The Dumb-volution Of Society.
Since the dawn of man, humans have strived to better themself. Theoretically man mas evolved from Ape. The First smart humans were able to stand upright and figured out things like how to make fire and how to hunt. Thier brains eventually evolved into what we have today. Scientists have always thought that most early humans were somewhat intelligent for thier size brain, however, there had to be some stupid ones. Most of them probably died out, but a certain percentage of them have survived. Thier stupidity has been passed down from generation to generation. Thier decendents have been ridiculed and laughed at for millions of years. Many of them walk among us today. It's almost inpossible to recognise one before they say or so something stupid. Below are thier stories.
Historical Stupidity
How it affects us today
History has documented stupidity for many years. For Example, The Vikings of Scandanavia traveled great distances over cold water to conquer distant lands far away. Some had scary names like "Eric the Red" and "Ingvar the Far traveled". Eric the Red actually lived in Iceland but actually Discovered Greenland. He decided he wanted Iceland so he Lied and told of great stories of Greenland, which in reality turned out to be Full of ice. Gardar Svavarsson was actually who discovered Iceland. The Vikings Pilaged and plundered Europe and Asia from 793 A.D. to 1066 A.D. They traveled as far as the Middle East and Asia. After 273 years of terror, what did it get them? It Turns out Christianity did them in. Most of them gave up thier murderous waysand supposedly blended in with them any european societies at the time. The only reason who know of thier existance is because the people who they raided and killed wrote of them. The Vikings could not write, and made to effort to keep track of what they did. Now they are all dead. The Vikings have the distinction of having discovered North America. Leif Ericson supposedly settled on the labrador coast of modern day Canada and called in Vinland. He was apparently looking for grapes. He settlements didn't last long. Truth is, America didn't have to be Discovered because there were already Native Americans, although we call them Indians today, because of one Man...Columbus. Columbus was Italian, but set out on behalf of Spain. (Italy apparently wasn't good enough) Columbus spent about 1 month at sea and landed on a Caribbean island...."Thinking it was China". Believed He reached the orient and thus he called the natives Indians. On his first voyage he was so screwed up he thought the mountains of Cuba were the Himalayas. Columbus mearly Colonized parts of North America, but he is also believed to have started the slave trade and was possibly a Genocidal maniac, yet we honor him every October. Most people had thought that Columbus would fall off the Earth because they thought the earth was Flat, and they had wondered how the people lived on the other side of earth.
Astronomers, long ago, had thought that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the sun revolved around the earth. That, of course is not true. The same astronomers thought the moon was made of cheese. "Earth cheese" get moldy after a while, so why wouldn't the moon? Many ancient astronomers lived in fear. This is especially true in Ancient China. These astronomers were able to predict when comets and eclipses would occur...Most of the time. On the times they were wrong, the Chinese emperor had them beheaded.
The Ancient Greeks believed in many gods. None of which they ever saw. Yet they felt compelled to build monuments such as the parthenon. They had 12 main gods called the Gods of Olympus. The Leader of all the Gods was Zeus. The Greeks also had a god for almost everything. They had litterally created hundreds of gods. These days Elementary students are forced to study the ways of the ancient Greeks. Most of them don't care about it.
Ancient Egyptians spent years and years building pyramids for their rulers. When the rulers died they got no compensation. Some of them had to be buried alive if the pharoh requested it. Now in modern day they still stand and left today's people to wonder: "How did they get the stone way up there" I think we should stop trying to figure it out. The ancient Egyptians also left behind something from their culture, Algebra. All high schoolers are forced to figure out what "X+y/z=?" Today we have computers to figure out the algebraic functions and the high schoolers think: "X+Y=WHO CARES". Thank you Ancient Egyptians!
The leaning tower of pisa was finished in the year 1173. Poor planning and poor site selection led to it's site location. It actually took over 200 years to complete due to delays and mismanagement. The tower began to lean soon after the 3rd floor was built. Tearing it down and redoing it never crossed the stupid italians minds, no no no, they decided to build another 4 floors. Over the years the tower futher began to lean. Nobody ever thought to tear it down and start over. It turns out the builders got Lucky...had they built it all at once, it may have tipped over right away. Instead the delays caused some of the ground to settle under the weight. Mussolini ordered it straighted , and had people pour concreate but that only made it lean more. It still stands today, lean and all. they waste money on Counter weights and wires to prevent it from falling. Thanks Bonanno Pisano, builder of the tower, You'll never get to build anything for me.The ancient Roman society had many ideas and innovations that we still use to this day. Romans enjoyed life and quite often watched a Sporting Event. Nero, an Emperor wanted a better way to hold events. Thus the Creation of the Colosseum in the year 90 A.D. Here Gladiators WILLINGLY fought to the death and for some reason, the people loved it. This kind of entertainment has lived on to todays world in the form of Reality TV. Today Reality TV show account for about 56% off all programs. Today's idea of a reality show has it's roots with Survivor in 2000. For some reason the idea of people trying to survive on some far off island was appealing to people, forgeting that there is a whole Production crew with them, which probably had food catered to them, while the contestants scrounged for Bugs and twigs. This series is still going strong as they travel to far off places. This Show spawned a wide varity of Weird reality shows. Some are mean by decieving people into thinking someone has Millions of dollars, when in reality he barely has nothing (Joe Millionare), FOX apparently took this idea to another level with other shows that were similar and just as disturbing. Others are just plain mean (Whose your daddy). Some even play off of peoples love for people being bad and Cheating on others. These people had Boy/girlfriends and WILLINGLY went a show called "Temptation Island" and litterly tried to fend off the sexual advanced of others. Some fell for the, and somehow "Forgot" they would be on TV. The idea of sticking people in a house and see what they do was a even bigger idea (Big Brother) These people know they are being watched yet they continue to act like idiots. NBC went totally wrong with Fear Factor, I mean geez, I don't want to see anyone eating live roaches! Some Games shows were really bad. "You are the weakest link" was a game show were the smartest person might not even win. They usually got voted off. Almost anyone with or without talent can get one a TV show. The Biggest example of this is American Idol. Especially in the beginning. Some of the worst talent you have ever seen will get to sing in front of the Judges, that weren't even American, and they are surprised when they are told they suck. I don't know how a British person can be the Judge of American idol. I sure could stand to see less Reality TV. GO TRUMP!!! YOU"RE FIRED!!!
