Picture this: you’re sitting in school, in the second grade or so. One of the kids in your class wets his pants. Oh, don’t start getting all uptight; it happens from time to time, and you’ve either seen it or heard of it. How do second-graders deal with this? Someone notices, tells the rest, and the class ends up pointing at the stinky little critter and laughing. Ah haha! The result? Mostly likely, the kid will be intensely humiliated, and will not do it again.

Now, you may think that this kind of childhood cruelty is awful, must be stamped out. But is it really awful? This is a case where peer pressure has been a tremendous force for good. Good for the kid, good for the smell of the classroom, and good for society. Stupid misbehaviour can be quickly remedied through public ridicule.

The efficaciousness of this method does not diminish, but rather strengthens over time. Even during adulthood, when those around you exhibit idiocy, it can be efficiently curtailed — even stamped out — by public ridicule.

Remember, idiocy is evinced by inability to reason. Therefore, you cannot reason with an idiot; they are not capable. Given that, stopping idiocy must be accomplished by other means. Simply punching people for saying something stupid is time-consuming, inefficient, frowned upon by law enforcement types, and can lead to getting your hands dirty. We need something that has a more sweeping scope.

I submit that it is your duty — to yourself, your friends, mother nature, and all of humanity — to expose and ridicule stupidity wherever you find it.  Point at them, tell everyone to look, and laugh.  Loudly.

After all, when people do stupid things, they could be hurt or killed. So making fun of them could be saving their life! Which is worse, that they get themselves killed, or get their feelings hurt?

So make fun of a stupid person today. The life you save could be your own.