Stamp Out Stupidism!

A wake up call to the passive left; sounding a call for a consistency of morality. It’s an SOS. Stamp Out Stupidism.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit hypocritical to go around admonishing people for their prejudices in one breath and then spouting hate-speech targeted at stupid people in the next?“

This was the question I put to erudite News24 columnist, Chris Roper, earlier today.

His column earlier this week, titled “Stupidity Olympics” is a raging tirade against stupid people.

Now, bear in mind, this is a man who uses words like “avuncular” in his columns. I mean, is that even a word? I swear he makes it up just to sound smarter than everyone else. It actually reminds me of an uncle who used to do that, although that uncle didn’t actually write a column for any major news websites.

Stupism or dumbophobia, is just as much an evil as its more publicised brethren (and sistren) racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia and xenophobia. (yes, it’s a pretty big family – Catholics I believe)

Stupidity is not a choice. It is, to a large extent, pretty much…well, *completely* in fact, due to circumstances beyond an individual’s control.

Why is ok to criticise and condemn idiots, yet sexual “preference” – and I use those quotation marks not only to mock Jon Qwelane but also because the word implies choice – is (rightly) held to be something worthy of respect?

Racists have long portrayed blackness as an absence of whiteness, thereby insinuating greater value in one than the other. It’s the same thing among those who portray stupidity as an absence of intelligence, rather than appreciating it as a trait of value on its own.

Where are our stupid leaders?

I call on our stupid leaders of today, leaders like Julius Malema, who hope to lead this country into tomorrow, even if it be from prison, to stand up and say, “I am stupid. And I am proud to be stupid. We are prepared to eliminate those who wish to deny our right to be stupid.”

I call on stupid journalists like Jon Qwelane to stand up and write, loud and proud, in bold letters, with italics and maybe even with underlining for extra effect, “We as neo-Africans will not get caught up in western notions of logic and reason. We, as masters of our own destiny, will not be dictated to in terms of how our thought processes should work or how we should form our beliefs. We will think as we want and say what we wish. This constitution of ours protects that right (until such time as a bunch of politicians muster the balls to rewrite it)”

If we are to be consistent in our belief that men (and women) must not have their value predetermined by prejudice; consistent in our belief that human value is not based on the colour of our skin, who we choose to have sex with, how we look, where we come from or how old we are, then we cannot and must not discriminate against the stupid.

Standing up for stupid

Let me be first to admit, that I am not stupid. (as in the very first. No-one else has ever suggested this fact)

Rather I take this stance, defending the stupid because it is a necessary turn on the road to revolution. The hegemony of the intelligent will continue to go unchallenged until we turn the forces of consistent reasoning upon itself.

In the pursuit of moral consistency and “enlightenment,” we must be unwavering in our commitment to protect from bias and bigotry the human qualities bestowed upon some people and not others.

We must resist the societal tendency towards “othering” – the tendency among humans to discriminate against those who exhibit traits distinct from that which is paramount.

The revolution might possibly be televised

Idiots are everywhere. They reproduce faster than the rest, both culturally and biologically. As an evolutionary strategy intelligence is in no longer superior – the weak (minded) shall inherit the earth.

Jul 24, 2008 | Categories: Featured, Random | Tags: columnists, current events, news, stupid | 5 Comments »