What are the stupidest ideas on the planet?
You know? Concealed carry laws? Surprise parties? Mousaka?
What’s on the top of your list of things you think no one ever should have thought of? Serious or light. All’s fair for this question.
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Evolution. (In the sense of “Life should never have evolved”).
There would be no humans today, had evolution never happened. That would be a good thing.
Tanning until you look wrinkled and weird. Then taking your child along to get in the habit.
I once put a thumb tack on a classmate’s chair.
It turned out that he had Haemophilia. He died from blood loss soon after.
Cellphones! omg! Why can’t kids these days pull their pants up and make smoke signals like we did 1000 years ago! Stop texting and get off my lawn!
Beauty contests in general and specifically for children.
This might get me in trouble: Avoiding Racial Profiling.
After 9–11, a lot of people were upset that racial profiling might be involved in uncovering terrorists. The sad truth is that most terrorists do look like Arabs. Why throw away one simple clue? It isn’t the final word, naturally, but it is an indicator.
This should lead the list of America’s Stupidest Laws….......................
In Tennessee, you can now carry a concealed firearm inside a bar.
Someone please tell me why???
Alcohol and guns do not mix.
Our Legislators must have been on acid, when they passed this law.
“What’s on the top of your list of things you think no one ever should have thought of?”
Exterminating six million Jews was not a good idea.
“Evolution. (In the sense of “Life should never have evolved”).
There would be no humans today, had evolution never happened. That would be a good thing”
I don’t think evolution is or was an idea no more than rain or earthquakes are ideas.
Female genital mutilation.
“Honor killings” of rape victims.
The “choking game”.
@thorninmud
Why limit it to female genital mutilation? What about male genital mutilation?
Those pageants where they dress up young girls as if they were 30 (lipstick and all) and parade them around on a stage. Sick. Just plain sick.
Well… I hate to say it, because I like @wundayatta… but questions like this are NOT a good idea. It’s a perfect example of a “disabling” question. That is, it leads all of the great thinkers on Fluther to think of “what’s wrong with…” and “what’s bad about…”
It’s a question that leads away from beauty, truth, improvement in general and away from human happiness. As perfectly exemplified throughout the thread.
This question is a good example of a bad idea. And I’m going to unsubscribe from this question… as I look forward to someone asking “What are the best ideas on the planet?” I can’t wait to read that thread.
Having cars that nag you to death.
@ragingloli As a “victim” of male genital mutilation, I would argue that there’s a big difference in degree of stupidity.
@thorninmud
That is because you were raised in and accept the culture that condones male genital mutilation.
Both involve the mutilation of genitals, and both are done for the same reason, suppression of sexual pleasure.
The goal of Male “mutilation” (I am assuming you’re speaking of circumcision) vs female ”real mutilation” (In some 3rd world countries) are not the same.
@Dutchess_III
They are.
“With regard to circumcision, one of the reasons for it is, in my opinion, the wish to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible. It has been thought that circumcision perfects what is defective congenitally. This gave the possibility to everyone to raise an objection and to say: How can natural things be defective so that they need to be perfected from outside, all the more because we know how useful the foreskin is for that member? In fact this commandment has not been prescribed with a view to perfecting what is defective congenitally, but to perfecting what is defective morally. The bodily pain caused to that member is the real purpose of circumcision. None of the activities necessary for the preservation of the individual is harmed thereby, nor is procreation rendered impossible, but violent concupiscence and lust that goes beyond what is needed are diminished. The fact that circumcision weakens the faculty of sexual excitement and sometimes perhaps diminishes the pleasure is indubitable. For if at birth this member has been made to bleed and has had its covering taken away from it, it must indubitably be weakened.” – Maimonides
Fried pork rinds. I have no response for their crispy delectability.
@ragingloli. Somebody read a whole lotta something into nothing. Originally it was done for religious reasons. Then they thought it would be best for hygienic reasons. I would have to agree that removing the cover would tend to desensitize the most sensitive area, but not by that much. If the ability to enjoy sex is diminished, it’s not by much. Now, if they cut the whole damn thing OFF, then you could compare THAT to female gentile mutilation.
@Dutchess_III
“Now, if they cut the whole damn thing OFF, then you could compare THAT to female gentile mutilation.”
@6rant6, I’m ashamed to admit that fried pork rinds put me through college! My dad went around after the sale people and “cleaned up” any problems they had, and called on new coustomers (snack food places) to introduce them to the product.
Female mutilation is done so that the female can not enjoy sex. Circumcision isn’t done for the same reason. I think it’s dumb, and wouldn’t subject any of my male children to it, but it’s a very passive thing compared to female mutilation.
“Then they thought it would be best for hygienic reasons”
Not until very recently, and those “hygienic reasons” are shallow smoke screens to distract from the real reason and to rationalise a barbaric practice.
“Originally it was done for religious reasons” The same reason female genital mutilation is performed. And this religios reason IS suppression of sexual pleasure.
And besides, this “someone” is considered one of the most important authorities in jewish theology.
@GracieT Damn! Pell grants and loans put me through college! Wish I’d known about pork rinds then! Do you have to pay them all back? ; }~
Raggie..it’s done to females to completely eradicate all sexual enjoyment. Circumcision, for whatever stupid reason it’s done, does NOT have that effect. We really don’t and can’t know exactly what effect, if any, that it has!
You’re trying to compare clipping toenails with cutting off a foot.
