Everybody has an opinion. The internet allows those opinions to be shared with the entire world. Sadly, not every idea needs to be shared. In fact, a large majority of them don’t. The good news here, at least, is that it lets us quickly find out which opinions are coming from a place of low intelligence. A recent online discussion asks for ways to determine below-average signs of intelligence. Here are the top responses.
1 – No Curiosity Whatsoever
People that never ask questions or are not curious can seem disinterested. Here’s the thing, they really aren’t interested because they don’t posses the capacity to be.
2 – Pointing Out “Big” Words
There is nothing more irritating than when people make fun of the way you speak. However, it could be a sign of low intelligence, when they make fun of you using more academic vocabulary.
3 – Having Main Character Syndrome
Some people like to assume they’re the main character in life. They act like a television show and the entire universe revolves around them. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
4 – Ignoring Facts That Don’t Fit Their Narrative
By definition, a fact is something that is known or proven to be true. By ignoring facts because they don’t fit your belief or narrative, you’re demonstrating signs of low intelligence.
5 – Taking Everything As A Threat
We promise that the world isn’t out to get you. There is no gigantic conspiracy against you; you’re not George Costanza. The universe is not against you, as he once infamously said.
6 – Constantly Getting Into Public Arguments
We’ve never understood why people get into shouting matches in public places. Who are you trying to impress here?
7 – Being Unable To See The Bigger Picture
The world exists far beyond your own personal bubble. It’s not always about you; failing to see the bigger picture is, more often than now, a symptom of low intelligence in people.
8 – Believing Everything Found on Social Media
According to countless people, there is a direct correlation between low intelligence and treating everything read on social media as fact. Sure, “fake news” is a real problem today. But unfortunately, too many people don’t analyze what they read or view critically, leading them down a rabbit hole of misinformation.
9 – Lack of Curiosity
As one enterprising woman explains, if you act like a human potato, you will be treated like a human potato. “Have you ever dealt with someone when every instruction needs to be laid out in painstaking detail?” she asks. “If an issue arises, there’s no desire to understand why or attempt to fix it. They just error out and stand there waiting for instruction. It’s like programming a computer, but the computer is a human potato.”
Do not be a human potato.
10 – Not Understanding Hypothetical Questions
Thinking outside the box and using critical-thinking areas of your brain is a perfect example of intelligence. The inability to comprehend hypothetical questions is one of the easiest ways to tell the person asking the question that you’re not smart.
11 – People Criticizing Other People’s Grasp of English
It’s shocking how often native English speakers make fun of others’ attempts to speak the language; many feel it’s a subtle sign of low intelligence. “If I ever get frustrated trying to understand someone speaking broken English, I just remember that they’re doing better at speaking English than I’d be at speaking their native language,” reveals one man.
13 – Not Understanding Analogies
Failing to grasp analogies doesn’t bode well for your perceived intelligence, similar to not understanding hypothetical questions and scenarios. The ability to think critically is a crucial stage in our brain’s development; many believe that some brains haven’t progressed to that level yet!
14 – An Unwillingness To Change Their Opinion
Here’s an easy way to make others think you’re stupid: stubbornly refuse to change your opinion – even in the presence of new information. “I have a huge problem with the inability, or unwillingness, to change one’s opinion when confronted with new information,” confesses one woman. “If a person digs their heels in no matter how much they’re proven wrong on a given topic, they’re an idiot.”
15 – Overreliance on Empty Buzzwords
I was waiting to see how many of my friends in the corporate world would get mentioned in this conversation! “People who use only empty buzzwords in their conversations are not smart,” advises one person who seems to know my friends personally. “I’ve got a coworker who only communicates in phrases like ‘situational awareness’ and ‘following breadcrumbs’ and asks for meetings to ‘amplify our synergy.’”
16 – Buying a New Car When They’re Broke
Everybody shakes their head disapprovingly when they hear this story: the broke friend who buys a new car or truck, putting themselves in a challenging financial situation. So why do people do this to themselves? The answer, according to many people, is that they’re dumb.
17 – Getting Sucked Into a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme
MLMs and pyramid schemes target a particular demographic: the unintelligent. It’s easy for these people to be swayed by false promises, fancy presentations, and the lure of becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams. But, unfortunately, that rarely happens.
18 – Littering
Littering in public is the most popular identifying trait named by others that signify below-average intelligence. Something about the utter carelessness of the world around you just screams, “I’m an idiot!”
19 – Lack of Empathy
Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes shows you care and have a fully-working heart and brain. If you find yourself unable to do this, many people admit they consider that a glaring sign of your low intelligence.
20 – Doing Something for Internet Clout
For some, it’s easy to identify people of lower intelligence – all they have to do is fire up social media and start scrolling. “You mean, a guy spinning his new 48-month loan Dodge Charger in a circle surrounded by lunatics with guns and fire in an intersection while hanging halfway out of the car recording an Instagram video is probably not that intelligent?” asks one egregious man.
Source: Reddit.
