Stupid People are Suicide Bombers

The older I get, the more stupidity frightens me.

I could make out ok around a reasonably intelligent criminal by carefully avoiding making it his interest to harm me. But stupid people can't see their self interest. In fact, they often unwittingly operate against it. A stupid person might harm you even if it harms them worse, just because they can't weigh the factors.

Even seemingly "nice" ones effectively make themselves suicide bombers due to 1. their predisposition to mistake your intentions and 2. their inability to recognize a bomb strapped to their chest.

And the worst part is that we're all stupid from time to time.


Considering just the first part, i.e. "mistaken intentions," does Napoleon's quotation, "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence," ring true for you? Have you made that mistake? I certainly have! And my stupid misapprehension of intention puts me halfway there, bare minimum.