Does anyone else have "fight the stupid" fatigue?

[KentuckyWoman]

I'm at a point where I don't even bother to counter stupid shit unless it directly affects someone right then.

Yesterday I was in the check out line right ahead of a lady trying to grocery shop with 3 smaller kids and got the WIC vouchers mixed up. The cashier was fairly rude to her. I butted in polite, but firm and then goofed off with the wiggly little girl until her mother could dig out the right voucher. I am a grey haired round white lady who walks a little wobbly. May as well use it for something.

However, there just seems to be so much crap out there and I just "can't" anymore. Some idiot in my family posted a photo of a steam roller smashing a bunch of hand guns. God only knows where the pic came from. The meme is how the Soviets took over by taking away everyone's guns and then "disappearing" anyone who disagreed. I just shook my head and scrolled on by.

Realized I've been doing that a lot. I just don't even bother anymore.

Maybe I just need a break ....

[Hugin]

1. Stupid fatigue is a real thing.

Find a cure.

[bottomofthehill]

16. It's killing me though

I was at Kohl’s in Fairfax County VA getting a pair of shoes yesterday and the conversation with the shoe department comes to this, the moron says “ I wish I had got off earlier so I could have gone to the protest at the Capitol” I respond, “ that would have been a great idea, then you too could have been arrested and lost your job” his response, “ I don’t really need this job” , I say, “ independently wealthy” he said, nope I live with my parents.

There you have it, grown fucking man living with his parents, working the shoe department at Kohl’s, following Q.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are fucked....

[Ohiogal]

2. That lady with the three kids and the WIC voucher

Could have been me about 25-30 years ago. How nice of you to show some kindness. I still remember the rudeness and snark (from strangers!) when I paid with food coupons. Back then they were like tickets you tore out of a book, so everyone could tell you were paying with food stamps. Why send out such an attitude? I agree it’s exhausting to deal with.

[KentuckyWoman]

6. This lady had papers, and mentioned her card had not come yet.

I thought she was going to cry to be honest. She had never used food assistance before and had some kind of temporary vouchers "until she got her card". No idea how it works. I heard the tone of the cashiers voice out the side of my head, turned around and looked and realized what was happening.

A lot of people are needing assistance for the first time.... even cashiers ... even for the kind of people standing behind her in line looking impatient.

Stuff like that, I seem to have an endless supply of "speak up". But this silliness all over the internet, or people just saying basic stupid idiot stuff in my ear ... I am at a point where I just walk away or change the subject and move on.

[TwilightZone]

3. Gave up quite a while ago, mostly because there's no point.

The stupid aren't getting any smarter. Most of them are impervious to facts and only get their "news" from right-wing sources.

There's a difference between what you did at the grocery store and trying to counter RW propaganda. What you did was personal and empathetic and accomplished something. Trying to counter the RW tends to fail because people don't want to know the truth.

The former is worth doing. You made someone's life a little easier yesterday. The latter just isn't worth the effort.

[taxi]

29. Yup

People tend to step back and look at me when I speak up in defense of a situation. And I always do, even though sometimes it takes more guts than others.

[onecaliberal]

4. Yes! So exhausting.

[LizBeth]

5. Kids burning mask in Idaho. My post was: A whole lot of stupid teaching their children to be stupid.

[Ford_Prefect]

11. You've got to be carefully taught!

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!


Richard Rodgers
Oscar Hammerstein II
South Pacific, 1949

*************************************************

First they burn masks. Then they burn books. What and who will they burn next? How many times must we put out that same damn fire? I can remember when they only burned crosses.

[LizBeth]

20. +1

[taxi]

30. +

[Irish_Dem]

7. I use my little old lady white privilege the same way.

I am a small older female, sometimes I walk with a cane.
I battle the stupid when and where I can.

I also play stupid, like in telling a no masker: I am sure you don't want to get sick and die.
Put your mask on.

I also told my young surgeon who was not wearing a mask in his office: "You are so handsome and have such a promising career ahead of you, I hate to see you get sick and die. Please wear your mask." He wore his mask from then on and apologized to me at the next appointment.

But I do have a stubborn streak and if someone gives me a hard time, I can give as good as I get.
Last year I was in rehab at a nursing home after breaking my leg and ankle, and fracturing my spine in a bad fall.

I was in a physical therapy large room setting and one of the older white male patients started to trash talk the young female PTs. I gave him a good tongue lashing, telling him these young ladies were trying to save your life. If you doesn't start walking you are going to sit around and die. I have a fractured spine, leg and ankle and I am doing these damn exercises, so can you. Get your behind moving. He looked shocked and didn't say one word. The next day he was lifting weights and keeping his mouth shut.

But yes I refuse to take on most of the stupidity online. And out there.

[KentuckyWoman]

10. Oh I know we'd like each other.

I'm the sort that would totally break protocol and tell Trump on the spot that if he can't offer a little old lady his arm, to at least get his fat butt out of Queen Elizabeth's way.

[Irish_Dem]

12. Right, get your butt behind the Queen, you orange f-wad.

Yes we would have a good time out and about.
Partners in crime.

[cloudbase]

8. It is difficult to win an argument with an intelligent person.

It is impossible to win an argument with an idiot.

[taxi]

23. +

[Duppers]

33. Yes, indeedy! +1000

[AllaN01Bear]

9. a friend who is on wic was at a shopping line one time and some woman was giving her a hard time.

she started to cry , and the staff took away the offending woman and said it is none of your !@#$%^&*( businness why she is on wic. they took my friend to the offcie and apologized . its true , its nobody elses buisness except my own.
i am on calfresh, which uall call food stamps and still no ones business. as to your orginal question on your post , yes .