Contrary to popular belief, the toilet was not invented by Thomas Crapper. The toilet was actually invented by John Harington in 1596. Moments after he invented it...His wife asked him to please keep the seat down. Why is the man always responsible for putting the seat down? The woman should be able to remember about the toilet seat before she uses it. Modern toilets seats are made with a seat, but there are some with a gap in front, and yet still fold up against the cover. It seems the toilet has been overinvented in some ways. Some toilets are even albe to clean you without the use of toilet paper. Toilet paper has changed very little since it was first invented for the Chinese Emporer in the 14th century. (The Emporer was apparently the only one able to get it.) Modern day toilet paper was invented in 1857 by Joseph Cayetty (Never heard of him right) The only changes that have been made are more sheet and some are softer. Before toilet paper people used all sorts of things to wipe thier butts. For example, wool, leaves, hemp, grass, hay, stone, sand, moss, water, snow, or seashells. Some even used newspaper, or even the Old Farmers Alamanac. The hole on the upper left corner of that book was so you could hang it on a nail in your outhouse. Your reading material turned into your wiping material. According to Charmin, the average american uses on average 57 sheets of toilet paper a day (20,805 a year). That's a lot of TP!
When most countries go to war, most of the time each side doesn't want the other side to know when they are coming. Many Nations have been sucessfull at this. However during the American Revolution you would think the British would try to catch the Colonists off guard right??? WRONG...They decided to march in a big straight line with someone BEATING A DRUM!!! Thomas Gage was the first General of British Forces in North America. I bet he never said "Hey Nigel, stop beating that bloody drum, the bloody traitors know we're comin."
Governments the world over have set up laws since the beginning of writing. Many have been detailed and some were really vague. One of the earliest set of Laws was the Code of Hammurabi. These laws even governed the most minute detail, which basically led to punishment as basic as "An eye for an Eye" Today there are thousands of Dumb laws, Some of which, i think shouldn't exist, including these:
-Illegality of certain Drugs: Some should be legalized because if someone wants to ruin thier life by doing Marijuna or something, that's thier own problem. The Government could even make money off of the sale.
-Seatbelt Law: This, Again, If someone doesn't want to take advantage of a lifesaving item, then that is thier choice.
-Public Drunkeness: If you go to a bar you obvoisly can't avoid public drunkeness.
-Truancy: If students don't want to be in School then don't make them. They are only hurting themself. It would also allow more attention to students who want it.
Islam is a religion started by a Man called Muhammad. This muhammad guy must have been Pretty popular because Muhammad is the most common name in the world. Many people adhere to the Islam doctorine, and some take it to extreme. The main major extremist: Osama Bin Laden. This guy isn't a real smart dude. Lets look at why. He turned his back on his inheritance from his Oil family's fourtunes. He think's the U.S doesn't deserve to be In Saudi Arabia, which basically means he thinks he's better than the U.S. He hates us because he is basically Jealous. The reason he's jealous...When Iraq invaded Kuwait he offered help to Saudi Arabia from his fighters. The same fighters that fougt off the Soviets in Afganistan. The Saudi's said no, and then he got mad. Osama should have thought that maybe the U.S. will either try to get him or kill him if he even tried to attempt an attack in the U.S. I guess not. Osama Creates martyers of his fighters, yet he hasn't died for his beliefs. Talk about not putting your money where your mouth is.
We can get news these days in an Instant. It used to take news many weeks, even sometimes years to reach a destination. Today the world is so wired we are able to find out about anything real fast. However some news agencies especially are leaving you in suspense. A Lot of TV news will say come back at 10pm to find out something...Sometimes it's really important. I heard them say once "There's something that is in your house that can kill you right now...find out at 10pm" Great, in the meantime what am i supposed to do before i find out...Just sit and don't move???
Today, dieting in a common way to lose weight. Many people are on Diets. However, I doubt that ancient or prehistoric man ever dieted, because how could they eat to much? Being overwieght used to be considerd a status symbol because if you weighed a lot people thought you had lots of money. Dieting today has it modern roots in 1863. William Banting targeting Carbohydrates. Today the ridiculus ATKINS Diet cuts out carbohydrates. But they had to shorten it to "CARBS" which got really annoying because almost all these food makers and restuarants bowed down to it. But what are Carbohydrates??? Most Americans probably can't even tell you, yet they wanted to limit them. Carbohydrates includes Protien, Fiber, some fats, sugars and starches. I always thought that Protein and Fiber was good for you. Many people on this diet reported problems such as "Brain Fog". The creator didn't even follow is own diet. Robert Atkins died of Kidney failure and was obese himself. I guess he proved that the diet didn't work like he wanted to. Stick to eating right and exercising if you are dieting.
For an alternate view of Historical stupidity Read this
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Last edited 9/6/2005