Dumb and Dumber

Earlier in the week, I read that the movie "Dumb and Dumber" would be removed from Netflix today.  I had never seen the movie, an iconic comedy, so I decided to watch it. I am glad I have seen it now, but I have no desire to see it again. It was okay, with a few really funny scenes, but I found it more dumb than funny. I gave it 3 stars out of 5, but I debated myself about that third star.

I started thinking about the title, though, and how it applies to real life.  I asked myself, "Who is dumber, the person who knows he is dumb, and, therefore, avoids making decisions that he knows will be dumb, or the person who is dumb but thinks he is smart, and, therefore, is constantly making  dumb decisions and doing dumb things?"  (Note that I am not taking the Politically Correct approach and using "he/she" -- I am taking the traditional approach and using "he" for a person of unknown sex (not gender -- don't get me started on that!). If you want to take a more Politically Incorrect approach, as an exercise, you can rewrite this to be a post about Dumb and Dumber Blondes.  For example, rewrite my question as, "Who is dumber, the dumb blond who knows she is dumb, and, therefore, avoids making decisions that she knows will be dumb, or the dumb blond who is dumb but thinks she is smart, and, therefore, is constantly making  dumb decisions and doing dumb things?")

It took about 20 milliseconds for me to conclude that the dumb person who realizes he is dumb is much smarter than the dumb person who thinks he is smart. Therefore, the dumb person who knows he is dumb is just dumb, while the dumb person who thinks he is smart is the dumber of the two.  And not only dumber, but more dangerous, as as he is constantly making dumb decisions and doing dumb things.