answered some questions literally, making a fool of myself.
Or I answer before I know what section I am in at all and waaaay out there with my answer.
I guess I should add that to my details of my profile. "Email to let me know if I talk like a know it all or an idiot, etc"

Answer 3

How ignorant is your question? I don't know why you would want to make someone who is less educated, in no-matter what field, feel uncomfortable or ashamed. Why can't you just quietly feel sorry for people like that or maybe offer to lend a helpful explanation for why they may not be right? Just think about what people think of you and the egoist things you might come out with, like this STUPID question!

Answer 4

The thing to really ask yourself is why do you feel they are dumb? And what about other people who may think you are someone who is dumb but feels smart ? I think everyone is smart about at least something, and at the same time everyone is really ignorant about at least one thing.

Answer 5

How do you know who is dumb? And why do you think dumb people think they are smart? People are intelligent in many different ways. Maybe you could try diplomacy in your approach to people.

Answer 6

dumb is dumber....lol
i had a friend who had a hard time admitting his mistakes and did and said dumbest things in the world. but it never made a difference to him if someone tries to talk out about it.
he thought anyone who tells him something against his wishes is mean.
i later figured that he was soooo dumb that he was doing soo dumb things but didn't know and didn't even care if he is hurting someone

Answer 7

Some people think they are rich with smartness, as they don't know what dumb means.

Answer 8

Because they are so dumb they don't know that they are not smart. I have a coworker like that and everybody in the office rolls their eyes when she talks its rude but so is she.
I say leave her be

Answer 9

It is absoutely O.K. to tell someone they are dumb. If that is how you feel the just do it. Freedom of speech will protect you. Just be prepared to be retaliated against.

Answer 10

I don't believe its our responsibility to tell any creature to perceive the world as WE believe they should.
It's ours to be accomodating to many different thoughts and styles. Adaptation is for our good.
Anything less is judgemental.