Questions: Good or Bad?
One thing I've heard all my life, repeated incessantly, is 'there is no such thing as a stupid question'. I beg to differ with that sentiment. There ARE stupid questions. The problem seems to be with the word 'stupid'.
Stupid is a state of existence or state of mind when the questioner knows the answer full well and the questionee knows the questioner knows the answer, yet the questioner still asked the question.
Example: You are standing in the rain with your broken umbrella over your head, your hair is wet, your feet, socks, shoes and pants legs are drenched and someone at the bus stop asks "Have you ever seen such weather?"
Now, you might be thinking this is not stupid, that it is just someone trying to make conversation and you could be right, but I consider it a stupid question. Not necessarily because of the content and context, but because of the proximity. The questioner is very close to being accidentally beat by my umbrella.
On the other hand, I wish to point out the difference between stupid and ignorant.
Same example: Same weather, same bus stop, different questioner. This questioner is obviously a foreigner from the Skeleton Coast in West Africa. It never rains there and he/she/they are fascinated by the sheer amount of water pouring from the sky. The questionee, having visited Namibia several times in pursuit of the extreme dune surfing experience in the Sossusvlei Dunes, using utmost discernment, recognizes the language/accent of the questioner, responds "Why, yes, yes I have."
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Stupid is a state of existence or state of mind when the questioner knows the answer full well and the questionee knows the questioner knows the answer, yet the questioner still asked the question.
Example: You are standing in the rain with your broken umbrella over your head, your hair is wet, your feet, socks, shoes and pants legs are drenched and someone at the bus stop asks "Have you ever seen such weather?"
Now, you might be thinking this is not stupid, that it is just someone trying to make conversation and you could be right, but I consider it a stupid question. Not necessarily because of the content and context, but because of the proximity. The questioner is very close to being accidentally beat by my umbrella.
On the other hand, I wish to point out the difference between stupid and ignorant.
Same example: Same weather, same bus stop, different questioner. This questioner is obviously a foreigner from the Skeleton Coast in West Africa. It never rains there and he/she/they are fascinated by the sheer amount of water pouring from the sky. The questionee, having visited Namibia several times in pursuit of the extreme dune surfing experience in the Sossusvlei Dunes, using utmost discernment, recognizes the language/accent of the questioner, responds "Why, yes, yes I have."

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Published on June 01, 2016 07:20
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Tags:
africa, answers, dune-surfing, namibia, questions, skeleton-coast
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Fighting off depression and writer's block is tragic.
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