This is the level of stupidity that we're dealing with, folks:

[11 Bravo]

While walking out to pick up our morning papers at the end of the driveway this morning, I wound up having a brief conversation with the sole Trumper on our little cul-de-sac. He has only lived here for about a year, and I've had virtually no contact with him other than to deliver my wife's regular "welcome to the neighborhood" home made bread. The guy still has his Youngkin for Governor (VA) yard signs up two months after the fucking election, so I was already pretty sure we weren't going to become best buds. However, we wound up looking at each other across the circle, so a conversation semi-awkwardly ensued.
He's pissed off that the town holiday gathering at our brand new community center will require proof of vaccination for attendance. After telling him I'm absolutely in agreement with the restrictions, I couldn't help myself, and followed up by asking him why in the hell he hasn't taken advantage of the multiple free vaccination sites in our area.
His response, and this is pretty much verbatim, was, "I haven't caught the Covid, so why should I take any medicine for something I don't have?"
All I could think of to do was to tell him to remember to buckle up his seatbelt after his next car crash. Then I walked away.
Maybe he got it, maybe not.

This is the guy that much of the media is castigating the left for failing to understand.

Sorry, no can do.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. There is nothing to understand! No cure for stupidity, NONE.

You showed remarkable restraint in your brief conversation.

[SledDriver]

12. Oh, there's a cure

[11 Bravo]

41. My dear California Peggy, you are so correct.

In the Age of Trump, stupid appears to be not only endemic, but also incurable.

[Texin]

66. Endemic, incurable and dead. Way to self-extinct (and those like them).

Downside is the sad fact that it's jamming up this country's medical/hospital system.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

59. Carlos Cipolla examines human stupidity in an essay titled, The 5 Basic

.. Laws of Human Stupidity. He identifies 4 groups of people: the helpless, intelligent, bandit and stupid people with the stupid people group being the most dangerous as he writes that " a stupid person is one who causes losses to another person or a group of people while they gain nothing or may even suffer losses." [ Eg antivaxers, covid19 deniers aka Republiklans some 74M ?] Note:need to back out of post to copy link, will add on edit.

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity is a short essay written by the Italian economist Carlo Cipolla. The first edition was written in English and released in 1976.

First Basic Law
Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. Stupid people exist, but according to Cipolla you may be deeply underestimating their number and influence in our society. He was so strongly convinced about this that he asserted that “any numerical assumption would turn out to be an underestimate”.

Third Basic Law A stupid person is one who causes losses to another person or a group of people while they gain nothing or may even suffer losses.
Carlo Cipolla considered this the golden and most important law, never to be forgotten. He did not consider stupidity a matter of IQ, but rather a lack of relational skills. In particular, he believed that it is possible to classify people based on their behavior. Stupid people are the ones who harm others and often themselves.

To make this law clearer, Carlo Cipolla added that “stupid people are deadly dangerous because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand stupid behavior”. In such a view, stupid people’s attacks always catch intelligent ones by surprise. This makes it even more difficult to come up with a rational defense. On the other hand, this would be of little use since illogic actions cannot be understood using logic.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

68. Remember that George Carlin said

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

[Hekate]

74. An illustrated link to the essay

http://gandalf.fee.urv.cat/professors/AntonioQuesada/Curs1920/Cipolla_laws.pdf

[I_UndergroundPanther]

75. I remember

The utter shock when my therapist told me this:

That the average IQ of most people was in the 80's, low 90's.

I was blown away that
there were so many stupid people,and such low intelligence levels.


I thought the average was at least 120.

[Hekate]

78. Cipolla notes that stupidity is unrelated to IQ, something I observed as well long ago...

I was in high school in a literature class discussing the protagonist of some modern novel we’d been assigned and I said he irritated me to no end by being so stupid. The pile-on was immediate — the consensus was he was quite intelligent, brilliant even. I argued that stupidity was not the same as lack of intelligence at all, but a separate characteristic with a large element of choice.

That insight has stayed with me in all the years since.

Thank you for pointing us to this essay.

