Quote:
Originally Posted by Angela  I understand your perspective, and I think I would substitute the word "wrong" for stupid, as you're using it here. I don't think there's anything wrong with anyone's choices, like they shouldn't be as they are. Like you say, amazing things happen out of all kinds of choices.
And: I still think some choices are very stupid choices. The choice to give your child a book of matches. Choosing to drive drunk. Getting pregnant in an attempt to improve an abusive relationship. Choosing to ignore signs of hernias. 
Regardless, though, people have the right to judge or evaluate others or their choices as being wrong or stupid. The only person who gets to choose what goes on in my head is me ... and I think anyone who thinks they have any say about my rights to think or judge is wrong and stupid.  Nahh, just kidding... except not really JUST kidding. |
I tend to see the word "stupid" as the label that people gives to things they don't understand. How often do you see people use that word "stupid" in that way?
"Well, that was a stupid call!"
"This assignment is stupid!"
I see the label of "stupid" as ironic in that sense because it applies to the person USING the label moreso than to what that person is judging as "stupid." But life has its little ironies like that.
And I'm not meaning "stupid" to be "wrong." Funnily enough, I DO think there are WRONG choices (but mostly from a subjective point of view rather than an objective point of view). A person can make a wrong choice, but I don't think people EVER make stupid choices. It's impossible for a choice to be stupid.
So, you're quote about there are no stupid questions, only stupid people is part of what I'd call irony. Because I'd assert that to call something stupid is just an admission of ignorance on your part. (Not YOU specifically...I'm speaking generally.)
And the reason it is ignorance because the chooser (the one supposedly making the stupid decision) never says to himself "Oh, I think I'll do something stupid today. You know what? I'll go ahead and give myself cancer. That sounds like fun." Nobody does that. A smoker picks up a cigarette for reasons that make perfect sense to them, even if it confounds the rest of the world.
And you're right...you have the right to think whatever you want. You just took a figure of speech very literally there.