Can stupid people and smart people be good friends?

[TomAz]

Yeah, so "stupid" and "smart" are overly simplistic shortcut words, I accept that. Deal with it anyway.

and I mean "good friends" to mean people who share thoughts/insights with each other and who have a certain level of implicit or explicit trust.

[Neighborhood Creep]

I have smart friends, so yeah

[algunz]

I have dumb friends.

[stinkbutt]

I certainly have friends that are dumb, not that I'm smart, but I do have friends that make me look like it. We just don't talk about certain things, same goes with family. I think it makes for a happier life knowing when to just stop listening or walk away and leave the dumbasses to bicker among themselves.

[VigoTheCarpathian]

I've never held intelligence as a requirement for my friendship and I've always liked hanging with the kids who would do all the crazy things that I wouldn't have the audacity to do myself however this has all changed: those crazy kids all shot each others faces over and over again and as I enter my thirties there is no way in hell I'm going to get caught in a bar fight or hang around long enough to hear my company call the waitress the c word. Genuinely stupid people are capable of making it unbearable and even dangerous to befriend.

[rjadams90]

Pinky and the Brain

[VigoTheCarpathian]

I would also say that I find some very intelligent people to be the biggest pains in the ass to keep as friends: smart ass comments, narrow minded, arrogant insistence, intellectual bullying.

Some smart people are too eccentric for their own good. I've got a cousin who's about the biggest genius in the country for a certain animal, is also a recluse who lives with animals and bugs in and around his house.

[the goat]

"This isn't a productive area of discussion."

[Courtney]

I'm friends with you people on the message board, so yeah.

[Courtney]

But no, what I really think is that yes you can be friends with people of various intellect levels, but that friendship will be at least in certain ways circumscribed by that difference. There are certain life issues, concerns, goals, etc, that may just not necessarily be comprehensible on a fundamental level if the differences in intellect are big enough. But that doesn't mean that you can't still deeply care for the person and feel compassionate about their problems and elated about their successes.

[GeezrRckr]

[Highly Refined Pirate]

/thread

[TomAz]

well that certainly is refined.

[captncrzy]

No. The repeated exposure to the stupidity of another will eventually drive you mad.

[Goatchella]

yes Tom...we would make great friends. morons like me are usually loyal and would spare their life for you, while smart people are going to be more calculated and assess the situation while your dying.

Most people you would consider dumb have been learning about something all these years, just not things you would learn in an educational institution. While you may have a degree or be successful in the corporate world, some moron might have trade skills and be able to do things you could never do.

your plumber might think your a fucking idiot when you call him over to fix a leak. Think bigger han your lame opinions buddy.

[gaypalmsprings]

[TomAz]

yes Tom...we would make great friends. morons like me are usually loyal and would spare their life for you, while smart people are going to be more calculated and assess the situation while your dying.

Most people you would consider dumb have been learning about something all these years, just not things you would learn in an educational institution. While you may have a degree or be successful in the corporate world, some moron might have trade skills and be able to do things you could never do.

your plumber might think your a fucking idiot when you call him over to fix a leak. Think bigger han your lame opinions buddy.

I wasn't talking about you, but since you've chosen to personalize this, let me address some misconceptions you have.

I was talking about actual differences in actual intelligence. I didn't mention education level; you did. I didn't mention social class; you did. I happen to know plenty of people in the trades who I think are pretty damn sharp, and plenty of people in the professions (including my own) who I think are blithering idiots. And as far as the "corporate world" in concerned, I personally know of several companies where there exists a greater concentration of fucking retards than any other place on the planet outside of Fox news.

My advice to you is that you follow your own advice.

[Goatchella]

your so cute when you vent. Thank you my intelligent friend. This is going to be a wonderful relationship =).
I love you TomAZ. Have a glorious day.

[TomAz]

It creeps me out that you fantasize about me.

[Miroir Noir]

I'm on the record for yes. I've always had more enduring relationships with people I can drink and watch baseball with than I have had with people I can discuss Camus with.

[Goatchella]

as long as you have feelings about me its ok if they are creepy.
cant wait to dance with you on the polo fields...can I ride on your majestic shoulders?

[TomAz]

I'm on the record for yes. I've always had more enduring relationships with people I can drink and watch baseball with than I have had with people I can discuss Camus with.

[Miroir Noir]

I'd like to think Camus would agree with me. He found as much meaning in soccer matches, and fleeting affairs with women, and the summer surf, and drinking as he did in writing or carrying out long, drawn-out public debates with the communists.

[TomAz]

I think that was, in fact, the nature of his debates with the Communists. That living life matters too.


anyway I should buy you a beer next April.

[chairmenmeow47]

i don't think understanding each other has anything to do with intelligence. it has to do with life experiences and your willingness to have a relationship. i love my dad. we are really close and have a wonderful relationship. we do a lot together. he may not be smart, but he has genuine curiosity and a willingness to learn, it just takes him longer than me. and he has learned a lot and eventually got his masters, but i don't know that when people meet him they'd call him smart. i remember him, my mom, and i all taking an IQ test that was in the paper one sunday. my mom and i were done right away. it took my dad several hours of frustration to finish, and even then my mom with no degree kicked all of our asses.

[frizzlefry]

^Agreed, I think that if you enjoy the same interests and have compatible personalities you can be friends with anyone regardless of intelligence. If somebody ever feels like they are just too smart to have dumb friends than they should probably loosen up a little, vice versa, if someone feels that "intelligent" people are too boring than maybe they should get some culture in their life

[Goatchella]

Im a dummy but i prefer to surround myself with smarter people for sure. and good lookng people..

can ugly people and good looking people be friends?

[Miroir Noir]

I think that was, in fact, the nature of his debates with the Communists. That living life matters too.


anyway I should buy you a beer next April.

I'm there.

[Still-ill]

"Depends on the size of their bosom"

No one said that yet? How is that?

[SoulDischarge]

It don't matter none so long as you know how to fuck, babygirl.