Stupid Questions

I hear a lot of stupid questions all around. Once there was this guy who took my bottle of distilled water and asked me, "oh hey, can I take a sip?" when he has already removed the cap, and looked so ready to scour the contents of my bottle. The question was stupid simply because the person never gave me an alternative.

Interrogative remarks are made to give people a substantive choice between agreeing or disagreeing. Although mathematicians and scientists often use rhetorical questions that are condescending and undemocratic, but they really don't count. They are literary and oratorical devices utilized to deliver a point. That guy who asked for a sip had no point to prove. He was simply a rude and uncouth type of a guy, who used my vulnerabilities to quench his thirst. Left with no alternatives, I quickly succumbed to his request while he anticipated some kind of response, as if I had a choice to say no.

Another stupidity came from a beautiful, blonde girl from my French class who asked my teacher in front of thirty students if she can go "potty, potty." I understand why she once again forgot how to say est-ce que je peux aller aux toilettes after taking years of French lessons, but can she be more indecent and insensitive? I mean, didn't she realize that such an immature remark is inadmissible in a class, especially in front of ten or more esquires who are so sensitive, they shiver and puke when hearing the f*** word being uttered?

Then there was this annoying American girl I know, who simply can't stop asking questions. When people solicit an explanation from her as to why she always make stupid inquiries, the irritating carrot-top always said, "why not, it's a free country, isn't?" I don't know why, but she makes me wanna be a totalitarian dictator of the United States, just so that America's freedoms would banish away along with her exasperating queries. What a coincidence that she has thick-framed eyeglasses. I just thought that if she could wear a green outfit with ubiquitous question marks printed all over it, she could ultimately replace Jim Carey as the Riddler. However, the title doesn't quite fit her personality. Riddles actually do make sense. Her questions don't.

Think of getting a call in the middle of the night and as you somehow utter a sleepy hello, there is voice on the other side, full of enthusiasm and rabidity, who asks you, "were you sleeping?" No, I was not, was just lying flat thinking of the long day I had and was pretending to sleep, when I was actually waiting for this call. Wham!

Yesterday I was confronted by a someone, who randomly asked me if I was his friend. Surely, he was, but asking such a question right on your face puts you in a dilemma if this is the friendship you had really wanted. If I weren’t his friend, why would I be wasting my precious time talking & being with him? Friendship is felt and it doesn't have to be said and such questions are meaningless.

It makes my blood boil whenever people try to stereotype and degrade other people into this wild jungle of chaos and barbarism, as if the they are the only civilized individual in the world. Call me uncongenial and stupid for ranting about these insignificant faux pas, but encountering such social blunders everyday would definitely make a beast out of a gentle human being.

Just like this incident.

I had an American friend who once told me that America is the freest nation in the world. I asked him how many countries he has visited throughout his lifetime, and he told me that he has not been anywhere, but he watches the TV and CNN, so he is aware of the world happenings. He asked me if the main reason for a traffic jam in India is cause of a cow sitting in the middle of the road, or monkeys running around in the streets. He also asked about the Indian charmers and the black magic experts and asked if Indian magicians (who form a big chunk of the Indian population) survive without food. He perhaps hypothesizes India as a dilapidated nation, raped by poverty and decades of backwardness. I could have never realized the in-depth knowledge and intelligence of this so-called friend of mine, had he not asked me those stupid questions.

Questions, questions, questions. They come in different forms, and in different degrees of rationality. Even though some may seem inflaming because of their stupidity and obvious fallacy, without them, I can't write this article. Stupid questions give me a different kind of perception of the world and of the people I interact with, everyday. Stupid questions are great. Without them, we can't really discern what intelligent questions are, or can we?