Stupidity, o come hither!

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you seriously question the cranial capacity of certain individuals and then, by extension, your fellow man? Being a regular reader of The Sun (-1 to argument credibility), but smart enough to know and be weary of what I might on a good day describe as "embellished truths", I still often find myself in that very same situation.

Even if I somehow managed to smack my head against a brick wall with enough brute force to inflict several months worth of amnesia upon myself, forgetting all about greedy MPs' casual spending (apparently in indirect proportion to economic state of the country), the fact that Paris Hilton's British Best Friend actually found airtime (supposedly to cater for the depraved and terminally unemployed demographics) and a CAT on Twitter having 720,000 followers*, I'd still be inundated with stories galore about people doing stupid things from friends, family and tabloids alike.

Now, I'm not saying most people are stupid based purely on that, because I'm not obnoxious enough to pretend that I don't do stupid things, you don't do stupid things, he doesn't do stupid things and her mum doesn't do stupid things. Everyone does stupid things; some with alarming frequency, others with occasional slip-ups.

Even despite the chain reaction that stems thus (person does stupid thing -> stupid thing gets widely publicised -> stupid thing becomes known to all -> stupid thing is forgotten 5 minutes later -> [repeat step 1]), I maintain quite a bit of faith in the human race, because the few people I know of who don't revel in stupidity are the ones who contribute the most towards society.

I like to think of all the inventors, high-ranking scholars, judges, master engineers and philosophers as a collective, finger-wagging nanny who, in between tidying the house and making her virginity abundantly clear, occasionally pops into our room only to discover that we're halfway through eating a bucket of lead-based paint. As she rushes us to the Emergency Room with an austere expression and cold, stony eyes, we sit and giggle all about it while simultaneously contemplating the easiest method to acquire a box of matches and some ethanol.

But y'know, I'm glad. I'm glad that I can laugh at stupidity and be satiated with the knowledge that most other people would do likewise. I'm glad that I do stupid things for other people to laugh at. I mean, if you can't laugh at silly things, you might as well be a tree or an inanimate dildo with no concept of fun and whose only purpose of existence is to obediently do what nature has planned for you.

I suppose could try and justify myself further with a load of semi-credible arguments about how there's a balance between being serious and being silly to be maintained, or how it's only human nature to be playful, but at the end of the day the only real reason I have the dignity to defend is because it feels good. After all, isn't that what really matters most in life? There'd be no point in spending the entirety of your existence in a constant state of ennui because then you'd have:

a) No reason to continue existing;
b) No reason to procreate; and
c) No reason to read this.

Even if you somehow managed to derive all of your pleasure from scientific and technological advancement, you'd quickly find that most people didn't. Or even if the entire human populous found a way to do exactly that, they'd still end being a bunch of boring, samey clones with no art, culture or variation (aside from which type of ringworm they prefer studying).

So my final conclusion is that stupidity is the driving force behind humanity. Sure it's not always harmless, but then again neither is science, or fast food. Enjoy it while you can - that is, until the future politically-correct, totalitarian government bans all liberal usage of the word "fun" and assigns us all 18-hour shifts in predetermined careers. Dibs on Loyalty Inspector!

*If I had a Twitter, I'd follow this. Also, if I were I cat I'd so want to be his friend.