[BlueNProud]

13. don't engage with the stupid. Its just gaslighting

they want you to debate them. You can't debate crazy people and people who come to the table in bad faith.

[NewHendoLib]

14. It has been unbearable, escalating in the Dubya years

and only getting worse.

[Warpy]

15. Yes, and it's longstanding

I stopped trying to talk to sens to wingnuts over two decades ago, wingnuttery gives them too strong a sense of belinging and they're not going to give that up until they absolutely have to.

Brick walls have to fall on top of them for them to realize we were right, that their wall was badly built and full of big holes--but they'll never admit that to us.

So I pat them on their tilted heads and change the subject quickly. I've gone full Emily Post to people I don't know well or who aren't in fairly well moderated forums. I'm convinced the kindest, and only, thing to do is let them be as crazy as they want to be while I watch that wall of denial and delusion get shakier and shakier.

Not my circus, not my monkeys, hey, the days are finally getting longer again!

[John Ludi]

17. Devolution

is real...and seemingly on the extreme end of the exponential curve.

I sympathize...I'm just so tired anymore that I'd rather walk away and let these people have their tiny little victories on the way to the collapse of civilization their mass stupidity is hastening.

Meh.

[colsohlibgal]

18. Serious Fatigue

Watching Anderson Cooper interview this dedicated Q believer was just maddening as in how could anyone be this gullible and stupid. The guy was nuts but unyielding As Coop countered every looney theory this dimwit barfed Out.

That hordes of people actually believe top Democrats are Devil worshipping Pedophiles is serious proof of the dumbing down of way too many Americans.

[Kaleva]

19. I don't see the point in boxing with a punching bag all day, every day.

You'll never win as the punching bag will never change it's opinion on the issues no matter how much you hit it.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

21. It's way worse than Covid fatigue.

And the stupid is possibly more dangerous than Covid.

[KentuckyWoman]

35. I am actually doing pretty good on covid fatigue.

For me, personally, this has really been a weird kind of a gift. Seems very strange to say, I know.

My husband was ill a long time and died just before Christmas 2019. So about the time Covid showed up was when all the exhausting business of a dead person is over with. I probably slept the first 6 months. Yes I got out, but mostly I just "took my house back" and recovered from the heavy demands of caretaking. I'm ready to get out now though. Enough is enough.

[Trueblue Texan]

22. don't blame you...

I just try to stay away from stupid these days...they're probably contagious anyway.

[Midnight Writer]

24. I have cut many people, some truly close friends, out of my life,

because I am just sick of dealing with their shit.

[Raven123]

25. You are not alone.

[2Gingersnaps]

26. It was the supermarket for me too,

signs posted prominently everywhere, "do not enter without mask." So in walks this guy, smug as hell, cammo ball cap, wrap around sunglasses, your basic "Stop the Steal" type. Strutted around just begging for all of us libs to go full Karen on him. (Progressive off campus neighborhood) We all looked at him sideways, there was a huge distance circle around him, we went about our business. Sorry, not sorry, to disappoint fearless freedom warrior. So tired of it. Put his mask on as he went to the registers. On a lighter note, I get my vaccination in a week, I will still wear the mask until it is over.

[Evolve Dammit]

27. Behold the power of brainwashing; 30 years of Fox, Rush et al. Any progress we attempt has two

options. 1. Cut the knuckle draggers and tongue chewers out of the process, or 2) Drag them along and have them piss on everything because they've been brainwashed into believing everything on the left, or even center these days, is an affront to their being and a lie.
I favor the first option. They will never agree to anything in their best interest. We need to move on, without them. We have the majority of public opinion, and need to be bold, improving our lives.

[Beastly Boy]

28. Mark Twain said it best:

“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

[bucolic_frolic]

31. I just ask them "Do you really believe that?" with a slight emphasis on the last word and walk away

I hope it makes them reconsider or feel stupid.

[Hortensis]

32. Almost all the appalling "stupid" I encounter is on political forums.

Self-abuse, of course. We all need a break sometimes, just a question of the form to take.

A vacation, or editing the obscuring chaff thrown up by subversive agents and hostile ideologues out of existence, leaving healthy, intelligent interchanges? I've done the latter before, and it can turn a public forum into the kind of thoughtful, mannered political society I'd love to join.

[live love laugh]

34. It's tiring because it's escalated and coming from every direction.

It’s friends and family that frustrate me — often because they unwittingly pass on garbage like “bring prayer back to schools”. There’re so many more examples but you get the point.

[KentuckyWoman]

37. For me too.

My genuine friends would never spout such silliness. With family, it baffles me how otherwise fairly intelligent people have just gone stark raving.

My brother. 20 years ago my brother, in 5 degree weather, gave away his coat hat and gloves and then walked a mile back to the car refusing my gloves or scarf or hat - swearing he's not cold. It was not big deal to him.

Acted the same way the whole time he was a Trumper. One minute he would say the election was stolen and the next minute he's talking about delivering help boxes to the low income senior place.

Then Jan 6 happened. He's done a complete 180 on Trump. To the point he's helping to fund groups that work to get people at the border reunited with family or out of custody.

My brother is back. Most of the family spewing this silliness, not so much.

[JI7]

36. Responding to a lot of this is a waste of time

The people doing it are not interested in facts . They are trying to push what many know is bs.

I guess people can respond at times if they want but don't get sucked into putting so much time into it and how it can make you feel.

[FlyingPiggy]

38. Yes! Me!! I am taking a break right now. I make a disconcerted effort to not

Respond to comments on some public pages or try to correct anyone.

[alterfurz]

39. It ain't getting any smarter out there. -- Frank Zappa

Against stupidity, even the gods themselves fight in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results. — Margaret Atwood

[lagomorph777]

40. Fascistbook is very fatiguing (and dangerous).

I avoid it, and Twit.