[Scarlet Begalas]

60. You are correct

I long ago gave up trying to understand these people, and Hillary was right - they are deplorable. They believe every lie the Republican party tells them, without question, but don't believe science. The hell with them.

[lambchopp59]

73. Oh do they suddenly believe in science once getting checked in

To our Emergency Room! Scientists can't move fast enough to their satisfaction to relieve the burning lungs. Compounding their own problem though, they have to wait in the "unvaccinated COVID room" while brought out only for tests and an isolation room becomes available.
Trust me when I tell you entire medical staffs are brought to the brink of "going postal" on these idiots.

[whathehell]

72. In this case, a simple explanation might do it..

Simply explain that vaccines are.meant to PREVENT diseases, not cure them...How anyone could be unaware of this, I don't know,.but, whatever.

[calimary]

82. I remember reading a story about a woman in the ICU

who stubbornly insisted she did not have COVID - as she was dying of it.

[whathehell]

83. Yep..

This whole phenomena has boggled my mind.

[Claustrum]

2. You probably should start with vaccine isn't a "cure" or "medicine"

for treating COVID. But that's probably way too long a conversation for you to have or too complex an idea for him to get.

[brewens]

5. That's exactly what TFG and FG jr. think. Eric (Uday) said they gave his dad vaccines to make him

better. TFG had asked if the existing vaccine could help make people better. So, he thought any old vaccine laying around might help. He must have been talking about the existing flu vaccine. That was that roundtable discussion right at first. Also, the first time we saw Dr. Birx I believe.

WTF? I thought any kid that got shots had that explained to them. I know I knew it was to keep us from getting sick in grade school.

[Aussie105]

42. TFG did get shots that cured his COVID.

But they weren't vaccines, they were a rather expensive brew of antibodies reserved for the rich and famous, not for the likes of you and me.

The difference?

Tetanus - 2 types of shots you can get, one is a vaccine that protects you, after a few weeks for your immune system to react to it and get your antibody count up, so that, if in the FUTURE, you get infected, you don't die.

The second is a brew of horse antibodies, that will attack tetanus if you already have it, as soon as it enters your blood stream.

[not fooled]

20. Reminds me of news reports of maggots

beseeching hospital staff to give them vaccine, after they are hospitalized with COVID.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Clearly to him 'medicine' and 'vaccine' are interchangeable, which they are not. Fucking idiot.

[NullTuples]

28. About a third of America gets its Science education from Fox News & OANN

So should we really be at all surprised?

I mean they've attending Tucker Carlson lectures (aka "Tuck Talks&quot on infectious disease management.

[Wounded Bear]

36. Movies and television get this wrong all the time...

[Diamond_Dog]

4. I have heard that same excuse around here.

You wonder how they manage to tie their shoes!

[11 Bravo]

18. They put TGIF on their shoes as a reminder: Toes Go In First.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. "I haven't caught the Covid, so why should I take any medicine for something I don't have?"

“I assume you haven’t gotten Polio either, correct?” Would have been my response, but oh well.

I have decided that engaging with scientifically and medically illiterate people is a waste of time, but you did well.

[Walleye]

7. Car is running fine, why should I change the oil?

[Notek]

8. Yup.

Sounds like some of the goobers in my neighborhood. That's why I peek out my garage window to scope out the road before going out. It's hell living like this.

[OAITW r.2.0]

9. "remember to buckle up his seatbelt after his next car crash."

Perfect logical retort.

[LisaL]

10. He haven't caught covid yet?

He is going to be in for a "nice" surprise.

[NBachers]

11. The herd-thinning isn't going fast enough.

[EarthFirst]

13. It sure isn't... nt

[msfiddlestix]

70. agreement there..

in the early days of available vaccinations, I was hoping these Neanderthals would thin a whole lot more rapidly.

But in that essay posted we underestimate the number of stupid anti-vaxers within our population.

[Richard58]

14. You can't cure stupid.

My Trump loving brother is also unvaccinated. I have begged him to get the vaccine. His brilliant response to me was "Well 99% of the people who get Covid don't die from it so why should I worry about getting the vaccine?" I had to emphasize the fact that those who survive talk about how horrifically miserable having Covid is and people often have long-term side effects from the disease. "So why take that chance?" I asked. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I probably won't get Covid." He makes me want to pull my hair out.

