Abraham Lincoln (attributed): ‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Albert Einstein: Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.
Bertrand Russell: Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
John Stuart Mill: Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
Got a stupid story?
For stupid, it’s hard to compete with this:
And according to the erudite Mr. Quayle isn’t Latin America where they speak……wait for it…..Latin.
Dan Quayle jewel
This cracked up the grad offices when my husband was studying rocket science:
Mars is essentially in the same orbit… Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
Dan Quayle, 8/11/89
US Republican politician (1947 – )
Most of what we get are stupid comments about my PG kid. Picture this: my newly nine year old has her first day of high school and I’m sitting on a chair in the hall where she can find me if need be. An aide, a seemingly adult woman, come by and loudly asks “Is she a genius?”. All I could reply was “That’s what it said on the tag.”
We did a Great piece on the Geneva Convention article yesterday. I would recomend it to everyone. It is very detailed and more complete than any other diary I have read to date. Please check it out here.
http://donkephant.blogspot.com/2006/06/by-book-army-field-manual-fm-34-52.html
Also remember we are doing a special Torture Awareness Month promotion. If you would like to join the blogroll information can be found here.
http://donkephant.blogspot.com/2006/06/bloggers-against-torture-month.html
More Mencken:
Peace
I was driving my grandmother back from a doctor’s appointment in Birmingham a few years ago, talking about Roy Moore and the 10 Commandments Statue. Clearly this is a dangerous subject with a fundy Southern Baptist who has a 10 Commandments sign on her front lawn, but she surprised me by saying that she was a strong believer in separation of church and state.
Her next sentence was something to the effect that this was why every one of those damned atheists who wanted to remove the statue should spend the rest of their lives in prison, which definitely ruined the moment. I spent a few minutes trying to explain to her what separation means before finally giving up.
Her logic gives me a headache anytime I try to grasp whatever the hell she is talking about. And she’s a Democrat who despises Bush with a passion. I don’t even want to find out what the other fundamentalists are like.
It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then — just to loosen up.
Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone — “to relax,” I told myself — but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.
That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s.
I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself
I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly we are doing here?”
One day the boss called me in. He said, “Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.”
This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confess, “I’ve been thinking…”
“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!”
“But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”
“It is serious,” she said, lower lip aquiver. “You think as much as college professors, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won’t have any money!”
“That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama “I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.
I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors… They didn’t open. The library was closed.
To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a Poster caught my eye, “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked.
You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.
I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was “Porky’s.”
Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed…easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.
Today I made the final step, I registered to vote as a Bushite Republican
and I’m a thinker.