04/03/2023
While I am not denying that stupidity exists, it is often also a label applied to things we are not intelligent enough to understand or see. Here are some stupid things:
Wanting to go to the moon was stupid.
Building a mobile music strategy around iTunes, knowing that it would only be successful if almost all record labels and publishers cooperated by allowing you to sell their music one track at a time was stupid.
Using your credit card online was considered stupid and Amazon was predicted to fail because of consumer reluctance.
Dropping out of Harvard was stupid for both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Heck, dropping out of school could almost be considered the definition of stupid.
Funding and building a company to provide private, consumer focused rocketship company for space travel is stupid.
My experience has taught me that many times when I see stupidity in the world, it is because I am myself too stupid to get it. I take to heart Apple's profound "Think Different" campaign because every single one of the people on those posters was stupid for embarking on the journey they did. Jim Henson touched millions with muppets, how stupid. Einstein worked in a patent office, but thought he understood space and time better than anyone else. Really? Steve Jobs was fired from Apple because he ran out of tricks and because his board thought he was filled with worthless new ideas.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison because of racism and political oppression, got released and forgave those who trespassed against him; how stupid. It feels to me like that everyone who "thinks different" is perceived as stupid by others.
Today I watched a clip of Malala Yousafzai on John Stewart's talk show and I was blown away by the stupidity of this little village girl. First she speaks out to local media against the Taliban- the same group that mounted an attack against the most powerful country on earth. They shoot her in the face.
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