The late great comedian George Carlin once said, “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” I had that quote ringing through my head the other day as I was temping at a government office. Turns out I’m not the only person who’s had dumb on the mind lately.
Reddit user Gleico took to r/AskReddit to pose a simple question:
What only exists because of people’s stupidity?
byu/gleico inAskReddit
I guess even things that get created for stupid reasons are still creations, so we should give credit to those that inspired/necessitated them. The thread has over 25 thousand comments featuring examples of such things.
1. A lot of them are warning labels.
The warning on strollers, “Do not collapse while infant is seated”
– MarkOfTheRagon12
2. Or disclaimers that nobody needs.
The f*cking message on my in dash display on my Honda Fit.
YES I KNOW I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OPERATION OF THIS MOTOR VEHICLE.
Imagine the car not telling me that every time I start it, me getting in an accident, and suing Honda for NOT telling me that I’m responsible for the car I’m driving?
– ChuckawaspSlanders
3. Apparently people think we’re already living in the world of ubiquitous self-driving vehicles?
In the user manual for RVs it specifies that the driver must remain in the drivers seat at all times when the RV is in motion because someone thought that cruise control was auto pilot and went to take a shower while on the freeway and crashed.
– TimeMasterBob
4. A real medal of honor is doing something so awful you get a law made, just for you.
The law in Pennsylvania that specifically states that you can not barter infant children
– MostlyFuckedUp
5. But stupid can create in much more subtle ways too.
Meetings that could have been emails
– Jenn_097
6. *cough* toilet paper *cough*
Panic buying
– mooli1978
7. Don’t forget conspiracy theories!
The anti-vax movement
– _Caramel-Kitty_
8. Of all the warning labels, this is a favorite:
“Warning may contain nuts” warnings on packets of nuts
– ConnorA94
9. A few users even brought delightful pictures for show and tell:
This sign at the London Lutlon airport
– Bran_Solo
Photo Credit: Reddit
10. I had to stop what I was doing for about three minutes to laugh at this last one:
This was in front of a catholic school I did some work on.
This is not the only tree in the area, it’s not even the only tree in front of a parking space.
How did this sign come to be? The world may never know.
– Mok0bo
It’s a real comfort to my ego to know that, while I’m pretty stupid, at least I’m not “doesn’t know what a tree is” stupid. So I got that goin’ for me. Which is nice.
What things come to mind when you think about this question?
Tell us in the comments.