Smart people don’t think others are stupid | Derek Sivers

Smart people don’t think others are stupid 2012-05-16 The woman seemed to be making some pretty good points until she stopped with, “Ugh! Those people are just so stupid!!” She could have said Southerners, Northerners, Liberals, Conservatives, Chinese, or Americans. It doesn’t matter. She just proved that she wasn’t being smart. There are no smart people or stupid people, just people being smart or being stupid. Being smart means thinking things through. It means trying to find the real answer, not the easiest answer. Being stupid means avoiding thinking by jumping to conclusions. Jumping to a conclusion is like quitting a game. You lose by default. That’s why saying “I don’t know” is usually smart — because it’s refusing to jump to a conclusion. So when someone says, “They’re so stupid!” it means they’ve stopped thinking. They say it because it’s satisfying to jump to that conclusion. So if you decide someone is stupid, it means you’re not thinking, which is not being smart. Therefore, smart people don’t think others are stupid.