The Stupid Idiot

I was trained at work by a super smart person who routinely referred to me as a “stupid idiot”. Lots of people helped me, but this person was extremely helpful. They were just a little politically incorrect. However, this person did not discriminate, they referred to everyone as “stupid idiots”. I did not really care because I was learning and at times the person was right, I was being a “stupid idiot”. Over time I just got used to it, it was just their way. I even joked about it. One day I asked them why were they in such a good mood. They responded by saying “Don’t you know when you are being insulted?” I said “I do, but today I am just “stupid” while the previous month I was a “stupid idiot”. Even they had to laugh at that.

This person was scrutinized because several people complained about being called a “stupid idiot”. I guess this hurt some people’s egos (and in engineering, everyone has a big ego). Someone asked me if I had been insulted by this person, they were doing an investigation into the person. I told them that this is the best teacher I had ever had and they treat everyone the same way. I told them anyone who has their feelings hurt by a little political incorrectness is not interested in learning, but protecting their fragile ego. I would not give them any credence. I believe several people went to bat for this individual and they were not fired.

The moral of the story is that you can refer to anyone as stupid if you can back it up with performance and being an expert in the field. I hear Trump use the word stupid all the time. Yet, during debates, he is continually being corrected for his stupidity or ignorance. He wrongly suggested Mexicans constitute the majority of illegal aliens crossing the U.S. border today. He had to be educated on the Trans Pacific Partnership by Rand Paul. The fact of the matter is Trump is uninformed on most domestic and foreign issues and says a lot about nothing – other than to brag about himself and his poll numbers. If you are going to refer to everyone as stupid, then you better be an expert. Trump is no expert. In fact, that is what people like about him. His ignorance and own stupidity proves he is an outsider of sorts. But is this what we want as our President: A know-it-all narcissist that knows less than Obama about foreign or domestic policy?

In my experience, the use of words like stupid and idiot are a defense mechanism to mask one’s own stupidity. It is very rare that someone can be defended for making such statement – I can recall one person in my life time.