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Q: Is it wrong to mock or criticise other people's stupidity?

Considering the huge sociocultural problems in China, should we be more tolerant? We might perceive it as stupidity, but do they see it as perfectly unstupid?

10 years 43 weeks ago in  Culture - China

 
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Maybe sometimes when you think "stupid" you should be thinking "uneducated". 

When people are doing something "wrong" it is either perfectly normal or no better way has ever been provided for them

EDIT I have just cleaned the floor the "wrong" way, good result, effort level not too different. Having tried it, I will stick to my way but now I don't have to think "what the hell is she doing" when the aiy is doing it

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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In my way of seen things, it is OK to criticise what you seen wrong, provided two things do:  One will be that besides the critique for what you perceive as wrong, you do point out things you may perceive as right.  And second, that you just do not make fun, or criticise everything you see, or 100 % of the time.  If that happens, something is wrong with your eye sight !.

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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If you are mocking it's wrong, (often fun but usually wrong).

If you are putting forward a viable alternative then ok, but if you are doing so is that alternative actually better, and if so WHY is it better, (just because you or your nation do it a particular way does not necessarily mean it is better.)

Finally, remember morality usually comes from within society, ( with some well worn exceptions, treat others as you would want to be treated, don't kill, don't rape etc), so saying something is right or wrong is often (not always) subjective.

Venting is not an excuse, the same 'rules' apply, even if it is understandable at times.

GuilinRaf:

How do you classify cleaning the floor with the same mop used to clean the toilets?

10 years 39 weeks ago
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Hugh.G.Rection:

Depends on why the person is doing so, could be lack of education, could be lack of training, could be pure laziness.  But then if you  pay peanuts you only going to employ monkeys, (and uneducated ones at that.) 

Also what equipment is the cleaner provided with? If he / she is only provided on mop he / she has little choice.  

What I'm suggesting is it is probable we don't know the full circumstances and so judging is laziness on our part at best.

10 years 39 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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No.

Traveler:

That's it? I went to all the flipping trouble of writing a flipping question and posting it on the flipping forum, and all you could flipping come up with was flipping "No?"

 

OK, fair enough.  ... Shift+R improves the quality of this image. Shift+A improves the quality of all images on this page.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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crimochina:

answer of the daysurprise

10 years 43 weeks ago
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BHGAL:

I'm laughing ...good answer NO .....  BUT ...OOPS ...NO BUT ...

 

Give me the serenity to accept

   what cannot be changed

Give me the courage to change

   what must be changed

And the wisdom to know the difference.

 

Know where I got that from???    I have a few new beer 

10 years 43 weeks ago
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nevermind:

The way I look at it, rationality is universal. Sure, cultural norms differ and that's fine. But, when I hear Chinese people attribute generally stupid things, like riding a bike through traffic with a child riding shotgun on the handlebars, to Chinese culture I don't buy it. That's stupid in any part of the world. So, mock away!

10 years 43 weeks ago
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crimochina:

nevermind 100% correct. example (i'veseen this many times in many forms! somebody gets on the bus with a kid's bike. during the ride the bike moves until it is long ways completely blocking the aisle. he looks at it a few times. but does not move it outhe way. the bus arrives at an important stop many people looking to get off. he stares at them, they stare at him, he stares at his bike, they stare at his bike, they stare at him again, he stares at the floor in front of him. "move your pucking bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" is what i want to yell but the people eventually  the people  work their way around the bike. this isn't culture, this isn't education, this is stupidity to the millionth power! and what's worse is the acceptance of stupidity! i it was me i would have kicked the bike to the back of the bus. 

10 years 42 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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i mock stupid white people,black people, jews, asians, arabs, native americans, (EVERYONE) why should i not mock stupid chinese people? 

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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The first year I was here I was convinced that only stupid people are breeding here (actually the question I asked after a BCD here on this board a long time ago starting a flame war).

