Lambasting the Imbeciles

I have a very low tolerance for stupidity. Stupidity, not ignorance. The ignorant can often be cured of their condition, but the stupid cannot. Sometimes, it is not the stupid person’s fault that they are stupid. Far too often, however, you encounter people who are willfully and deliberately stupid. They take pride in their stupidity, and actively resist any effort to free them from their debilitating condition. Worse, they insist on forcing everyone else to partake in their stupidity- to make everyone else be just as stupid as they are, by violence if needed.

These people are my natural enemies.

I take pride in Lambasting the Imbeciles, mocking their stupidity and denouncing them as stupid as publicly as possible. It is basically the entire purpose of this electronic broadsheet. I feel free to ruthlessly mock stupid people because I try to treat myself just as harshly when I do something stupid.

I’ve been intellectually aware that there are better Lambasters out there, but I discovered that actually encountering one is a bit disheartening. If you encounter someone who speaks about the same topic, but does it so much better than you did, it can be a bit of a shock. It’s taken me a while to get over that shock.

There are lots of writers who are vastly better than me. There are even lots of bloggers who write better than I do. Even if I am philosophically opposed to their message (as with the Barefoot Bum), I read their contributions with relish. Sometimes, they can even convince me to change my mind on an issue by virtue of their reasoning and writing ability. Their sheer ability with the language is a joy to encounter- even if you disagree with their premise or conclusions

It is sobering to encounter a writer who has views closely matching your own who is a much better wordsmith. Such is the case with the author of Stonekettle Station. When he lays a verbal smack-down on the mindless herds of stupid people, you can feel his ire and exasperation in every sentence. It is simultaneously exhilarating and discouraging to read his work. After all, if Stonekettle Station is doing such a fine job Lambasting the Imbeciles, why bother adding my brace of small copper coins? My contributions are the literary equivalent of firing a rifle at the target of an artillery barrage.

That said, I think I’ll keep going. There are so many imbeciles out there that we Lambasters exist in a target-rich environment. I’ll choose to treat my berating of the mindless as sort of a clean-up action after the artillery barrage- just to catch the few enemies he didn’t get. I just need to remind myself to write my own stuff before reading his.

Current status: Sober

Current music: Thimbledrome by Pain