[Glice]

There are idiots in America. There are idiots in Australia. There are probably idiots in India, and there are definitely idiots in South Africa.

All I'm saying is that we've only got south Swansea, the Wirral and Manchester left for the Great British idiot re-location plan. I vote we ship them to Germany. I've never met a German idiot. I've met strange Germans, but never a German idiot. They're due some. Who's with me?

[Alex's Trip]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

The air is so nice.

Wrong. Humid.

[demonrail666]

A country i once visited that did seem to have more than its fair share of idiots was Bulgaria. Don't ask me to put my finger on what it was but morons, almost all of them.

[█████████]

i'm afraid sturgeon's law doesn't apply only to america.

[ploesj]

there are stupid people everywhere. this year a guy in my school managed to scoe HALF A POINT out of twenty on an exam. it was the third time he did this very same exam.

[Youth_Against_Facism]

Originally Posted by ploesj

there are stupid people everywhere. this year a guy in my school managed to scoe HALF A POINT out of twenty on an exam. it was the third time he did this very same exam.

Hahahaha! HALF A POINT! I've never seen anyone do that. Actually a kid in my class answered 1 question on the test out of about 30 or 40.

[ploesj]

Originally Posted by Youth_Against_Facism

Hahahaha! HALF A POINT! I've never seen anyone do that. Actually a kid in my class answered 1 question on the test out of about 30 or 40.

yep it's probably the lowest score anyone ever had for an exam. definitely on the third chance-exams. anyway, the guy smokes quite a lot. i don't think i've ever seen him being completely sober.

[pbradley]

Yes, metacognitive awareness indicates higher intelligence but it doesn't assure it.

[Glice]

I'm sure cognition doesn't need a 'meta-' prefix to be self-reflexive. This is precisely why Americans shouldn't be allowed near philosophy, they just use words wrong (cf the rape of Freud/ Derrida).

Having said that, the British are fucking awful at it as well. Give me a wife-stealing surrender-monkey over Locke any say.

[pokkeherrie]

Originally Posted by Glice

I've never met a German idiot.

Never been to a summer festival or a beach town in Holland, have you? That's where the German idiot can sometimes be observed (along with its Dutch counterpart I might add).

Anyway, I thought you might find this amusing, inappropiate 999 calls from Avon & Somerset police. "My wife's on a night out without having cooked me anything for dinner", etc... that kind of stuff.
http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk...ons/999_calls/

[Glice]

Fucking hell! That's my old job you've just posted - I had to type up one of those!

[Glice]

I'm genuinely a bit weirded out by that.

[pokkeherrie]

Odd.

[pokkeherrie]

Originally Posted by Glice

I'm genuinely a bit weirded out by that.

If it makes you feel any better, I could swear on my grandmother's grave* never to post that link again.




*both grandmothers are available should you have a preference.

[Glice]

It's fine... I just keep a close eye on the real world/ internet thing, and for someone to inadvertently touch on the real world is just a bit weird. But, y'know, I'll have books and shit published at some point, so I'll have to get used to it.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Alex's Trip

Wrong. Humid.

depends on what you call 'nice'

I could quite happily exist in a terrarium designed for orchids.. :love: hot and humid is my friend.

[pbradley]

Originally Posted by Glice

I'm sure cognition doesn't need a 'meta-' prefix to be self-reflexive.

I've always taken "metacognition" as the metaphysically-free synonym of wisdom, in that it being the ability to asses one's own limitations and biases. One can be cognizant yet ignorant of biases.

However, watching Idiocracy (an ironically stupid movie) and writing an internet comment about people being dumb does make you Einstein.

[Glice]

This is something that confuses me about the American tradition. There is a habit of using a word like 'deconstruction' as a synonym for 'analysis/ analyses' when the original word is perfectly adequate.

To this end, I don't see why 'metacognition' needs to be a synonym for the already-adequate term 'wisdom'. Wisdom is broad enough - the fact it's associated with metaphysics is not the fault, or an error of, the nomeklatura.

My understanding of post-Wittgenstein linguistics is that a word very precisely describes something, and shouldn't be abused; my understanding of American philosophy is that words are very bendy. It's a mis-appropriation of Nietzsche's 'truth as a mobile army of metaphors', if you ask me.

I am bitter because I was taught by a MacIntyre-ian cunt.

I have not seen Idiocracy, but I like that there's a lost etymology of 'idio' meaning singular.

[wellcharge]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

A country i once visited that did seem to have more than its fair share of idiots was Bulgaria. Don't ask me to put my finger on what it was but morons, almost all of them.

idiots who kick yr ass and destroy all that is dear to you at the slightest provocation mind you, so watch it

[pbradley]

Yes, I agree, inappropriate use of particular philosophical terminology for common use is annoying but I used the word metacognition in order to raise this "look at those dumb people" fascination. Meta- used in a sense of being above them.

My point, even fucking idiots feel brilliant when they watch people get obvious geography questions wrong.