I have to admit that in the last decade, and the last year or so in particular, I have re-evaluated much of what I would now consider stupidity on my part, and as a result I don't waste a penny on stupid corporations, especially water companies, or on dvds, cds, or on brands, or on anything that might be a stupid waste of my time or money. But I'm not there yet: so I guess we're all stupid to a degree. Having said that, you're probably talking about "monumental jaw-dropping stupidity".
Oh, don't worry. Watch out for your own stupidity, maximise your happiness and wealth, and let others be stupid if they want to. You could always resort to sarcasm when necessary.
There may well be comic strips that will stand up to intellectual analysis but mine ain't among them. I'm proud to be trivial!
And then there are some of us who have made a career out of being stupid!
I would question whether a person who spends his life frustrated by circumstance and personality has ever examined his or her life.
The point is who is better off? The man who knows there should be more to life, or the man who doesn't?
Realising that, little as it may be, what you have ... brings a certain amount of happiness
It depends how you measure "better off". Wealth, it strikes me, more often than not leads to the pursuit of more wealth, driven by the fear of losing what you have. For me, "better off" is about contentment. Realising that, little as it may be, what you have around you brings a certain amount of happiness that no amount of increased wealth, fame, power, etc. could or would increase. Envy can look down as well as up.
Who's the more stupid, the one who fails to reflect on his life or the one who does and does nothing about it?
He may reflect and be unable to do something about it
The one who fails to reflect on his life, may do so through stupidity, it's kind of hard not to do such reflection otherwise.
My point is, how do you gauge stupidity and in what context? Is being articulate enough to be considered intelligent? If so, that's a bit unfair. Why is PRACTICAL intelligence not so highly thought of? If Tarzan and Einstein turned up on "Mastermind", I would stick my money on Albert. If Tarzan and Einstein were dumped in the African jungle...well, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. Is the intelligence required to thrive in the jungle less important than the intelligence required to win "Mastermind"? There's a touch of "The Admirable Crichton" about this.
For the record, I would die on Mastermind in half an hour and in the African jungle in 4 minutes.
When I was fourteen I lived in a bedsit. I had a job. Every Friday night I would hit the local nightclub where I would minesweep most of my drinks. Oh yes, I was also a virgin. I met a twenty year old Irish girl and by the end of that summer it was a serious love job. After that things went to batshit and that was mostly my fault. Now most of that relationship was positive, and good, and wonderful and yes, quite sexy. Now, I personally would like to be stupid enough to reflect on that relationship on such a superficial level that all I remembered was the positive, if I reflected on it at all. Sadly I am not, so while I can push myself to remember the positive aspect, I can't for a moment loose the negative.
Perhaps this is not the answer you were looking for but here it is: stop thinking about it. Seriously, it's the past, and if thinking about it brings negative thoughts, stop doing so. Learn from it. Reflect on it. Do something about it. But don't stew over it.
And some might say that making an extremely obvious joke indicates stupidity...
To define stupidity, you went for the obvious and oft-repeated---my lack of technical skills.
I came up with the brilliant retort you quoted above.