The End Of An Era
Everyone knows there is more than one kind of stupidity. There are three to be exact. I call them type 1, type 2, and type 3. Type 1 is that with which we are all born or simply things we do not know. We start with all of it and die with a lot left in most cases. Type 2 is when we know something that is not so. It can be cured with a well-placed bet then a sound line of logic. Type two is much worse than type 1 but it can be overcome. Type 3 is a special form of type 2; it is the most destructive and hardest from which to recover. Type 3 stupidity is when many or even all people know something that is not so and they have known it for a very long time. I call it protracted stupidity.
The flat earthers are the most famous example of protracted stupidity. Their ‘knowledge’ was so absolute that harm could and did come to doubters. This certainty seems so obvious to us now, but for almost all of mans history we could not conceive of a round earth or even one not orbited by the sun. The sun was flat also in their minds I guess. The tallest mountain becoming short as one departed was ignored in order to support their belief. Everything disappearing in the distance would have jolted man to reason had he not been in the throws of type 3 stupidity.
But last week the drug warriors passed the flat earther’s historical record. There where no ceremonies. The flat earthers are almost all dead and the drug warriors scurried like cockroaches when the lights came on.
The drug warriors know that drugs are dangerous even though, being inanimate, this is clearly not so. They also know that drugs replace a lifetime of character and personality development. Ignoring the vast majority of evidence to the contrary is their disappearing mountain.
The drug warrior accomplishment is especially impressive if you consider the relative length of the competitor’s efforts. Everyone knows that the world is round now. But for virtually all of man’s history until about 400 years ago everyone knew that the world was flat. Yet the drug warriors have just arrived on the scene a little over 100 years ago. How did they equal and surpass such an impressive effort in a relative blink of an eye? The level of certainty is the same for both groups, but the numbers tell the story.
Stupidity compounds itself. Two people can be more than twice as stupid as one. With one there can be doubt. But many idiots in conclave are certain of everything. This was true of the flat earthers, but they where numbered in the thousands or even millions. The drug warriors number in the billions! So I did the math. It is true. Drug warriors are now in the lead and pulling away fast.
To calculate protracted stupidity you must multiply the number of stupid people by the numbers of years they are stupid. So 3 million people stupid for 30,000 years is 300 million PSU (protracted stupidity units). This is based on the average number of flat earthers throughout history. I disregard the 400 years of enlightenment since it is such a small part of the total. There are 3 billion people alive who still think that the drug war is smart. Plus 500 million who thought it was smart before they died. They lived for an average of 65 years despite not being particularly bright. Incidentally 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. So 500M times 65 plus 1 billion times 50 (average age of idiots today) is such a big number that my calculator can’t handle it. Suffice to say that the drug warriors are making the flat earthers look smart.
Rick Wolfe