Homer Simpson / ignorance is bliss

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be Homer Simpson?

Imagine having a level of intelligence and ignorance which allows you to sail through life relatively unscathed, taking bugger all seriously including a carefree attitude to food health and beer with nothing much more than dribbling into a bowl of popcorn in front of your favourite sport on TV at weekends to worry about.

it’s beginning to sound appealing for me at least….

Slightly tongue in cheek, ‘course.

I’m thinking of legal action against the creators of The Simpsons for image rights….

Homer Simpson is supposed to be “everyman” after all. I’ve colleagues at work who’re blissfully ignorant about just about eveything outside their own bubbles, people proudly claim ‘Oh, I don’t watch the news, its boring’ and so on. Them seem perfectly happy, leave them to it.

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that. – George Carlin.

I think of that often.

I think of that often

I think of that often.

Just because you & George don’t understand averages you live in a world of bliss?

It’s a funny world – to me only stupid people without a grasp of statistics are impressed by that George Carlin quote.

Unless of course I’m stupid and don’t realize he was aware of the error in the statement – or in humanity the median is the same as the average.

to me only stupid people without a grasp of statistics are impressed by that George Carlin quote

FFS, it’s a joke not an academic research paper.

Amusing thread killed by intellectual chest beating in three, two, one…

If you work hard enough at your drinking, it’s pretty simple to get to the blissful ignorance zone.

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be Homer Simpson?

He seems pretty OK to me… I may not be Homer Simpson, but the ethos is pretty sound to me. I care about very very few things in the world and only things i can directly affect.

Mortgage rates, don’t care. American politics, don’t care. UK politics, don’t care….. etc etc

It may be blinkered to many on here, but it works for me.  My biggest worry today is whether or not i have cake before tea or after.

I can see the attraction to some degree.  I worry about a lot of stuff and have recently cut down massively on the amount of news I consume, because of the endless corrosive negativity.  I do feel better for it.  Maybe Homer is a guru for our times?

If you work hard enough at your drinking, it’s pretty simple to get to the blissful ignorance zone.

As a Duff Beer sign once proclaimed ‘BEER IS THE ANSWER’.

cake before tea or after

As in a “cup of” or in the Northern sense aka Dinner?

Doh!

As in a “cup of” or in the Northern sense aka Dinner?

You’ve met me, i’m Northern 🙂

I can also see the attraction, but ignoring it because it doesn’t affect you directly is OK, until it does. And then you don’t know why it affects so you’re confused and mad and then someone tells you it’s someone else’s fault and before you know it you’ve joined a naked cult that worships the high priest and Supreme Ruler, Nigfarg. Or suttin’.

I completely agree with you OP.

I’m an “intelligent overthinker”, and life is full of stress and worry. Don’t get me wrong – my traits have gotten me a good education and a well paid job..but the balance is thinking, being aware etc etc..

My younger sister has quite marked learning dissability – manages life OK, but will never earn a wage, drive a car etc.
She’s literally the happiest person I know – nothing bothers her..she’s perfectly happy running a 9min/km run every few days, and dresses in lovely clothes she loves. Everything she wears she says is “amazing”. Everything she does she’s perfectly happy with.

There’s me worrying I’m too smart/too casual…will my shoes match. What impact my car does/doesn’t have… Am i detraining if I run a bit slower etc etc.

At the end of life we’ll both die, and have both made very little impact on the whole world!

Oh well!

DrP

As in a “cup of” or in the Northern sense aka Dinner?

I’m Northern but have never ever said that. Tea is a tasty beverage not a meal !

My wife is originally from Kent and uses “tea” to describe the evening meal. Apart from that she’s wonderful so no need for a new patio.

Myth….busted

Intelligence has nothing to do with it. It’s just a form of anxiety. And yes, life is better when you don’t have anxiety.

(I tend to dribble into a bag of crisps rather than popcorn).

You and me are quite mentally similar Dr P!

I tend to dribble into a bag of crisps rather than popcorn

We have some M&S Turkey Gravy crisps in the cupboard for Fridays movie night.  Mmmmm… beer.

He seems pretty OK to me… I may not be Homer Simpson, but the ethos is pretty sound to me. I care about very very few things in the world and only things i can directly affect

This.

The biggest think I ever did to improve my wellbeing was to stop worrying about things that don’t affect me. I care deeply about my family and friends, I care deeply about my local area, I care deeply about myself and how I act towards others.

But the bigger stuff that others worry about? Nah. I look at a new website once per day so I have a very high level view of what’s going on and that’s that. My Twitter feed is just things I like, bikes, running, cricket, bit of football, bit of comedy, Insta, YouTube, Facebook are all the same. If something that’s not in those categories pops up it very quickly gets blocked.

Unless either I can influence it, or it has a direct influence on me then it gets ignored.

Some will say I’m naïve in this approach, and maybe I am, but I’d rather be naïve and happy than informed and sad.

The flipside… A friend is an intelligent, serial overthinker. He recently said “I wish I could go back to the days when I didn’t know about all this shit” [war, climate breakdown, politics, general shithousery].

I’m guessing that’s where the OP is coming from.

Probably best not to get too worked up over the Homer’s of this world, or you’ll end up like ole Grimey.