"Just How Goddamn Stupid Are You?"

This will be a two part post. Yes, it will take two posts to examine the depths of stupidity in this country. We will begin at the beginning. The line above will forever be etched in my memory. It was a quote from my father. One of my favorite things about him was that you never had to wonder too long about what he was thinking. Somehow, in some appropriate or inappropriate manner, his thoughts were going to be expressed verbally. This line happened in the 1990's. I couldn't tell you the exact month or year other than the fact it was winter.

It was one of those days in west central Illinois that you wanted to stay inside. It was snowing and/or blowing snow and the temperature was around zero without the wind chill. When you factored that in it felt like 20 or 30 below zero. We lived out in BFE on the flat prairie ground where the wind has 2 or three miles to gather up snow and push it into the road. Generally the snowplow comes by late after the wind dies down so the good working folks of the world can get home for the night. We were relaxing in the house watching TV when we looked to the north up the road and saw a car that appeared to be stuck. We waited a couple of minutes to make sure it wasn't moving and then put on our cold weather gear. When it is that cold and you have to walk about a half mile round trip you get prepared. John, our youngest son, was home and went with me. We walked down to the car and there was a teenaged girl sitting in it on the passenger side. She was dressed in a light jacket or hoodie. It was clearly not heavy enough for the weather. The car was stuck and we were not going to get it loose. She explained her "Uncle" had walked to get help. We told her to sit tight and we would get some additional clothing for her to put on to walk to the house. We got that stuff and walked back to her and had her put on a heavy coat, gloves and hat. We started walking for the house and decided to stop at my Mom and Dad's since they lived across the road from us. I wanted to see if her "Uncle" had stopped there for help. We went in and determined that he had not stopped there or at our house. The next house is a half mile away and he had gone there. Why you walk past two occupied houses will never make any sense to me. About that time we heard the township snowplow out front and her "Uncle" came to the door. The conversation with him went as follows.

Dad: "What are you doing out driving in weather like this?"
"Uncle": "I was out delivering the newspapers."
Dad: "Just how goddamn stupid are you? No one is going to go a half mile down the road to the box to get the fucking paper."

The newspaper was never delivered to our house. There were four boxes on the corner for the subscribers and you had to go to the box and pick up your copy. Dad was right. No one was going to go down there and get their paper that day. It would have sat in the box until sometime the next morning or afternoon depending on when the road was cleared.

There are many times in my life since that day that I have wondered in my head about someone I was talking to or reading about or listening to on television. Just how goddamn stupid are you? I have, for better or worse, often chosen to be more careful with my words than my father was with his. This does not mean I feel his approach was in any way wrong, it is just not something I am comfortable with in many cases. Tomorrow I will attempt to examine the level of stupidity in the United States that my father so clearly and concisely confronted on that cold winter day.

This is a picture of my Dad clearing snow with an Allis Chalmers dozer in the late 1950's or early 1960's. Yes, sometimes the snow was bad enough to require this kind of equipment.