I agree with @Dutchess_III, female generalization is often done and it makes it difficult to urinate, as well as causes women who have had it to have other health problems. I think that the practice is still alive and well, but I have no statistics on how many are done each year.
Something else just occurred to me. Without regular cleaning, it can become a stinking mess under the foreskin. In can get infected too. 2000 years ago…and in fact until relatively recently… hygiene practices weren’t all that great. I’ll bet it started out as a way to prevent infection, but then got wrapped in a cloak of religion regarding “cleanliness.” I think that’s the Jewish reasoning, anyway.
It’s not so applicable today.
AAAAND I think this is a question unto itself. I have to go to work now so will someone else do the honors and PM me? :)
@Dutchess_III
The clitoris is not the only part of the female reproductive system that creates pleasure.
The vaginal canal does this as well. Should you not know that already?
Homeopathy.
When I was six, my best pal and I would turn our bicycles upside down and push the pedals with our hands. We imagined that gold or anything we wanted would be created by this magic machine. I think that made more sense than homeopathy.
@ragingloli – I’m completely anti-circ, but I don’t think you’re going to win any minds here. There are differences between the two. The differences are important, but it’s important for people to acknowledge that the two belong in the same discussion. We’ve done circ threads.
For this thread, we have more “stupidest ideas” to list, like….
loud motorcycles
abstract feel good concepts such as success, morals, ethics, afterlife, etc.
Yes, I’m upset.
The belief that the Earth, humans were created merely 2000 years ago or something like that.
I so agree with @JLeslie . I hate practical jokes. Why would a person think it’s funny to do something totally stupid and obnoxious, and then laugh at someone else for it.
Large square-shaped drinking glasses. Looks cool, but doesn’t make any sense. If the side of the glass is larger than your mouth, the drink is going to spill out when you try to drink out of it. Are you supposed to drink out of a corner?
@JLeslie and @Skaggfacemutt Most practical jokes are lame. But some can be funny. My husband’s friend dry-walled over another friend’s dorm room door while he was out drinking. I can only imagine how funny it was to watch the poor drunk guy just staring at the wall dumbstruck when he got back.
I feel that practical jokes are just an excuse to be really mean, and to laugh at the expense of others.
@Skaggfacemutt I don’t like mean-spirited practical jokes. But laughing at your friends can be a hoot. You just have to know which ones are cool with it.
I don’t think I would be upset if my friend did that to me. I’d probably laugh after I sobered up and understood what the heck had happened.
@Nimis I never thought of the square glass thing, lol. I would drink out of the corner.
@Nimis I would be upset! Guess I have no sense of humor – but as I said, I don’t see anything funny about laughing at your friends. With friends like that, who needs enemies.
@Skaggfacemutt There’s an art to the practical joke. Part of it is knowing who would be okay with it.
I laugh at my friends all the time!
@Blackberry So uncomfortable!
German pig farmers, tick as shoite.
I don’t have a problem with practical jokes at all! I don’t have a problem laughing at myself either.
One of my students keeps spinning stories on me. I used to fall for them hard, but now that I know him I’m much more leery of believing what he’s telling me. He is SO good though, that I still get caught sometimes. He caught me the other day. :) Then he’ll say, “I’m just kidding!” And everyone, including me, will start laughing.
Prohibition.
The War On Drugs
Slap-CHOP
@YARNLADY, I wouldn’t call that funny, it was downright cruel to spend the money that way.
I may have misinterpreted it. I took the comment to mean that she thought it was funny that the money was spent that way.
not funny – just plain stupid
Along with many above:
Fruitcake
Reality Shows
Paris Hilton (whether she is an idea or not ..she must go)
Designer clothing for pets.
American Family Association
Cigarettes
Braille instructions on drive-up ATM’s
Braille instructions by the elevator in a parking garage.
@majorrich: “Braille instructions on drive-up ATM’s”
@Dutchess_III: “Braille instructions by the elevator in a parking garage.”
I know you two are probably just joking, right?
@Dutchess_III – I mean…you’re joking that it’s a “stupid idea”, right?
Maybe the ATM isn’t a stupid idea, but who is going to drive a blind person some place, then just dump them off in the parking garage to find their own way to where ever?
@Dutchess_III: “Maybe the ATM isn’t a stupid idea, but who is going to drive a blind person some place, then just dump them off in the parking garage to find their own way to where ever?”
There are varying levels of sight ability. I think accommodating people with vision impairments so that they are not dependent on people to tell them how to operate the elevator is a good thing. Let’s say you arrive at a parking garage with a group of friends (and your vision is poor enough that you’ve had to learn braille). If you want to go down the elevator while someone is exiting some other way, why not?
I find the concept of “Parking garages” hilarious. I mean, a garage by its nature must be stationary. So why would you need to park it?
Especially dumb are the island ATM’s where you have to drive up pretty close to operate it. I suppose on the off chance the blind person were in the back no worries, but the thought of a blind or visually impaired driver loose on the road is nutty. I watched the person at the license bureau coaching an oldster through the vision test. She was clearly unable to see anything at all but still passed.
How Chlorofluorocarbons, that are heavier than air, can get way way up in the atmosphere to destroy ozone.
Trickle down economics. We’ve tried that for 30 years and proved that money only trickles up. So what is the proposed solution. more trickle down economics? How stupid can we get?
Seriously stupid:
Killing people over whose religion is best. For 3000+ years and counting…
@linguaphile Along those same lines… a fighter/boxer praising god for his victory.
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