How to Know You’re Dealing with Someone Really Unintelligent

It still has nothing to do with anyone’s religion or politics.

Photo by Reba Spike on Unsplash

On Oct. 28 I published “How to Know You’re Dealing with Someone Really Intelligent.” It strikes me that a guide to just the opposite might be useful. How do you spot someone of low intelligence, perhaps to avoid them because I hear that if you’re not careful, low intelligence can be catching.

1. Walk into their home or apartment and the most prominent object is the big screen TV. It’s always on, always blaring. My rule of thumb is, the bigger the screen and the louder the volume, the lower the IQ of its owner.

2. The truly unintelligent can’t put their phones down for five minutes. They’re apt to run straight into you on a sidewalk because their attention is on their phones. There are even Darwin-awards level cases of the unintelligent walking into traffic, or walking off cliffs and getting themselves killed.

3. They mindlessly inconvenience others in myriad small ways, whether it’s leaving a shopping cart in the middle of a parking spot where it blocks the path of an incoming vehicle, or by blocking a store aisle with their cart. They lack situational awareness.

4. They eat out a lot (proper food preparation is a lot less sexy and exciting than that big screen TV), and then wonder where their money went. They’ll eat junk and eventually wonder why their health is deteriorating.

5. They’ll go massively into debt because of high time preference, and because they can’t delay gratification. They’ll get a direct deposit into their bank account for having overpaid the IRS and tell you excitedly, “Free money from the government!”

5. They’re vulnerable to online scams, MLM-type ploys, and other get-rich-quick schemes. They’re always looking for an angle, always trying to get something for nothing.

6. They yell at traffic. They lack impulse control, and in the right circumstances might be prone to starting a fight.

7. If they’re readying to board a flight, they’ll crowd forward and impede people trying to get on even though their number hasn’t been called. On the flight itself, they’re the ones most prone to cause a disruption…