The Weekly Stupidity Awards

Welcome to a new feature on A Bear's Rant, The Weekly Stupidity Awards. There's a lot going on out there including:  protests, elections and the debt crisis but underneath the issues we face, there just continues to be a wealth of stupidity taking place. I've decided to acknowledge some of the most accomplished stupidity with weekly awards. There is even a possibility of a Stupidity Hall of Fame in the not too distant future but for now, we'll just hand out awards each week.

I encounter stupidity every day when I'm out and about. I encounter it on Twitter when I read some of the tweets and I encounter it when I read the news. The problem won't be finding stupid stories of the week, the problem will be in selecting only a few for consideration. Here are the one's I selected for this week.

Gold Award: A Fashion Trend That I Can Get Behind

Starbucks is teaming up with fashion designer Alexander Wang to celebrate its 40th anniversary in fine style. They've asked Wang to design a t-shirt with a fake coffee stain already on it. It would be too easy to point out how shallow a society has become when it feels the need to proudly display the trendy coffee it drinks by wearing it all over their shirts but I won't. I'm actually quite encouraged by this news. I don't drink Starbucks coffee but I do spill coffee on my shirts and now I'll be right in fashion. If nothing else it might get my wife to stop complaining about how sloppy I am.

Silver Award: Woman Places Ad Online For Drugs

A woman in New Mexico is facing charges after advertising that she was looking for marijuana on Craig's List. Police arrested the woman after posing as drug dealers when they responded to her ad. Because the ad was so blatant, police were concerned it might have been placed by undercover narcotics officers but there were no worries there. It was just a very stupid woman who failed to realize that the police aren't just armed, they're literate and can read too.

Bronze Award: The Amish Civil War

A breakaway sect of the Amish has declared war on traditional Amish by kidnapping them and shaving off their beards and cutting women's hair. While most civil wars involve killing and violence, the Amish civil war is all about appearance. It makes you wonder if the breakaway sect has become so modern, they use electric razors in the conflict.

4th Place: It's All About Donuts

The Occupy Toronto movement which is setting up a protest camp tomorrow, similar to the Occupy Wall Street camp, held a rally today at which their Food Committee passed around boxes of Tim Horton's donuts. It's nice to see that protests against corporate greed don't include those great Canadian institutions like Tim Horton's. Perhaps the protestors don't realize that Tim Horton's is part of a corporate congolmerate or perhaps Tim's is probably the one thing that the left and the right can agree on. It isn't much but it's a start.

5th Place: Man Finishes Marathon On Bus

Rob Sloan has admitted to cheating at the Kiedler Marathon on Sunday by jumping on a bus at the 20 mile mark and which he rode until just before the finish line. Mr.Sloan finished 3rd in the marathon after his extended bus ride which makes you wonder if he might have placed higher had he taken a taxi. The good news is that we won't have to tell Mr. Sloan to get on the bus....he already is (refer to Sept post: Get On The Bus)

6th Place: When It Doesn't Pay To Look Too Young
A 39-year old mother stopped at a lottery kiosk at a mall in Ottawa this week to purchase a lottery ticket. The ticket seller refused to sell the woman a ticket on the basis that she looked like a minor. The woman offered to show the ticket seller a photo ID which the ticket seller refused to look at. Instead she called mall security who advised the seller that the woman was in fact of legal age. The seller then called the police who arrived at about the same time a fairly large crowd of bystanders had gathered. It was resolved by the customer being removed from the store with her photo ID but no ticket. It isn't just lottery ticket sellers who can be stupid, sometimes those in authority also experience a significant drop in IQ.

And there you have it. Some of the stupid things that have been going on around us this week. If you encounter stupidity in your coming week, feel free to let the Bear know. I'm always on the lookout for just how stupid people can be. If you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment, feel free to at least tell the stupid people you encounter to...Get On The Bus.

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