 

But over time I came to realize that what we perceive as stupid behavior is really just a lack of education and how they were raised.  Most people here are simply a product of their environment.

 

I often find myself just shaking my head and feeling sorry for most idiots rather than mocking.

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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I only call them stupid because I am not sure if there's such a word as imbecilic.

Shining_brow:

Yes, there is. It's the adjectival form of the noun 'imbecile' :)

10 years 43 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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No matter your upbringing or morals, it is stupid to put melamine in baby milk powder. The same can be said for most destructive, short-sighted practices in China. Mocking them is the only way we can deal with them, since we, as foreigners, have neither the power nor permission to change them.

Hugh.G.Rection:

You see that's a difference between us. I wouldn't call that stupid, psychotic, criminally deranged maybe, but not stupid.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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t91camp:

It's a stupid business decision because it's not a sustainable practice. It's a stupid personal decision because it's illegal (and a couple of them got executed). Psychotic? I doubt that. They'd have to have been completely unaware of the consequences of their actions. That they tried to cover up the scandal shows they were quite aware, indeed.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

I disagree, T91camp... it is psychotic! They knew the consequences of their actions (killing people) but still did it anyway. I think it'd be the psychosis of 'sociopathy' - isn't that attempting mass murder??

10 years 43 weeks ago
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t91camp:

Well, psychosis in the strictest sense is defined as being unaware of reality and how one's actions relate to it. But these were just very stupid businessmen, who apparently had not learned in business school that one must test products before releasing them, especially when cutting corners. I don't think they were attempting murder, their intent was likely to save money by watering down the formula and making it appear to have more protein via the melamine. Even those who aren't manufacturing a potentially deadly product do similarly stupid things all the time in China, such as the toxic ink used in those school uniforms.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

Question T91... are you suggesting that those businessmen didn't realise it was a toxic substance? That it was possible that it might actually kill someone??

 

I would suggest they knew this, but went ahead with it anyway. While they may have not thought the quantities were enough to kill, they were certainly 'sociopathic' enough to not bother to find out.

10 years 42 weeks ago
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t91camp:

I think you are confusing stupidity with lack of conscience. I don't think they really knew it could kill people, at first. Even "highly educated" American corporations make similar mistakes. Although the Chinese accidentally kill each other at an unusually high rate, and don't feel particularly bad about it, saying they knew it was potentially deadly gives them credit for more forethought than they're capable of.

10 years 42 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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No why? I have zero patience for stupidity, if you want to really piss me of, just make me repeat myself. My mother has a narcissistic personality disorder, never hears a word I say, And because I grew up with this, I'll only repeat myself three times before I really blow. Its a real trigger for me. Same with just not answering me and the Chinese seem very good at that, maybe they are all narcissistic.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

Sadly, it is simply that they just dont care.

10 years 39 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Not always Stupid

but I find them Gullible a lot

 

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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No, it's not Traveler because with the Chinese they constantly have stupid excuses for their stupid/improper/idiotic/ill-mannered/arrogant/rude/disrespectful behavior/speech.

 

Cheerio!

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Ok Traveler/Craig I will stop

 mocking or criticizing your  stupidity from now on if you promise to keep it down to the bare minimum!?

TedDBayer:

to paraphrase Forest or Lin in your world- Stupid is as stupid does

10 years 43 weeks ago
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philbravery:

right on que

10 years 43 weeks ago
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Traveler:

Saliva. Go to your English phrase book and look up "pot calling the kettle black."

 

I have to think to come up with stupid answers. Your stupid questions are just part of who you are.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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philbravery:

Traveler

try changing your Avatar to one like SPRITE's

It will put you in the Zone angry

10 years 43 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

I don't know what that avatar is, is it a turd holding a Cpt America shield?

10 years 42 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago

There are cookies, bookies and too many rookies for me to sit here trying to be a hooky! Looky Looky don't call me a wooky. Touchy Touchy Feely Feely Spicy Spicy Nicey Nicey & that's what the doctor Ordered!!

