Dumb People, Smart People, and Smarter People

2009-12-20 Update: I revoke this article because it is negative and condescending. Read it anyway if you want.

Dumb people ignore the rules.
Smart people follow the rules.
Smarter people make the rules.

Dumb people live below their potential.
Smart people live up to their potential.
Smarter people live beyond their potential.

Dumb people can’t focus.
Smart people multi-task.
Smarter people obsess.

Dumb people eat meat.
Smart people never eat meat.
Smarter people eat meat when they’re starving to death.

Dumb people don’t go to college.
Smart people go to college.
Smarter people think college is a joke.

Dumb people become lazy and fat.
Smart people stay fit by going to the gym.
Smarter people don’t pay others to lift weights.

Dumb people can’t keep to a budget.
Smart people set a budget and stick to it.
Smarter people don’t need budgets.

Dumb people don’t know.
Smart people know.
Smarter people don’t care.

Dumb people follow trends.
Smart people set trends.
Smarter people transcend trends.

Dumb people fail IQ tests.
Smart people ace IQ tests.
Smarter people don’t take IQ tests.

Dumb people are angry.
Smart people are tolerant.
Smarter people take action.

Dumb people buy cheap stuff.
Smart people buy good stuff.
Smarter people buy stuff for free.

Dumb people are emotional.
Smart people are analytical.
Smarter people are intelligent.

Dumb people read magazines.
Smart people read books.
Smarter people read books, magazines, blogs, and more.

Dumb people rent.
Smart people buy.
Smarter people sell.

Dumb people don’t read.
Smart people read.
Smarter people write.

Dumb people go with the flow.
Smart people go against the flow.
Smarter people get out of the water.

Dumb people text message.
Smart people telephone.
Smarter people shout.

Dumb people are afraid.
Smart people are courageous.
Smarter people are contagious.

Dumb people disappoint.
Smart people impress.
Smarter people confuse.

Dumb people have jobs.
Smart people have careers.
Smarter people do what they want.

Dumb people take video.
Smart people take photos.
Smarter people draw sketches.

Dumb people hate.
Smart people love.
Smarter people care.

Dumb people waste.
Smart people save.
Smarter people create.

Dumb people make enemies.
Smart people make friends.
Smarter people are friends.

Dumb people run.
Smart people jump.
Smarter people laugh.

Dumb people want the money.
Smart people have the money.
Smarter people print the money.

Dumb people live for no one.
Smart people live for others.
Smarter people live for themselves.

Dumb people don’t think.
Smart people think.
Smarter people act.

Dumb people use MySpace.
Smart people use Facebook.
Smarter people go outside.

Dumb people talk.
Smart people listen.
Smarter people connect.

Dumb people know what they want.
Smart people get what they want.
Smarter people have what they want.

Dumb people follow.
Smart people lead.
Smarter people convert.

Dumb people guess.
Smart people assume.
Smarter people ask.

Dumb people date.
Smart people get married.
Smarter people go canoeing.

Dumb people wait for true love.
Smart people look for true love.
Smarter people create true love.

Dumb people take.
Smart people give.
Smarter people share.

Dumb people join religion.
Smart people make religion.
Smarter people are religion.

Dumb people forget.
Smart people remember.
Smarter people make you remember.

Dumb people live beyond their means.
Smart people live within their means.
Smarter people live beneath their means.

Dumb people repeat their mistakes.
Smarter people learn from their mistakes.
Smarter people learn from the mistakes of others.

Dumb people value work.
Smart people value ideas.
Smarter people value implementations.

Dumb people have guns.
Smart people don’t have guns.
Smarter people have lots of guns.

Dumb people are dumb.
Smart people are smart.
Smarter people are both.

47 thoughts on “Dumb People, Smart People, and Smarter People

  1. Pingback: Dumb People, Smart People, and Smarter People | Wittier Thinking

  2. If you read this for long enough you may begin to notice how the word “People” seems to become an oddly strange arrangement of letters that makes you wonder if it is an actual word. Then you stop and ask yourself if the writer made a typo. Only to realise that the over usage of reading it for such an extent of time merely alters the way in which the brain perceives it, making it appear somehow wrong! Now that is smart!

  3. HAHA this is so true, some i do agree with but the majority of them i do. I think im a smart person, except the texting and owning guns part.

    there was no reason to revoke the article, the beauty of the internet is you can voice your opinion and there is rarely any serious consquences

    good article and consider your self bookmarked

    • just realized the gammer error in the first paragraph sorry

  4. This is a really insightful article, always wondered how some guys are always chill and still attract what they want and most importantly be self sufficient (in terms of emotions, money etc.). I definitely need to be like that, I tend to look for validation for the way I look or talk and tend to be swayed because I was taught fighting is bad. Maybe the smartest people dont fight but still do it their way ? like side step issues but still get there.

