In Dutch stupid and Mute have the same word for it. Creating new sybols or concepts like 0 and , raise only new problems. Old saying in Holland: to speak is worth silver, to be silent is worth gold.

Education helps only so much to make men less stupid. It all depends on the information presented. Noticing a Anglo-Saxon tradition by many of us, I question the neutrality of the arguments on this Forum.

Why do most people believe that most people are stupid?

I think a lot of people include the above premise in the foundation of their belief system, their ethics, and their sense of self-worth. I'd like to take a poll but that feature is disabled. Do you think most people are stupid? I'll go against the grain and say: "No." However, I may be denial. I'm interested in hearing arguments from the other side. Does anyone have any proof? There are plenty of examples of stupidity but one example does not suggest that most people fit that example. So, if you provide evidence, please provide only evidence of the alleged wide spread stupidity of the majority and not specific examples of isolated stupidity.

It's when the "stupid" are not able to respond intelligently to the accuer's values.
Many civilized nations back in the days, have accued tribes of being stupid and uncivilized, just beacuse they didn't understand the civilized values.

In our own western societies we often accuse eachother for being stupid, where it's more like "unwilling to comply" that is the real factor.

If I recall correctly the word barbarian was an onomatopoeiatic contribution from the Greeks. Since the foreigners didn't speak Greek the Greeks considered there speech to be just meaningless sounds like "bah bah bah" which became babarian. (bah bah bah babarian...reminds me of a song... but truth be known I can't stand the Beach Boys.)

But as you pointed out it is not just a matter of just knowing the language, and knowing how the game is played it is also a matter of willingness to speak the language instead of some other language and the willingness to play the game by a certain set of rules. Either way the proverbial Greek will fail to make a distinction and simply dismiss all non-compliant outsiders as stupid barbarians babbling nonsense.

Sometimes, it may happen that the certain set of rules by which the game is played, is also the best set of rules, and that the alternative set(s) of rules is/are, inferior. Indeed, it may even turn out that we are not even playing a game.

I think Lyotard called them grand narratives.

Sorry, but that helps not at all. I would just say the same about them as I said about games. (Whatever grand narratives are).

Postmodern Condition is very readable. Lyotard is probably the most direct and understandable of the Frenchy postmoderns, not that I've read them all.

Could be. And, if I had but world enough and time.....A lot of world, and a lot of time. It is against my religion to read French philosophers after Descartes (although, in Sartre's case I admit to have strayed).

Oh trust me, it depends on your environment. In mine, I feel like everyone is smarter.