| To be fooled: Tricked, bamboozled, conned, deceived, deluded, duped, flimflammed, hornswoggled, misled, outfoxed, snowed, sucked in A fool: fool, tomfool, wiseacre, simpleton, donkey, ass; ninny, chowderhead, chuckle head; dolt, booby, noodle, goose, imbecile; nincompoop, zany; trifler, babbler; child, baby, infant, innocent, milksop, sap., oaf, lout, loon, dullard, buzzard, blockhead, asshole, dunderhead, addle head, blockhead, , mutton head, noodle head, numbskull, halfwit, lunkhead, lummox, rube, old fogey, old woman, crone, greenhorn, dunce, ignoramus, bungler, fucking idiot Every man is damn fool for at least 5 minutes every day, wisdom consists in not exceeding the Limit - quote by Elbert Hubbard If you wish to avoid seeing a fool then first break your looking glass - quote by Francois Rabelais Lord, what fools these mortals be! - quote by William Shakespeare I am proposing that April Fools Day becomes a national holiday so the we can spend enough time to reflect on how many times we have been fooled and what a fool we were to be sucked in.  If you are honest with yourself as you read this I am sure that you will admit that most of these definitions of a fool have applied to you on more than one occasion. I am also sure that you muttered to yourself using one of these expressions from the above list or something more obscene for your foolishness. If you are in denial then you dishonestly deny being fooled.  The reality is that our knowledge base is weak on most subjects so despite our expertise on a few things our ignorance is unlimited and we are easily bamboozled and misled. It can be a funny and harmless bamboozlement but it is more often a deception that leads to uniting with others to indulge in dreadful habits or unknowingly supporting evil actions. It is Herd behaviour, that you must admit is a fool's way of non thinking and turns us into dullards and nincompoops. Politicians are very good at this. It's okay if it is nothing more serious than rooting for the home team, but deadly if we all rush off to war.   For example the Americans and Brits were badly deceived and misled about Iraq's fictitious weapons of mass destruction whereas the French clearly saw the lies and the Herd vilified them for it. On reading old news and TV clips I was astounded by the almost universal Herd behaviour of US and Brit pundits and politicians in support for the righteousness of their wartime cause. The Contrarians who were the French and German were viciously condemned for opposing them. Just another example of thoughtless herd behaviour. Contrarions range from supporters of the Flat Earth Society  to serious thinkers who sort things out when most don't. Herd members view them as distasteful, disloyal and cussed.Let's accept our ignorance and gullibility as traits we all share at one time or another and use this April Fool's day to unashamedly examine our traits and celebrate our survival. On this day our schools and media should discuss our Herd instincts and celebrate our contrarians |
