30 Days of Quotes About Whatever ~ Day 23 ~ Joss Whedon

Day 23 ~

“I'll take crazy over stupid any day.” 

~ Joss Whedon


You knew that once I stopped writing about what I was supposed to be writing about that eventually I would have to nerd it up, right?

Hi. My name is Kelly. I am a nerd. I hope you know who Joss Whedon is. If you don't, I'll tell you.

He's like a junior godfather in the nerd world. He created, helped create, wrote or directed The Avengers, Toy Story, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Angel, an episode of Glee and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I'm not at all surprised that he said something like this:

“I'll take crazy over stupid any day.” 

Not even a little bit. He creates characters that are practically geniuses, but quirky...so this makes sense. He's an atheist, but a humanist, both of which have been well documented. If you aren't familiar with humanism, it's essentially the idea that our value and importance as humans is inherent, is not subject to or dependent on the existence of a higher power. We are urged to be the best version of ourselves. Whedon in particular would say that this is essential, because this is all there is. 

On to the quote.

I have to say that I agree with him. Honestly. I certainly have my crazy side, and by crazy I mean like certifiable because there is actually shit wrong with me and also just regular run of the mill crazy.

Maybe it's just me, but when people call other people crazy, I don't think it's an insult. Maybe that's because I have lots and lots of my own crazy. Maybe it's because I don't see it as a way to categorize or diagnose people. I see crazy just as being this: when someone does or says something that doesn't seem logical to us. 

That doesn't, by the way, mean the other person is crazy at all. Misunderstood, maybe, but not necessarily crazy. I mean, they could totally be deluded or irrational or unhinged for whatever reason, certainly, but I don't think the term as it is commonly used refers only to those people. 

The truth is that most of us do what we do for a reason, even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else at the time and might make us seem crazy. That reason stems from our unique and individual life experience, perspective, morality and so on...which is the awesome thing about us humans. We're all so different.

I've joked with friends about this, particularly with family issues. I don't think any of us believes our family is totally sane and normal, but at least we understand this particular version of crazy. We're used to it. We know how to deal with it. That doesn't make it normal at all, it just makes it familiar.

Having said that, I'll take crazy over stupid any day of the week and twice on Sunday. 

As for stupidity, I suppose there are a few ways to define it. Stupidity can just be a lack of intelligence, which may or may not be something that anyone has any ability to control. I don't think that's the kind of stupid he's talking about though.

I think he's talking about the oblivious type of stupidity. The people who fail to understand what is happening because they lack the interest or effort required to figure it out. The people who believe whatever they are told, even if it's completely wrong, because they don't bother finding out for themselves.  The people who don't think about what they are doing or saying before they do it. The people that you can't have a rational discussion with. The people who can't or won't understand logic and reason. The people who can't entertain the idea that other people may have differing ideas and opinions or experiences.

The people who make you want to bang your head on the wall.

Those people. 

Give me crazy over that, please.