We see all the time in movies and on TV the acts of the clearly unintelligent, but most people know that it’s done simply for laughs. Unfortunately, there are people even more inane than what’s on television in real life, out where we walk every day, out where our children are.
On May 23, 2012, a man in Camden, New Jersey was with (who I believe to be) his girlfriend. They were babysitting a 13-month old child while doing laundry at the Laundromat. For whatever reason, the man suddenly seems to decide it would be a fun idea to put the young toddler in the washing machine, shut the door, and let the child develop a fear of washers. When an employee realized what was happening, he rushed over and turned off the power to the washer, saving the child before any serious injuries or trauma had occurred. The man responsible for the child, and his female companion, took the child and fled before much could be said about it. When questioned later, the man claimed that he thought the child was “playing peekaboo”, and “had no idea there was money in the machine”. Does this sound logical to you?
The mother of the 13-month old wants to press charges, as does the child’s imprisoned father. That’s right, a man locked away in prison for unknown reasons is demanding that this babysitter and her boyfriend be severely punished. Yet, amazingly, the parents seem to be receiving argument over the subject, with claims "We won't be charging anyone. We were looking for purposeful endangerment and we didn't see that." Because locking a toddler in a washing machine is not purposeful endangerment.
If that doesn’t seem bad enough for you, read the full article about the mother who sent nude images of her 10-year old daughter to a complete stranger on Skype. Yes, you read that correctly.
A 41-year old mother from Attleboro, Massachusetts met 30-year old Joshua Dunfee on Facebook in September of 2011. He eventually promised her a trip to Florida and a bikini-modeling contract for her and her daughter (like a 10 year old needs to be a bikini model), but on one condition: The mother and her daughter both had to strip down for him on webcam.
Horrifying for me to say, the mother obliged, and forced her daughter to strip for a complete stranger over Skype. Luckily, however, the scene was stopped by the aunt, who came in upon hearing the child crying and complaining. The police were called, but the mother was arrested (likely for distribution of child pornography).
Amazing to me, however, is that the family was not expecting the mother to be arrested. Yet, more amazing to me is how the mother stated during an interview, “There are sickos out there, and they let them go. But I get locked up. I'm a victim."
If she’s a victim, then I’m a 20,000 foot tall bunny.
Oh, and let us not forget the parents who let their 2 year olds smoke and drink on a regular basis.
But, of course, stupidity isn’t only in parents.
Did you know that 7% of Americans don't know the first 9 words of the American anthem, but know the first 7 of the Canadian anthem? Some don’t know either.
Someone was so stupid as to invent a “DVD Rewinder”, with the claim, “Never pay another DVD rewind fee again!” and “The DVD Rewinder also works with Sony Playstation®, XBox®, and other disc based console system media.” This product was invented in 2000, while the CD was invented in the late 1980s, and the DVD came about in 1996 or so. How is that for an example of stupidity?
May 24, 2012, I discovered a page on truth-or-consequences (from 2009) that talked about a woman who posted an ad about her sick ferret. A week the blog author gave her some friendly advice to find a vet, the woman posted a new ad requesting a vet. The author sent her a somewhat angry message about how they told her to find a vet a week beforehand, and that if she was going to be so foolish, that the woman should not own a ferret, as they are high-maintenance animals. The author informed her that he planned to call the humane society, as this was clear animal cruelty to let the animal remain ill.
Many people responded to their public message with much support and agreement, but another week after, the woman emailed the author, taunting him with, “Were you trying to scare me? If so, it didn’t work. :)”.
The author of the blog had the same reaction I did upon reading this: “Excuse me, but what the bucket?” So it was assumed (as I had assumed upon reading the email) that the woman was now going to deliberately let her ferret remain sick (though it was probably dead by this point) simply to spite the blog author.
Like any good-hearted person would and should do, the blog author called the police on the matter, and even told the woman this in an email. The author was redirected to Animal Control, but since the woman’s exact address was unknown, nothing could be done.
Of course, his email was replied to with a nasty shot, and I quote: “Still making me laugh, you should probably get the whole story next time before judging people, i don't think you deserve an explanation personally because you are a bully and just like to pick on innocent people, but do what you wish”
That’s right, this woman was treating the entire situation as a game, a joke, a reason to make herself feel like she’s top-dog because a concerned pet-lover is trying to save the life of a stranger’s ferret, thus making him a “bully”. Needless to say, this woman was soon blocked.
Unfortunately, nothing more was said on the subject of the woman, as the website has not been updated past that, since 2009. There are plenty of internet trolls prowling around, but I doubt they’re typically intelligent individuals that acts like jerks on purpose. I believe this to be an example of pure, “I’m queen, I’m best” stupidity.
I’m often asked why I seem so negative about the human race, about the people around me. This is why. Yes, there are some intelligent people in the world. Yes, everyone has those moments where we do something a little stupid, like burn ourselves while cooking, or walk into a room and forget what we were initially going into the room for. And yes, I follow the Eragon quote “One part brave, three parts fool”.
But this is ridiculous. It’s people like this that make me ashamed to be a human. I know that may seem harsh or extreme, but when you’ve seen the amount of inexcusable moronic stuff I have, you’ll agree.