Do we ever stop being surprised by people's stupidity? Is the surprise doubled when supposedly intelligent people perform a truly dumb (and criminal) act? So what's got my panties in a knot today?
This past Monday, a 20-yeard old Harvard student, who was looking to get out of a final exam, allegedly sent several anonymous emails indicating that there were four bombs planted around the campus. It all turned out to be a hoax. Of course, the authorities figured out where the threats came from and the student has been arrested and charged with a federal bomb hoax which carries "a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine".
When I heard about this event on the morning news, I was aghast! How could someone who apparently is intelligent enough to get into Harvard do something so incredibly stupid?! This young man has the potential to ruin his life over a final exam?!? How stupid is he? Seems to me that this person could be an honorable mention for the Darwin Awards. For those of you who don't know about the Darwin Awards, "named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, the Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it" (from the website). Honorable mentions don't actually die by their stupidity, but are called "At Risk Survivors", which cracks me up!
One of my favorite Darwin Award winners: "'It was just a freak incident,' said an investigator, that caused the death of 43-year-old Gary Allen Banning. Gary was at a friend's apartment when he spotted a salsa jar containing a mystery fluid. Thinking that it was an alcoholic beverage, he helped himself to a sizeable swig of gasoline! Naturally enough, he immediately spit out the offending liquid onto his clothes. Then, to recover from the shock, Gary lit a cigarette." Let's hope this person didn't procreate before immolating himself.
One of my favorite Darwin Award winners: "'It was just a freak incident,' said an investigator, that caused the death of 43-year-old Gary Allen Banning. Gary was at a friend's apartment when he spotted a salsa jar containing a mystery fluid. Thinking that it was an alcoholic beverage, he helped himself to a sizeable swig of gasoline! Naturally enough, he immediately spit out the offending liquid onto his clothes. Then, to recover from the shock, Gary lit a cigarette." Let's hope this person didn't procreate before immolating himself.
2 comments:
I needed a good laugh this evening. Thanks. And I love the Darwins. There are a lot of people out there who deserve to die stupidly and soon
I keep remembering George Carlin's line "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." :-D
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