    Richard and other bloggers here, I read somewhere that the smartest/ successful people let things come to them and not run after them, what do y’all think ?
    This is a superb page.
    Cheers! Lets discuss more.

    • That’s true! The important thing is to not agree with people just for the sake of agreeing, nor disagree with them just for the sake of being disagreeable or playing devil’s advocate.

      Basically, if you set your life goal to be the pursuit of something rather than that something itself, everything else will fall into place. For example, instead of making your goal to be mastery of music, make your goal the pursuit itself, i.e. practicing music a few hours per day or week while ramping up the difficulty. Instead of setting a goal for having 10,000 visitors on your blog per month, set the goal of increasing the number of visitors in a generally upward direction.

      Even further, there is always a smarter or different way to get somewhere. For example, you could set your goal to have more visitors that stay on your site for over 5 minutes, rather than just raw traffic. The underlying goal to this could be to positively impact peoples lives, and the best way to do that is to provide something valuable to them. The best way to do that might be to write out of self-interest, so that you do not become frustrated if you have no tangible signs of providing value to anyone. The journey is the reward.

      • or just not pursue music because it seems most ppl learn music to please others…basically making life as less controversial as possible and keeping money as the only goal. Because if you have money you can have bono come play for you.
        It seems money is the only motivation people have, it not a bad thing really, atleast its something constructive and helps u anyways.

          • well, you cannot make money out of sex but you can definitely have sex if you have the money.
            so for me Money > Sex. Being in love is different, just sex for the sake of it is boring, too much anxiety anyways.

          • Well, it really depends on what year you live in. U.S. dollars are worth something in 2011, but they might be worth nothing in 2021. The same can be said of Zimbabwe dollars or even gold or silver. For example, if we found a way to bombard mercury or cadmium with alpha or beta particles to make it into gold or silver, gold and silver might become much less valuable.

            As for love, we should have a currency that’s worth one unit of love… and then we have to define a unit of love in concrete terms, which is difficult.

  5. Dumb people buy cheap stuff.
    Smart people buy good stuff.
    Smarter people buy stuff for free.

    you cant buy free stuff

    • Well, stores used to sell stuff “free after mail-in rebate” back in 2005-2008, but after the economic crash they don’t do that so much anymore. Also, you can buy stuff with coupons and pay nothing or almost nothing.

  6. good piece of writing!! most of it is true too :D
    thanks for letting me realize these things :)

    • how can any of you say that this holds any truth? Because you believe in his words? The flow of something that you cannot percieve possibly because you are inexperienced with life and cannot begin to comprehend much of any one topic? Maybe I’m being a little too bad, or maybe I’m trying to percieve this in my most hateful way towards something that I have been doing for years which is criticize things. But we were “created” by something that we cannot find the answer to. Which is the reason why we question our own existence. Well the majority of people run into that question at one point in their life. & they might benefit greatly from that experience but it will always hurt them too. Life has everything and nothing once your gone. By those words I can assume that you can somehow “feel” a connection to my words and your thoughts. Because we build off of each other we learn and experience things which makes us capable of developing further. We may not know everything in existence, even the thought of that drives people insane but we have the power to think that way. Most people from experience would believe that we cannot attain true knowledge of understanding of everything in existence and every thought we are faced with but that very thought might set off other things in the future of our lives. I know I’m rambling but I gotta say I’m pretty surprised how much that little kid is influenced by this guy who wrote a poem with a contradiction at the end. But it isn’t the end is it? Because your perceptions change on life and you may not feel the same way you did when you wrote this, I hope the little kid who is influenced by this doesn’t grow to have some kind of mental health issue because of this possible farce. I’m sorry towards the author of this “mystifying” poem but we cannot all agree and live together peacefully because we all have our own views on everything we can possibly imagine. May not make sense to you but read it again and try to relate in some way. I did not perceive this kind of method of how the “everything” is because I simply cannot perceive something that I cannot. Based on experiences which may go haywire and make you think of other things that are still really questionable to society today and to society of all ages. We will never have a perfect peaceful planet Earth. thats what i believe anyways but who knows. thats the question who knows. the answers I can virtually accept and believe is that no ONE knows but a Supreme Being of some sort might be able to create all of this “free will”. which is really free because we are still limited by our OWN PEOPLE IN EVERY surface of our world that we live in. Authority goes on forever.

