I have no patience for the stupid
As I get older I find that I have less tolerance for people. It’s true, I’m becoming my dad. I grumble like an old curmudgeon and find myself having less sympathy for the incredibly stupid. And I also find myself increasingly judging people as incredibly stupid.
It’s touching to see the compassion and humanity of people when a disaster such as a hurricane strikes. We saw it with Harvey and then this September with Florence. That is still something nice to see in all the political battles and fake news accusations repeated on TV and social media. (Scratch that: hurricanes have become political battles.)
Though divided as a country, Americans have come together in a moment of crisis. Coincidentally, we also saw that on 9/11 which again made many people feel patriotic this week.
But let’s get to the stupidity. It seems like hurricanes bring out the stupid in people.
When hurricanes pound and area, news crews captured people in sailboats rocking in the water trying to leisurely ride out the storm (just for the hell of it, I guess). They also caught a scuba diver getting rescued after the waves got the best of him (again, for something to do). And who can forget the people looting a Foot Locker with TV cameras right outside their getaway cars capturing every moment?
It’s the group of people in that last paragraph that make me say, “You kind of deserve the bad stuff that’s happening (or going to happen) to you.”
Can you imagine if someone went out to rescue a sail-boater or a scuba moron and they themselves lost their life? They put their own safety at risk to assist the clinically dumb (I am coining that term in this column) and paid the ultimate price? If I were the stupid scuba diver I wouldn’t be able to face the world after that. I would accept anything that karma threw my way.
So while I am still touched to see the good side of humanity I am increasingly intolerant of the people I am judging as lacking brain cells.
Though it does have me wonder: Is this something to do with age or is it just the lack of compassion we have toward each other nowadays? Maybe both?
