The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Unsolved Mystery Book4 Why now, Elaine?
jonas:
--- Quote ---Stupid is as stupid does.
--- End quote ---
::)
Arjan:
--- Quote from: jonas on November 20, 2017, 06:42:44 AM --- ::)
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That way you do not have to think about why stupidity persists even with intelligent people.
wardenferry419:
--- Quote from: Arjan on November 20, 2017, 04:48:22 AM ---Only if you admit to yourself and others you are acting in a idiotic manner. The trick is to act so sincere and convincingly that the other party thinks he is wrong. It helps if you believe it yourself so really convincing lying starts with lying to yourself.
So never admit you did something wrong even if all evidence stacks against you.
It is related to what a colleague once said to me at work decades ago when I was young and innocent. Never admit you do not know something or can not do something, just try to figure it out on the fly. I assime it was a joke but I am not quite sure.
It actually has a sound evolutionary basis. It is not about being right but about being put in the right. That is why power can let you get away with all sorts of stupid statements and reality won’t always catch up with you. Even worse repeating stupidity shows loyalty. Sometimes stupidity is not about logic but about power. If you sincerely believe in someone elses stupidity you show great loyalty.
Or more generally how will stupidity help someone to survive and prosper in the short term? Even at the cost of everyone else, science, logic, mental health and survival of the human species in the long run.
Even worse in a magical universe when the powerful can make their stupidity true.
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I can't tell if you are pulling my leg or making my cynicism seem mild.
Arjan:
--- Quote from: wardenferry419 on November 20, 2017, 10:57:32 AM ---I can't tell if you are pulling my leg or making my cynicism seem mild.
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Just from random search:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/monique-caissie/boss-admit-wrong_b_10633974.html
Never apologise, it only makes you unhappy:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/people-who-never-apologize-are-probably-happier-than-you-12584567/
These are all mechanisms that happen in real life. How often you think it happens is an indication of your level of cynisism.
Kindler:
--- Quote from: wardenferry419 on November 19, 2017, 07:55:11 PM ---I work in customer service and the level of stupidity I deal with daily is staggering. I am often surprised that some of our customers haven't drown themselves while drinking a glass of water.
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Used to work in low-level IT back in the day. The number of times I've heard, "My laptop/computer/discman/et cetera isn't working, FIX IT," was staggering. The number of times my response was "You have to turn it on first," was in far greater numbers than you might think. Legitimately, without exaggeration, I can tell you that approximately 70% of all issues were related to the fact that these people simply did not turn their devices on. Most of them turned red and got embarrassed, but enough of them were extremely angry with me, as though their lack of thought was my fault (though I recognized then and now that they felt dumb and just wanted to blame me). Left the industry about a year after college, when cell phones were becoming a popular thing, specifically because I knew that it was just going to create a new kind of dumb customer, and I'd had enough.
But yes, I've also experienced people trying to open the doors when we were closed, calling before or after posted hours, pushing on a pull door, and a whole bunch of other stuff. When I was freelancing as a writer/editor, price negotiations were fun, because I charged by the word. You would be stunned at the number of people violently angry that $0.05/word for 10,000 words is $500 and not $50, even after I had explicitly explained the math down to the middle school level (I drew one guy a sarcastic picture, with bunches of twenty words equaling a dollar, then adding groups until I hit the word count of the document, with each group clearly numbered; he still didn't get it).
As for Elaine, I don't think it's safe to assume stupidity where she's concerned. She lived with the Summer Fae for a long time, and while it's not as treacherous as Winter, I think assuming that survival requires quite a bit more savvy than you'd think. Look no further than her manipulations in Summer Knight, up to and including her false flight out of town, knowing Harry would chase after her.
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