It's an old line, popularized more after the movie Forest Gump. His mother said, "Stupid is as stupid does," and that's fairly close to the truth . . . in practical terms. Forest was "intellectually challenged," gifted in other ways, and lovable. My sister, who died back in 2004, was supposedly mentally retarded. My parents were told that early on, and she never really attended school. Late in life, a specialist tested her and came back with a startling result. She was not retarded. Her physical condition, severe handicaps, led people to assume that she was likewise just as mentally retarded. She didn't speak well, and since she never went to school, didn't know much. Learning that distressed my mother in one way, but it didn't surprise her. She had two master's degrees - one in mental retardation, and one in the exceptional child. Vindication, that's a good word for what it was for my sister.
IQ is easy to assess, difficult to understand. The average person running around out there has an IQ between 90 and 110, with the average in the U.S. being 98. Your average high school grad has an IQ of about 100, with a college grad coming in between 115-120. If your are above 115, you're designated as bright. If you're somewhere in the 125-135 class you're exceptionally bright, or gifted, and if you're between 135-145, you're exceptionally gifted, near genius. Above that is genius. Below 90 gets sort of fuzzy when it comes to definitions. 80 to 90 is not a retarded class, but most folks call it dullard class. Smart enough to function, but barely. An idiot is the worst and lowest class at under 25 IQ, and morons are at 50 or less. I've seen other designations and some variations in scores, but that's about it.
What does all that mean? Well, as it turns out according to statistical studies, a lot. The higher a person's IQ, the better their chances at success in life. Higher IQ people are happier, more productive, healthier . . . and that's because they're smart enough to make mostly smart decisions. Yeah, stupid is as stupid does. Right. Then why is it that high IQ people do some really stupid things? Just look at the list of politicians who've fucked up big time while in office, and we're talking high IQ people here. What about Bill Clinton, a high IQ guy for sure, and those famous blow jobs at the White House? What the hell was he thinking? What about Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court Justice, and his idiotic remarks to a woman? I could go on and on because there's no running out of examples - smart people doing stupid things.
Does that mean that Forest Gump's mama was wrong? Well, not really. When the result of some action turns out to be stupid, it came about as a result of a stupid thought process. What we're talking about here is a big time brain fart, a lapse in judgment, an episode of stupidity. One of my first cousins had a Ph.d. in chemistry, and he drank himself to death at a fairly early age. OK, so the AMA long ago said alcoholism was a disease, so a disease killed him . . . technically. But we all have choices to make in life, and smart people sometimes make stupid choices. I had my bout with alcoholism, and maybe it was an addiction outside of my control, but I did it. It was my fault, my stupid decision to drink. It didn't kill me because I finally made a smart decision and went to treatment for it, joined AA, fought back, and got my life back . . . and that was more than 30 years ago. My high IQ finally kicked in, and that saved me. And yeah, I've got a high IQ. I'm one of those exceptionally gifted folks, a former college professor . . . with a history of doing a lot of stupid things.
So, mama Gump, you hit the nail on the head. Stupid is as stupid does. I've seen some people with low IQs do some remarkable things. Some of them have been highly successful in life because they got the most out of what they had, and even if they're weren't successful in most things, they managed to get through life . . . a life they enjoyed and made a difference in other people's lives. My sister made a big difference in my life. Growing up in a home with a handicapped sister broadened my perspectives about some things, made me aware of how lucky I was, made me appreciate some of the things in life most people overlook. Some very intelligent people have shaped my life in ways I could never fully explain, but I'd be a complete fool to overlook the things some people who weren't smart taught me.
Maybe we should turn mama Gump's statement around. Maybe it should be "smart is as smart does."
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