[soldierant]

50. Some medical experts are now saying that,

if you aren't vaccinated and stay that way, you will get it. It's not a question of if but of when. So he's not actually taking a chance. He's walking into a sure thing.

[DBoon]

57. 99.5% of the people who are bit by rattlesnakes don't die from it either

maybe he should go out and harass a nest of rattlesnakes just for the fun of it

[TrogL]

81. It's never been about the death rate

Hospitals were designed to handle a predicted case load with a certain amount of flex. There are only so many ICU beds. These simpletons (see Asimov) won't vaccinate then fill up ICU. I have my heart attack and end up dying in the waiting room. Gee fucking thanks.

[kairos12]

15. House isn't on fire. Why have a fire department?

[DBoon]

58. the gasoline cans in my garage haven't exploded yet

so I must be safe then

[keithbvadu2]

16. And then...

[erronis]

17. Besides, Jesus will save him while he's gasping for his last breath.

Like Jesus really has enough time and energy to help the really stoopids.

[FakeNoose]

19. Start printing out the stories of people who died wishing they had gotten vaccinated

Place those stories on the guy's front porch or inside his front door. You don't have to engage him in a conversation, just leave him the sad stories that people are posting here on DU. He'll get the idea.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. Makes sense then that Rethugs offer thoughts and prayers AFTER you're shot dead...

by a pissed off wingnut teenager with an assault rifle.


KY.......

[Scrivener7]

22. I think you gave a perfect answer! I would never have been able to come up with that in the moment!

[Botany]

23. Be nice and K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) Weather, grass, leaves, seasons, & critters.

Good morning neighbor. Nice day today. Isn't it? Did you see that deer yesterday?
Give my best to your family.

[Wounded Bear]

38. Careful with weather talk. It slips into 'global warming' kind of easily...

[Botany]

43. You can always pivot to: Those damn tv weathermen (keep it male orientated no weatherpersons ...

... too liberal) almost never get it right and find a way to retreat. Rain is a great topic.
Boy, we sure need some more. Or Boy, I wish we could get a break from all this rain
I haven't got a chance to cut my grass yet. How about you?

[lastlib]

24. To your next-to-last sentence:

We're supposed to understand the unfathomable?

Like cutting taxes for rich people so we don't "punish success," and instead taxing poor people for "failure"......

- - - - - -

[gratuitous]

25. I should fix that leaky roof, but it's raining

And when it's not raining, the roof doesn't leak.

[ffr]

26. The sheeple here are about 50/50 vax/no-vax and they readily mix with one another.

But they're all still Kool-aid drinkers in my mind, willing to die to win the argument if they need to and even if we all know they're flirting with a disease that doesn't pick its victims based on politics.

[StClone]

27. Admitting you are wrong

I admit I was wrong.

I was wrong to ever believe these people could EVER admit to being wrong.

A most damning thing to realize about the fellow life forms which inhabit a reality aside us.

[Ford_Prefect]

29. How is it that guy is running around un-vaccinated with no mask or social distancing

and he hasn't caught it, yet.

Meanwhile I'm double vaxed, masked since day one (yes N95) and distant as the horizon when I can do it and I got the damn breakthrough version because some fool just like him didn't take precautions either.

Maybe we need a bounty on unvaccinated individuals like him?

[cab67]

30. Does that mean...

I can hold off on getting car insurance until after I'm in an accident?

[Xavier Breath]

37. And you can wait and put on the condom after sex, too.

[IronLionZion]

31. Everyone has grown up with vaccines

there is no excuse to not understand that it's a preventive measure. Even Trump is vaccinated but I suppose his MAGAts will say it was after he survived infection and has "natural immunity".

Even Glenn Youngkin is vaccinated and said he won't block any local vaccine mandates.

[SCantiGOP]

32. There are numerous stories from all over the country

Of people in their last hours of an agonizing death from Covid begging for the vaccine, which of course would do nothing at that point.

