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Debate Info

18
52
Yes No
Debate Score:70
Arguments:57
Total Votes:103
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 Yes (17)
 
 No (34)

Debate Creator

xMathFanx(1722) pic



Is the Majority of the Population Lazy, Unintelligent, & Lacking Moral Fiber?


Yes

Side Score: 18
VS.

No

Side Score: 52
1 point

What observations have you made that motivated you you ask that question?

I certainly don't think any of the character flaws you have listed exists in the majority of the the population.

Side: Yes

Yes, & it is leading to an opening for migrants to do the jobs that libs refuse to do because there aren't enough Conservatives to do all of the jobs.

Side: Yes
1 point

I think that yes is the obvious answer. However, I have some reservations about the "lazy" part. If by lazy you mean intellectually stagnant then yes, naturally. The majority of the population has to be all those things so that the intelligent, resourceful, and wise stand out and can be called intelligent... Imagine the opposite, that is, if the majority of the population were intelligent and/or have a perfect sense of morality. We cannot call someone intelligent if most people are intelligent too. It is not polite to call the majority of the population unintelligent, but that doesn't mean it is not true.

Side: Yes

I believe we are all sinners, but even a sinner can do good things like save a human life. I might have saved a human life.

Side: No
1 point

@KJVPrewrath

Then, your position is that people have notable strengths which shine through from time to time, at minimum(?)

Side: No
2 points

Yes. That is what I mean. Like with this Rusticus fellow. He hates me buyt makes some good arguments.

Side: No
1 point

These are all relative measures and likely fit into a bell curve. So no, not a majority, just about half.

Side: No
MichioKaku(158) Disputed
1 point

@Amarel

Since they are relative as you stated, there is no "half" that can be clearly distinguished. Compared to a human, a smart chimpanzee is half retarded. Compared to a normal chimpanzee, a smart chimpanzee is half a genius.

Side: Yes
Amarel(5669) Disputed
2 points

Since they are relative as you stated, there is no "half" that can be clearly distinguished

When I say relative, I mean to other people. The least intelligent half of the population is relatively unintelligent compared to the rest of the population. It doesn’t matter that we cannot distinguishe it clearly.

Side: No
1 point

Amarel,

VERY succinctly put!

However, if each is a separate criterion, and they do not coincide perfectly, then the population that has one or more of these traits will necessarily be more than half of the population.

Side: No
Amarel(5669) Clarified
2 points

Let’s assume the operative word is “and”. It doesn’t seem likely that half the population is below the 50% line for laziness, unintelligence, and lack of moral fiber. But there is necessarily half who qualify for each taken separately. On the other hand, there is likely more than half who qualify for at least one criteria, as you said.

Side: Yes
1 point

I will consider this answer in terms of the population of the US.

All three at once? No.

At least one of the three? Maybe. I would not be surprised to find that more than 50% of Americans are one of these three.

What we do know is that almost 3% of Americans are in jail, in prison, or on probation or parole, so we know they make the list. (I would not be surprised to find that a larger percentage of criminals never get caught, but that is mere speculation.) The criminals lack moral fiber, almost by definition.

We also know is that 15-25% of Americans are on at least one non-Medicare, non-Social Security public assistance program, so we know they make the list.

Some of these folks may be too lazy to support themselves, and some of them may be gaming the system (lack moral fiber) but the likelihood is that they just are not able to care for themselves. Ultimately this is an intelligence problem.

Let's be charitable and assume 15% on public support and then add the criminal 3%.

That yields 18% of verified population who either cannot or will not take care of their own business.

Side: No
xMathFanx(1722) Clarified
1 point

@Marcus

Concerning "Unintelligent":

Consider, polls have been done demonstrating that approximately half of the adult population (USA) does not know that "the Earth orbits the Sun & takes a year to do so". Now, I'm not sure what your thoughts on that may be, however in my estimation, that most certainly falls into the category of "Unintelligent". Furthermore, an adult who does not know this extremely basic fact of Science would seem to necessarily fall into the "Lazy" category as well--since this is not at all consistent a 'well read'/learned individual, nor a responsible parent/adult who should have some real wisdom acquired about the World to pass onto the next generation. Hence, we see a dereliction of duty to such extent it could reasonably be considered 'psychological/educational child abuse'. If so, this would appear to place quite a significant number of parents/adult community members into the "Lacking Moral Fiber" category also.

Again, this is only the implications of one basic poll result, which on its face would appear impossible, though it is the fact of the matter. Imagine when taking in many other factors (such as the ones you have outlined) also(?) Then, we quickly see very large sectors of the population trivially falling into not-so-flattering of categorization(s)

Side: Yes
1 point

Consider, polls have been done demonstrating that approximately half of the adult population (USA) does not know that "the Earth orbits the Sun & takes a year to do so".

It is important to note that there may be a disconnect between biologically based, tested intelligence. Consider the following:

"I have an iq of 160, but normal iqs range from 90-110

Here is a scale 1 to 24 - your dog is smarter than you (dogs have iqs of around 30)

25 to 39 - your as smart as your dog

40 to 54 - your extremely retarded

55 to 69 - your retarded

70 to 84 - your well, you need help

85 to 114 - Average

115 to 129 - Above average; bright

130 to 144 - gifted

145 to 159 - your very smart and highly gifted

160 to 179 - your iq is genius like and your smarter "

Either this person lied about his/her IQ, or knowing that the contraction for you are is not "your" but "you're" and that IQ is capitalized, not "iq" is unrelated to intelligence. It may be that the lack of knowledge of what constitutes a year is not particularly indicative of intelligence.

However, the US scores are going down. An IQ of 100 is "average" and 90 to 110 is considered in the average range. As Intelligence testing was developing, primarily in the US, the score of 100 was selected to represent the midline of the curve.(Like designating 100 degrees as boiling and 0 degrees as freezing in the design of the Celcius system.) The fact that the US average is 98 indicates that the scores have shifted down over time.

I have lived in 3 of the 4 corners of the US, and in Texas.

There are some smart people everywhere, but there are stupid people everywhere, too. There seem to be a higher percentage of dumb people in South Carolina than even California. Texas was easily the smartest place I have lived, but there are a fair number of idiots there, too.

Moreover, the smartest people I know have the fewest kids, and the dumbest people I know reproduce like rabbits. It is like they cannot figure out that kids are expensive, and they don't make enough money to support them.

It is like the opening of the movie idiocracy.

Side: No
1 point

Well, Congress and the White House combined would be what - about a 1000 people or less? And yet the USA's total population is somewhere around 325 million. 1000 is clearly not a majority of 325 million.

Side: No