The Genius of Stupidity

Consider the origins of everyday items--some of them really make you wonder. Take the cigarette for instance. Millions of people smoke them everyday, it’s a billion dollar industry---but I wonder who was the first guy to look at a tobacco plant and think, “gee, I wonder what would happen if I ripped off some leaves, rolled them into a cylinder then stuck it in my mouth and lit the whole thing on fire. Ahh, I got nothing else to do--let’s give it a whirl.” Who thinks of that? Very rarely in my day do I see an object I’d like to insert into one of my orifices and set on fire. That just doesn’t cross my mind too often. I know three year olds who eat paint that know better than to stick things on fire in their mouth.

And it’s only made stupider by the fact that after taking these tobacco leaves, sticking them in his mouth and lighting them on fire he probably started hacking up a lung and felt sick to his stomach but did it two dozen more times anyway until he thought, “ehh…this isn’t so bad.”

This bring me to my main idea: idiocy seems to get rewarded a helluva lot. For instance the idiot in question who invented the cigarette probably went on to open up Phillip-Morris and become a multi millionaire. Sometimes doing the most boneheaded, stupid thing you can will bring your fame and fortune beyond your wildest belief. It’s the whack-a-mole approach to success.

Take the leaning tower of Piza for instance. You'd think "how to NOT have your tower tilt on its side" would be like the first thing they teach you in architect’s school. But some bonehead slept through class, decided to wing it and made what is probably the world worst tower—which in turn made it the world’s most famous tower.

If you can think of anything boneheaded that made someone rich and/or famous, please post it in the comments.