      • sorry if anyone got a negative vibe from that post I am feeling the powers of sleep deprivation. lol if you can understand it then believe it, if you can’t simply don’t.

      • Neo, as fascinating and true as your words seemed to me, I have to say I completely fail to see the point of writing any of it. In short, can you explain to me how any of it DIRECTLY relates, or even remotely relates if you will, to this article?
        The bit about not being experienced with life and being unable to comprehend any topic was a completely unnecessary piece of your rant. I’m sure not everyone agreed with everything in this article, but quite frankly, I think most, if not all of the people who read this and said they agree did so because they found some kind of relation or truth in it. Maybe your life and experiences make you unable to agree or find truth in this article. I don’t know. But everyone is different, lives different, feels different, goes through different things in different ways, and so saying that everyone is wrong or ignorant for finding some kind of truth or agreement in this was a very ignorant and arrogant thing for you to do.
        If you aren’t going to contribute anything useful and do nothing but tell everyone how wrong and stupid they are, then don’t bother writing anything.
        It doesn’t make you look superior. It makes you look like a douche with nothing better to do than put people down.
        Cheerio then!

  7. Very recognized thought there !

    I could also see it as

    Dumb people guess.
    Smart people assume.
    Smarter people assume with ignorance, that is to be fair to self and others that they can be unaware of their own ignorance and will politely question to seek out the differences.

    • by ignorance, don’t you mean “plausible deniabilility”?

  8. I am an indonesian,
    and -thanks to the beauty of Internet!- I’ve just accidentally stumbled upon your article,
    and I just LOVE it very much!
    you, Sir, are really brilliant, and really ‘get it’!
    I think I’m gonna share this to my friends! lol

    Keep writing, and sharing to the world!
    -Niki-
    http://www.myspace.com/nikiwonotomusic (for a soothing, sweet & tranquil journey in music ^^)

  9. UUUHUUUUH man Richard X. Thripp and the rest of you guys yall seem soooooooooo smart I can’t image what your lives are like yall most can do like a thousand things a day like that guy L or N off deatnote I would say Light but he used his power of smartness for power and killing, but yall seem cool man how did yall cultivate yall minds like that. I try to be like the guys in ff8 and ff7 HAA! Ha! HA! HAA! I know it might sounds funny and stuff but I try to live like that. I can sense an artistic energy about this poem that you have I can tell that you are a very powerful and nice individual and I’m trying sound like some suck up… You know I can understand your poem about how you feel about being a genius! and that why I am writing this because that thing about not needing a budget I have been notice that about ff8 and ff7 how they can just Have ton of money things from fighting monster OH! and I love that game by the way I am thinking about designing my own. And what the hey I tell you my real Name It’s Tory Hughley I the reason I didn’t put that in the first place was because I don’t know I try to take personal sercurity in to consideration but whatever can’t spend your life in a safe little bubble.!! anyway If interests you would you like you share knowledge about certain subjects! It’s wierd but I can sense at of indept knowledge about your poem can tell that a smarter person HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! had to design it. I got thing about talking too much you know I so much to share and tell people about my plains in life and subjects that can be extremely useful to people, but sadly can’t share it and no this is not some inforcommercial scam I just really can’t share it with people it sucks!! I just can for some silly reason enither they just don’t want to hear it or they are not open to it!! I even try thinking about it on super extreme obssesion level but nope none of it works…In the end I think I am just waste to myself and to others and to God. I try to sound so down I’m not it just man I know I could don’t or help some in a freakin increible way but I just can do it for some reason. I try in create the flow because I know you gotta let the genius just flow it can’t be explain. So I am just asking you for some ideas. I know if you could you use some money or something I know plenty of ways get that over the internet with affianlte marketing and clickbank. I haven’t made any money yet my mind is not developed indept in intellect. I am more of a spiritual person like ryu off street fighter and slash or like dante off of devil may cry. well thats about it uuuuhhhuuh write me back aye man!!!! Dang I talk too much!!!! It just some much I wanna share I am tried of always doing for myself…. Well some money would be nice wont be poor no moe!!!

    • Thanks Tory! Well, I haven’t been producing hardly any art, writing, or programming the past two months, so I don’t feel I’m doing too much. You can do a lot of creative stuff for a while and then just ride the wake.

      Your comment is all over the place… it’s like a stream of consciousness. And you keep repeating yourself. I hope I’m not replying to some computer script. Start out with a blog with Google AdSense to make money online, though that can still be difficult. Good luck.

