Saturday, February 11, 2012

Why are smart people so stupid?

Well, a case could be made that I am Exhibit A.

Be that as it may.

A highly intelligent software designer, of Asian descent, on another site, took umbrage at the notion that America has historically been a White Protestant republic. And when it was pointed out that, to his horror, it was also a Western country and English-speaking, all he could muster was that it may be so de facto, but that America had no official language or official religion.

I told him I would not engage him any further because he was being silly. But what I wanted to say was, "I thought you Asian guys were so supposed to be so smart, so how come you're such a moron?"

I recognize that intelligence, even when notable, can have limits. Which is why I stay out of discussions of mathematics or quantum mechanics. Maybe some other smartypantses should avoid things like history.

It seems now that even with native intelligence, higher education correlates with higher degrees of inability to grant facts any status in discussion.

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