Yes & no, people are not all stupid but there is a reason quotes like this exist – – – –

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

― Abraham Lincoln

So with that in mind, why would someone say that? why would someone who is clearly intelligent say something so seemingly dismissive of an entire populace? Well they didn’t. Unfortunately they are right, some people are just dumb – it all comes down to how much you or rather what a person is or would be willing to expose themselves to.

What do I mean by expose themselves? not run around the street buck naked or dressed in a trench coat but rather expose themselves to information that may not necessarily be all that comfortable for them to hear or read, like a religious person reading non religious material. Not out of spite or to cast doubt on the work or mock it, but rather to deepen their own knowledge and subsequent understandings of the world around them through seeing things they wouldn’t normally see.

As obscene a concept as that may be, there is something to be said for the ones who expose themselves to the worst forms of humanity that we can see, be it in real life or on the internet, or some of the most disturbing and disgusting things one could see. If I had never seen anything about trypophobia –

“Trypophobia is an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. It is not officially recognized as a mental disorder, but may be diagnosed as a specific phobia if excessive fear and distress occur.”

I would never have known I even had it. The way I learned about it or rather experienced it was arguably just as horrible – even just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach, but now I know how widespread it is. Had I been a shy individual I would never have known that even though it was obvious there was something wrong with me. I recall an incident in my youth of my cousins and I looking at a bouquet of fake flowers or real flowers I can’t remember, I dare not repost the picture… feel free to look up the term if you want to. When I saw this flower I felt sick, and only my cousin and myself felt that way – I didn’t know why. That was about twelve or fourteen years ago. I only found out about trypophobia about five years ago, six maybe. So to me at least that is a clear example of how a person could shield themselves from something they experience even though it affects them, simply because it makes them uncomfortable.

Exposure is everything, if you take religious community based education for example, the people who come out of those systems have a warped sense of reality based on their beliefs – their belief actually changes their world view – the object that is not even cognizant of your existence. Yet some believe that their idea is the one that secretly has the answers to everything, I don’t even think such an idea could exist. The more I think about it, the fact that people even agree with each other at all or feign amicable relationships is probably some symptom or side effect of the law and not of personal action. I’m sure that if people could kill or somehow silence someone saying something they don’t like – consequence free – there would be more than a few murders & murderers around. I was watching a video on marines & veterans talking about people they kill – or killed in battle. Unlike the movies which paint a very remorseful individual who is just so torn up over killing someone – rather – they had a look of certainty. Of assurity. That if it wasn’t them who killed, they would be killed. One thing the veteran said stuck with me – Here is the video

” ……so it’s…..they’re not real people they’re targets…..” the veteran I refer to above was describing how he killed these two guys who were running with ammo and a machine gun respectively – once they shot them down – a woman picked up the rifle…. and they shot her. I found that interesting as a statement because made by a serial killer it would be horrific but here sits not a vile man –

but a celebrated one.

Killing to most of us is out of the question, none of us, or atleast I hope none of us, would kill someone. Or atleast not without good cause – what would be good cause? well maybe if you’re Jennifer Lopez in “Enough”, Lol. Don’t @ me. Hahaha, so are people dumb? Who can say with certainty… I certainly can’t – see what I did there 🙂 ?.

I am always so fascinated by what even some of the most innocuous of people’s can innovate things the world would use from their tiny towns or back rooms. Insanely good music made in garages – I recall a song called Fireflies –

I remember the main thing people were saying about this song was how it was made. Everyone was so impressed that it was made by just this guy at his keyboard and computer. Prior to that – that was scoffed at – even I scoffed at it. Now I make music that way as well.

Am I dumb?

Yes.

Lol.