  10. Thanks, you helped me think of ideas for a job for my boyfriend(dumb) :grin:

    • You’re welcome Maddi! Maybe you can make him into one of the smart people. Don’t make him smarter though, or he might out-fox you. :unsilly:

  11. I thought it was great. My favorite gem was the comment about IQ tests. It reminds me of this perspective I have about my students. Dumb people are insecure about their intelligence, thus they try desperately to prove it(usually to no avail). Smart people brag about their intelligence, citing their grades, scores, or any acadamic achievements. Smarter people thrive on the other two fighting over the distinction of their intelligence. They never call dumb people dumb, nor do they belittle smart people. They give the dumb credit when they try to convince & give the smart credit when they brag. The truly intelligent do these things in order to manipulate it. As long as the other two are complacent & and sense approval, both will continue to stay just as they are, not realizing they could adapt and become “smarter”! Sure enough, I notice that these are the students who have become the most successful, both in life & their work. I hope I didn’t contradict your article because, as I said, I really enjoyed it. :) – NTP

    • That is very true! The smarter people may not even think they are “manipulating” the less smart people into remaining complacent. They don’t brag or bring down others because it isn’t in their personalities.

      I try to be one of them. Sometimes I fail miserably… other times I make friends with everyone.

      • Absolutely! i think it is completely inadvertent, not a cheap ploy to safeguard their superiority. Don’t worry, we all occasionally fair miserably! Eventually it becomes second-natured. Anyway, good luck in school & I look forward to reading your insights in the future. – NTP

  12. This is honestly the most wonderful thing I’ve read it a long time! I never even heard of you until today when I was introduced to this particular blog. Now I am intrigued, and excited to read more of your writtings.

    • I was from October to December, but I stopped because I started losing my sense of taste and smell. I could bite into a lemon and it would hardly taste bitter. I wasn’t eating a good variety of foods. I’m going to return to vegetarianism next month.

      • hehe I stopped eating meat a year ago…it’s not that hard when you do it for the right reason…I read your article about becoming veg…I enjoyed reading it!!

        • Thanks… yeah, I have to pay better attention to my diet. Can’t eat ramen noodles all the time; have to throw in a lot of good fruits and vegetables and healthful stuff. I’m going to stop eating meat for good this time on my 18th birthday (August 17 next month).

  13. Like someone else said…refreshing. But I don’t like the first one. I think it should be:

    Dumb people follow the rules.
    Smart people make the rules.
    Smarter people know there’s no such things as rules.

  14. This is the most refreshing personal development article I’ve read in ages. Good job. Though, personally, I would restructure this one:

    Dumb people guess.
    Smart people ask.
    Smarter people assume.

    to

    Dumb people guess.
    Smart people assume.
    Smarter people ask.

    My favourite is the one about religion.

    • I’m trying to think of what I was thinking when I wrote that… It was that smart people ask permission to do things, i.e. asking their family if they can start a business, or their friends if they’re allowed to write a book. Smarter people assume the decisions are up to them, rather than the permission of other people.

      That could actually go the other way though, in that smarter people make false assumptions while smart people ask and find out the truth. In fact, that’s what I’m getting from it now, and I don’t like it.

      I’ve changed it! :smile:

  15. Great article!
    I disagree with the vegetarian part, but agree with pretty much all of the others. Especially the IQ test. A kid in my Civics class thinks he’s god, and he started talking to my by stating his IQ, and asked me mine. I said IQ wasn’t important, since it didn’t take common sense into account, and knowing the next square won’t let me live a better life. I think he thinks I’m an idiot, but I don’t care.

    • You’re on the right track. Don’t live for A’s at school either. If you do that, then you’re handing your happiness over to others.

      IQ tests mean nothing.

      If other people think you’re crazy, you know you’re on the right path.

      Dare to break social norms, not for mere rebellion, but for improvement.

      Also: do something great. I’m glad you think this is a great article, because if you didn’t, I shouldn’t have written it.

  16. This is very good. Although I am on Myspace, I am also on Facebook and spend an appropriate amount of time outside, so I think it balances out. :) My fiancé would also agree about what smarter people think about college. He saved me from spending thousands of dollars a year under the misguided concept that I had to go to college to do what I wanted to. When in fact, I already am doing the things I want without it, with the mental awareness that if I want to learn something, I can get the information on my own through the many resources that are out there today, vs. paying someone to tell me what to think about a particular subject.

    • Thank you Miss Kikolani! I go on Facebook too to catch up with friends, but I don’t spend much time there because I’d rather be taking new pictures or writing new articles while talking to people in person.

      College can be good; I would’ve never learned as much as I have about math and physics on my own because I wouldn’t have the motivation. But if you have the motivation like you do with poetry or I do with photography, college feels limiting. Especially since they have “one right way” to do things.

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