Here’s something that comes up quite a bit but I don’t know if I’ve ever really addressed it as a specific question. It’s something most of us have done and most of us have been frustrated by, but how, exactly, do you argue with dumb people?

Now hopefully, you don’t have to. In reality, you can walk away from any conversation that you’re not enjoying and if that includes dealing with the terminally stupid, more power to you. However, when you get into certain arenas, and those for me include religion and politics, it’s pretty hard to avoid. I don’t think that’s the only place you’re going to find it, in fact, I know that it isn’t, but there, it tends to be virtually everywhere.

One thing that seems inexorably linked to stupidity, whether anyone likes it or not, is an over-reliance on emotion. There’s nothing wrong with emotion properly used, but as we all know, there are a lot of people who have problems using anything else. Their entire lives revolve around their feelings, whether or not their feelings are within spitting distance of objective reality.

That’s kind of a problem when you think about it. Unfortunately, a lot of these people don’t. Think. Ever. Their rational minds are still in mint condition because they’ve never been used. They lack the capacity to step back and evaluate any idea critically because they’re too busy getting that dopamine high from accepting utter drivel into their brains. Come on, you know you’ve been there too. Be honest.

Unfortunately, what can you really do in these situations? You’re not going to make these people any smarter. Dumb people are dumb because they lack the capacity or the interest in getting smarter. They are dumb for a reason and a lot of these people are very resistant to learning anything useful that might get in the way of their emotionally-derived stupidity.

It isn’t necessarily that these people are uneducated, although some certainly are, it’s that they’re not interested in getting smarter. You can have degrees without learning a thing about reality. There are creationists out there who will get legitimate scientific degrees, only because they want the air of legitimacy. They’ve learned about the facts, they simply reject them when they get in the way of their blind faith.

It’s why I’ve adopted what I’ve heard called a “scorched earth” tactic. I’m not here to convince the crazy people. I’m not here to educate the terminally stupid. They’re beyond hope, at least until they’ve come to terms with their own absurdity and that’s rarely ever the case, at least during a single conversation. Lots of us have turned away from ridiculous beliefs, but that was our own doing, not anyone else’s. When I was a Bible-believing Christian, there was no chance whatsoever that anyone could have changed my mind, at least not until I realized that it was all bunk and changed it on my own. A lot of these terrible, irrational beliefs aren’t alterable without the consent of the fanatic. It’s why I don’t really much care about them or their feelings.

Instead, I just tell the truth, the whole truth and the utterly unvarnished truth. I tell them that they’re wrong, I show why they’re wrong and I present evidence that they’re wrong. If they keep believing after that, that’s up to them. I’m not upset. I don’t care. Dumb people are dumb of their own accord. What I say to them is demonstrably so. If that hurts their feelings, too bad. I really don’t care. You can’t win a debate with a stupid person, any more than you can intelligibly play chess with a pigeon. I’m tired of having to clean up shit all over the board. It’s why I don’t do it anymore.

That’s not to say I try to be purposely rude, although there are plenty of people who think that anyone who says anything without their emotions aforethought, that’s automatically impolite, but these people are still running around with their feelings on their sleeves, so it’s hardly surprising they think that way. News flash for you people, nobody has to coddle your feelings whether you like that or not. Reality is never rude. Just because you don’t like the real world doesn’t mean you get to cry and kick your feet over it. Grow the hell up.

So what do you do when dealing with the ridiculously unintelligent? Let me know in the comments. More often than not these days, I’m surrounded by the clueless more so than the not. It’s really hard to have a rational discussion about anything religious or political without rolling my eyes. It’s pure emotion, zero intellect and frankly, I’m just tired of it all. I’m still looking for a place where smart people hang out.

Anyone got any ideas?