You're an Idiot

Have you ever been told this? Have you ever told someone this? Odds are both are true, but what was the reasoning behind it. What was said, or done to elicit such a response. It probably had to do with being an ass. Ass in the respect that you or they made an assumption. Making assumptions is a very easy thing to do. We do it on a regular basis. You have to remember the old saying though. To assume is to make an ass out of you and me.

That statement holds true practically all the time. I would say if your assumption was right then it truly wasn’t an assumption. To assume is to take the least amount of current knowledge and jump to a conclusion. A recent example would be the Garth Brooks concert in Detroit, Michigan. I’m sure it never occurred to Mr. Brooks that his intended dedication to a hall of fame football star would result with the assumptions that followed. I’m sure that Mr. Brooks would never willingly alienate members of his fan base. This however, happened because people made assumptions.

It all was a matter of coincidences that corresponded perfectly that led to the incident. The hall of fame Detroit Lions running back shares the last name of a particular democrat presidential hopeful. The hall of famer wore the number 20 which happens to be the year of the presidential election. There are most likely many more people who don’t know Barry Sanders but they do know that Bernie Sanders is a presidential hopeful. There are more than likely a lot of people who think almost all members of Hollywood or a musician side with the left. This makes it very possible that people would jump to the conclusion that Mr. Brooks was showing his support for Bernie instead of what he was actually doing in celebrating Barry.

That’s the problem though. We’ve become a society of asses always assuming which leads to some very unfortunate scenarios and situations. To take so little evidence and assume something is one way when in fact it’s another can have consequences that could be very serious. If say a husband came home with lipstick on his cheek, society would have you assume that he’s having an affair. This could lead a spouse to become enraged. They could tear the marriage apart without first having a honest conversation about the lipstick, because as it may turn out that lipstick is from an aunt who stopped by work with his mother and she wears a heavy shade of lipstick that she didn’t wipe fully off.

Now of course this brings up another type of idiot that comes around a lot, the liar. In the lipstick scenario it is possible that it was the lipstick of an affair and in attempting to have a honest talk about what happened the man lies. Lying is as prevalent as assuming with consequences that can be as damaging.

Why have we become such a cynical society that resorts to assumptions and lying? Could it be the get ahead at any cost thinking of a capitalistic society? Could it be the glamorization of the hostile side of life? Could it be the lying politicians and the misleading if not flat out lying media which makes it hard to believe what we see or hear?

Perhaps we need to open our eyes and not blindly follow our so called leaders. Perhaps we need to educate ourselves better about a situation before we assume. Perhaps we need to communicate with each other. We need to treat each other as fellow human beings. We’re in this together. We have to live together so let’s make it the best possible life we can for each other. Stop assuming and lying. Stop being an idiot.