Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Confidence in Stupidity



“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.”

The above is a quote of Bertrand Russell, an English philosopher born in the 19th century. And my oh my.. the aptness of it.

I have seen many celebrities and acclaimed world leaders spew out stuff on twitter and the first thing on my mind is ‘how’? I mean how did this person get to have this much influence. So much money, power, influence, followers and this is what your brain produces after putting in a good bit of effort? 

In our daily lives, we likely come across people who are just full of wisdom and light but we almost never see them on the bigger stage. They are almost never celebrated. So the question is why?
Not sure I’ve got an absolute answer but I think the confidence possessed by these pseudo-intellectuals on display has something to do with it. How I wish the smart ones were confident too. How I wish every stupid idea being conceived right now could be swallowed by the intelligence of a bright person if they would only show a bit on faith in themselves. How I wish I didn’t have to watch ‘celebrities’ clap for stupidity and folly among themselves and lead gullible youths into pits while the ones full of bright ideas speak and no one listens.

Many wishes I have and one of them is for a world where only the smartest and most honest people get to climb the ladders of success. A world where the stupid people have doubts that will lead to self development instead of bullying their way to the top of the queue as the world we live in lets them.

It is an unfortunate fact, stupid people are full of confidence and wise people are full of doubts.