I am convinced the world is getting dumber. Ironically, never before has a generation had so much information at its fingertips with so few skills to utilize it. Meanwhile, Internet users in a recent online discussion share their interpretation of behavior that shows the world your I.Q. may not be so high.
1. Lacking Curiosity
One commenter ponders if anyone “ever had to train or work with someone who just has no desire to know anything beyond what you’re telling them or the why behind what they’re doing?”
They lament how some trainees show no interest in developing their skillset or learning anything new.
2. Mistaking Confidence for Arrogance
“I was once fired from a job in part because I would ask follow-up questions so I understood how or why the procedures worked,” claims an unlucky, diligent worker. “I was told it was condescending to my coworkers.” I don’t even know where to begin with this.
Maybe it was for the best; surrounding oneself with dullards is never a good move.
3. Literate Mockery
Nothing irks an intelligent person more than someone laughing at their use of diction or enlightening vocabulary. “I hate when I use a ‘big word,’ and people point it out and make comments,” admits an observer.
However, there is a flip side; people who are constantly correcting others can be annoying.
4. People Who Don’t Read
While reading books cannot measure pure intelligence, those who never read for fun risk being considered Philistines. While many smart people have no patience for frivolous fiction, some see reading as a chore. “I’ve never thought of people who don’t read as less intelligent,” concedes a bookworm, “but I do wonder if they have less vivid imaginations.”
5. Opinions as Facts
This scenario seems very common, but anyone with a semi-intellectual brain will value truth above all else. “Smarter people will defer questions to qualified and experienced individuals because they are acutely aware of their own limitations,” one contributor believes, “and that’s what helps make them smart.” For the record, there is no such thing as “my truth”: there is the truth and your perspective on it.
6. Know-It-Alls
A simple dichotomy in the following statement shows how highly intelligent people never feel they are experts. If you are your own biggest critic, you develop and evolve your ideas based on new understandings.
“If you think you already know everything, you are no longer curious,” someone declares. “Your knowledge is then stuck in the state it was in when you decided to stop learning new things.”
7. Literal Mindedness
A scene in the Coen Brothers’ O, Brother Where Art Thou shows the Soggy-Bottom boys arguing over who should be the leader. Ulysses Everett McGill states it should be the person with “the capacity for abstract thought” who leads their escape. Sadly, we are surrounded by people who struggle to do this. “Yeah, it’s like when you tell someone an analogy, and they don’t get it,” a commenter agrees.
8. Ridiculing Educated or Uneducated People
“Mocking or making fun of people who want to learn more or get a higher education” is our next suggestion. Nothing screams dull cranial activity more than taking offense at people looking to develop their academic toolset. I would add the opposite to this argument; those self-labeled scholars who mock people with less academic privilege are equally dumb in my book. As Nina Simone once sang, “Ain’t nothing worse than an educated fool.”
9. Refusing To Budge
“The inability, or unwillingness, to change one’s opinion when confronted with new information,” says a contributor in agreement. “If a person just digs their heels in no matter how much they’re proven wrong on a given topic, they’re an idiot.” This person could refer to at least 75 percent of mainstream news pundits. Not listening to reason or tangible evidence is poisonous to society and needs to stop.
10. Frivolous Spenders
I once passed a rather flimsy-looking trailer-style home on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico. What shocked me was the homeowner had invested more in their toys than their property. Sitting in the driveway was a brand-new Ford Mustang, a speedboat, a jet ski, and a shining, new quad bike.
One observer shares how their friend has such a mindset, buying a truck on credit when she has no extra income. “Now she can’t even afford to take her kid to the dentist when he has cavities so bad his teeth hurt,” reveals the unimpressed citizen.
11. Not Understanding Hypothetical Questions
Life is full of possibilities. And, it can be fun to discuss those. However, some may be too dense to understand what hypothetical means.
One commenter agrees, saying “I was telling a co-worker about a book I was reading, and explained that it took place 500 years in the future. She got really annoyed and said “how can you have a story from a time that hasn’t happened yet?!? We don’t even know what the world will be like in 500 years!”
I was genuinely speechless. That’s the whole point of a fictional story.”
What other signs of low intelligence would you add here?
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