 
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Shifu

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if u want to look as stuipid as they do its ok

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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  Yeh, it's wrong. It makes us.........I mean them, fell stupid. Sh*t.........ain't you a teacher?

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Is it wrong? No. But...that doesn't make it right, either.

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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yeah, it is probably wrong in some sense ,,, like judeo-christian values or something, but that doesn't stop us from doing it.  it feels good to blow off steam,, and it is good for u too.  I also sometimes think it might help the one on the receiving end to analyse their behaviour a bit and perhaps to improve themselves. I know I analyse my own behaviour and am not scared to admit when I do sth stupid and I try to set myself on a self-correct course.

"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain."
Friedrich Schiller

Traveler:

That's the problem They don't realise.

10 years 43 weeks ago
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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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how should this be classified, if not "stupidity"

 

the other day, sitting in a city bus driving on a street with two lanes in the direction we were going, the bus comes to a halt as the lane it was in is blocked by a car turning left from a side street, the other lane is filled with cars. from the front window of the bus, one can see the reason why one lane is full of cars, a red light up ahead. 

This leaves the bus driver with two options

1. Sit back and do nothing

2. Honk the horn and hope the magic sound will lift the blocking car out of the way.

Option 2 is chosen. 

after about 30 seconds of continues honking, the driver of the car realizes he is causing some inconvenience, puts his car in reverse, the back wheels are on a speedbump so he pushed the accelerator pretty hard, which the guy in the car half w meter behind can feel when his hood is all of a sudden popping up. People get out of both cars, the bus driver keeps honking and i try to make my iPod and Depeche Mode put an end to all the noise. 

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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If it's 'stupidity', then no it's not 'wrong'. If it's lack of education (ie, ignorance) then yes it is 'wrong'.

 

Stupidity is not bothering to use the brain that a person has to forsee beyond the immediacy of a situation, to see the obvious consequences. Riding with your kids on an e-bike through traffic is pure stupidity!

 

Similar to this, it's ok to get angry and all fired up over stupidity. It's not ok to get outraged over ignorance (unless it's wilfull ignorance). If someone doesn't know something, then they don't know! the obvious solution to this is to educate that person.

 

Of course, concepts like right and wrong are ethical concepts, so it's up to one's personal ethics about such things.

 

Stupidity is also believing everything your government (or their government) tells you is true. It's also going to war because of oil (when we have far better alternatives available), and believing that money is more important than life

 

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10 years 43 weeks ago
 
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it is human nature to label others with a tag such as 'stupid', or whatever. That way the people we encounter are easier to deal with. We all probably have specific responses to deal with people depending on how we have labeled them. The initial meeting is when we are trying to find the correct box into which we then place the person for subsequent meetings. Thankfully the initial label is open for change, as we change our opinion of someone !

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10 years 34 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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Yes it is wrong to call someone stupid, no matter who it is and where they are in the world. But to call people here stupid just because they think or act in different ways is the worst reason of them all. Let's remember that while many of us think we're really worldly and cultured, we've been totally conditioned to think and judge others from the society we've grown up in. Most of us will never be able to judge people from other cultures objectively because all our ideals have been shaped by the country you come from. I recommend you read Edward Said's Orientalism. Though flawed, he does not make some valid points.

sam239:

Agreed with everything you've said, but I checked out the Edward Said "Orientalism" reference and saw "critical theory" associated with it, a code word for some psuedo-intellectual BS.

Still it's true that we (like the fish oblivious to the water it's always surrounded by) don't notice the way our surroundings shape our views. Someone told me that to east Asians, westerners look like idiots when they lose their tempers, since that causes immediate loss of "face". Losing the temper in frustrating situations seems normal and expected to us but appears imbecilic to someone raised in the Martian setting.

I don't think it's wrong to criticize what appears stupid, but do it constructively or it's disrespectful.

10 years 34 weeks ago
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10 years 34 weeks ago
 
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