That is possibly the main thing that made me quit cigarettes years ago - I didn't want to spend my last days on Earth repeating to myself, "and you did this to yourself, you complete idiot!"

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. For this thread

Link to tweet

[Larissa]

34. It was too late for your neighbor

He cracked his gourd on the windshield long ago.

[Wounded Bear]

35. It's really, really difficult to educate the willfully ignorant...

[pansypoo53219]

39. humans forgot what it was like before vaccinations. small pox? polio is only in the mid east.

just wait til anti-biotics no longer work cause we over used them.

[Initech]

40. I said my unvaxxed MAGA neighbor wants to go see Metallica in San Francisco.

And here's the thing - not only is he an unvaxxed conspiracy theorist and proud of it, but he had COVID. Wasn't hospitalized but he had it. And he's been to areas where it's been really high transmission rates like Idaho and Montana. He's also a believer in ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and stocked up on the latter last year during the height of this thing.

He's probably not going to get past the guards if he does wind up going. And I'm betting that won't end well.

[ShazzieB]

44. I'm just petty enough to hope he does go, is stopped at the door, pitches a major hissy fit, and

ends up spending at least one night in the slammer.

What can I say, my Schadenfreude is off the charts these days where those people are concerned. I'm not proud of it, but it is what it is.

[Initech]

45. Oh I have a feeling like that could, and probably will happen.

[Scarlet Begalas]

61. Unvaxxed MAGA neighbor

Hopefully the won't let him in without a vax card.

[traitorsgalore]

46. My area of N. Va still has "Bumpkin"signs up too, they wear it as a badge of idiocy

They're proud to be stupid, just like all the insurrectionists bragging online. I'm glad they identify themselves so I can avoid them like plague carrying enemies of the state. They're so dumb they don't realize it, just how much they're hated by the general public.

Virginia repukes have always been this way, in your face with their bigotries, conspiracy theories, any little money they have and, their big mouths that love spewing it all to this day, especially with covid. They love nothing more than thinking they're making others sick and possibly killing them.

[Evolve Dammit]

47. Can't fix stupid. Want to. Can't. Ain't happenin'. We have to drag these assholes along, every step.

[czarjak]

48. Germany is telling it's citizens...

“By the end of winter, you’ll either be vaccinated, in the hospital with Covid, or dead from Covid.

[Cha]

49. Good job! Fucking media can

rot in Gaslit Hell.

[GP6971]

52. You've been busy today. n/t

[marble falls]

53. Busy, but brief!

[GP6971]

54. The briefer the better!! n/t

[11 Bravo]

76. Nuts! What did I miss?

[GP6971]

79. Longtime troll

anti-vaccine and masks.

[DinahMoeHum]

55. A token for you to give him next time. . .

[roamer65]

56. Too bad the death rate wasn't like MERS.

We could use the population reduction right now, especially in the MAGAt ranks.

[Kablooie]

62. I can tell you exactly what your neighbor thought afterwards.

"Nobody need to buckle their seat belt AFTER an accident.
My neighbor is a total idiot."

[UCmeNdc]

63. K&R

[LiberalLoner]

64. BRILLIANT post, Eleven Bang Bang! 👍👏👏👏

[The Jungle 1]

65. All their heroes have gotten vaccinated.

Trump and all his henchmen.
Faux news is all vaccinated.
Yet these people are to stupid to see they are being used as pawns in a sick game of politics.
What I really don't understand is that 3/4 of the Americans who die from COVID are over 65. The vast majority of that group are not vaccinated. Yo, old farts it is going to kill you if you get it!

[Joinfortmill]

67. Wow, guy's pretty damn dumb.

[bluestarone]

69. I think he WON'T stop following TFG, even after

They all jump off the cliff.

[geardaddy]

71. I'm sure he didn't get your analogy

He sounds willfully ignorant.

[BeckyDem]

77. Maybe he will ask someone to explain what you meant.

Maybe.


K&R

Good luck with the new neighbor. I have no patience for anti-vaccine fools.

[TrogL]

80. Ignorance is Strength