Hm. This common sense thing....how would you define somebody who just walks across a busy street without checking for oncoming traffic? Or a person who has a stereo plugged in and sitting at the edge of their bathtub? Is this person not lacking the knowledge or 'sense' of the 'common' person?

Virgin, when you say "common sense" do you mean "common knowledge"? Maybe you've just been using the wrong expression.

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All I know is I know nothing - Socrates

I would describe them as suicidal people. You can call someone crazy though a lack of "common sense doesnt exist. What is common sense? Something a common person has? If its so common then why is everyone complaining that its common to see stupid people?

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Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.

I guess it may be a lack of common knowledge rather than stupidity. But isn't a lack of interest in what's going on in the world, in essence, stupidity? Or maybe it's just selfishness, a "I don't care what's happening as long as it doesn't affect me" mentality.

I don't think I'm very intelligent - I just think that people should know the basics about the world we live in. Otherwise it's like going through life with blinders on.

Illusional----Eh? You don't want to go to Beijing? Being Japanese, aren't you interested in your neighbour?

chlorine.. i'm also half chinese. hahaha

raverboy

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...this is just my perspective on the situation...

Illusional----Really? All the more you should go than!

hrmm.. the only thing that i wanna see in china is probably the great wall. other that than, i have no interest in china.

raverboy

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...this is just my perspective on the situation...

I've discovered the answer to the topic of this thread:

People are stupid,
but a person is intelligent.

Chew on that.

-chews on it-



-spits it out-

GROSS!

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"In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes..." -Andy Warhol

Isn't it though?

Haha... *sigh*.

Donut/Everbody-----Sometimes I try and remind myself to be open to other people's opinions. Not be so quick to judge; and it takes effort to actually shut up and listen to what the other person has to say.

'Cause closemindedness, narrowmindedness is the surest way down the slippery slope of stupidity.

Huh?

Did you even read my last post?

How ironic.

bohemiandonut - I think you may be on to something. On a related note, I was reading my horoscope the other day (just to see what stupid things those astrologers can come up with next) and something caught my eye. Supposedly, aquariuses hate people, but love mankind. Now, besides the obvious fact that astrology is a steaming pile of crap, that thought sort of echoes yours and actually makes alot of sense.

Chlorine - I couldn't agree more. Narrowmindedness is a cancer on society, but it stems from lack of experience and travel, it has nothing to do with intelligence.

Truth, perhaps, but useless as such. The REASON this may be true is that stupidity (or lack of) is
1. relative
2. highly contextual

Nomas & OVs points about cultural norms would apply. I would be very careful calling anyone stupid, tho. Assumptions usually come back to bite you:

I once met an African gentleman whilst a student. We were in queue for tokens to get on the local subway. The man at the booth was loudly berating this fellow for not providing the proper coins to pay with, implying he was stupid (which he seemed in that context, he was fumbling around a lot & seemed confused). Turned out he was a visiting neurosurgeon who'd been asked to give a talk at Harvard med!