Dumb and Stupid Quotes Thread: Idiotic Source and Context are Key.

[Paul in Saudi]

If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.
-- Binyamin Netanyahu, 2004

 

[Kyriakos]

If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.
-- Binyamin Netanyahu, 2004

Says it all, really. Neta is just another in a recent line of Israeli political loons. Some of which are even summoned or convicted war-criminals in international courts..

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Well he was right, as long as we take "positive" in the sense of meaning "definitely real" rather than the more colloquial sense of "good."

 

[Cutlass]

God is still up there, and He promised to maintain the seasons and that cold and heat would never cease as long as the earth remains...The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."
—

Sen. Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee

 

[Phrossack]

God is still up there, and He promised to maintain the seasons and that cold and heat would never cease as long as the earth remains...The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."
—

Sen. Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee

People like him will be remembered by the next few generations as the incalculably stupid ones who cocked up everything for everyone. They will be vilified in history books. He's a disgrace to America.

 

[Arakhor]

And he's on the environment committee.

 

[Tahuti]

People like him will be remembered by the next few generations as the incalculably stupid ones who cocked up everything for everyone. They will be vilified in history books. He's a disgrace to America.

That's democracy.

 

[Traitorfish]

Because Americans recall George III with such deep fondness.

 

[Phrossack]

That's democracy.

In a glorious and perfect monarchy, we'd surely have some noble, benevolent, all-knowing leader to do everything just right for us stupid peasants, and if we didn't like what he did, then, ummm... look over there!

 

[Tahuti]

In a glorious and perfect monarchy, we'd surely have some noble, benevolent, all-knowing leader to do everything just right for us stupid peasants, and if we didn't like what he did, then, ummm... look over there!

A purely non-democratic polity in today's world is fiction. Every state has flaws, and whether democracy works or not strongly depends on the amount of democratic elements a polity has, as well as the degree of enlightenment the populace possess.

The thing is, there is nothing that prevents the American people from not choosing someone like in the quote. Yet they do. There is also nothing that prevents Americans from electing someone who isn't influenced by lobbying money yet they do. No one bears any responsibility for the power of an unelected official.

 

[Phrossack]

A purely non-democratic polity in today's world is fiction. Every state has flaws, and whether democracy works or not strongly depends on the amount of democratic elements a polity has, as well as the degree of enlightenment the populace possess.

You don't happen to have an Enlightenment-o-meter, do you?

 

[gay_Aleks]

Except for "amount of executed/sent into exile monarchs".

 

[Tee Kay]

I just realised that that was Kaiserguard. Don't you have to put a little thing in your signature when you change your username?

 

[Cutlass]

"The press is waiting breathlessly...for Republicans to blow it. An intemperate remark from Congressman Jackass would fit the bill perfectly. Don't be the squirrel. Don't give them a shiny object. Don't give them an excuse to turn this into 'Krazee Republicans Sure Hate Hillary Because She's a Woman.'...She's blowing this; let's help...Don't make this all about Benghazi...I encourage you to use the smarmy D.C. construction of 'I just want to work in a bipartisan way for good, transparent government and to protect national security secrets from the Chinese, Russians, and other threats."
—

GOP message and media strategist Rick Wilson, offering advice re Clinton email story

 

[Arakhor]

That's alarmingly on point, for a change.

 

[Flying Pig]

I just realised that that was Kaiserguard. Don't you have to put a little thing in your signature when you change your username?

It's polite, but I don't think there's a rule about it.

"The press is waiting breathlessly...for Republicans to blow it. An intemperate remark from Congressman Jackass would fit the bill perfectly. Don't be the squirrel. Don't give them a shiny object. Don't give them an excuse to turn this into 'Krazee Republicans Sure Hate Hillary Because She's a Woman.'...She's blowing this; let's help...Don't make this all about Benghazi...I encourage you to use the smarmy D.C. construction of 'I just want to work in a bipartisan way for good, transparent government and to protect national security secrets from the Chinese, Russians, and other threats."
—

GOP message and media strategist Rick Wilson, offering advice re Clinton email story

That's alarmingly on point, for a change.

I agree that it's good advice - but out of interest, when and how did 'on point' come to mean 'insightful'? I've heard it used of cricketers and soldiers in a patrol, but can't think how either of those meanings turned into that one.

 

[Gori the Grey]

I just realised that that was Kaiserguard. Don't you have to put a little thing in your signature when you change your username?

He mentioned it over on the comings and goings thread.

It's disconcerting enough to me when y'all just shift your little pictures (avatar? is that the word?), let alone your names.

 

[Arakhor]

I agree that it's good advice - but out of interest, when and how did 'on point' come to mean 'insightful'? I've heard it used of cricketers and soldiers in a patrol, but can't think how either of those meanings turned into that one.

I wasn't aware it meant that, as I just meant that it was to the point and actually useful.

 

[Tahuti]

You don't happen to have an Enlightenment-o-meter, do you?

Turkey arguably would be more free without democracy than with it, given the electoral success of Erdogan. In fact, free elections have been tried in a lot of countries without any success. Most countries in the world are in fact constitutionally democratic, yet only a minority have a populace that is able to wield it.

Democracy can only take hold in countries were the average populace are a match to its ruling elite. If the general populace is significantly dumber than the elite, democracy - if it exists - will usually collapse on sight, as people are simply intellectually unable to assert their power. It is literally unthinkable. It also possible that people - however smart - for some reason tolerate totalitarianism, as is the case in China.

It is more than a set of laws: If that were the case, almost every country in the world would be a liberal democracy. The fact that only a very specific amount of countries that are democratic have been able to live up to its principles and be economically succesful shows that democracy is simply not for every country.

Anyway, here is a dumb quote to make a contribution to the thread. Quite fitting if I may say so myself!

"I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom."
-George W. Bush

 

[Borachio]

If the general populace is significantly dumber than the elite

Do you mean "dumber"? Wouldn't "less educated" be a friendlier and more accurate expression?