The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

This is an old one, but so piquant in tone as to be timeless. The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity by Carlo M. Cipolla (which, incedentally, means "onion") is the kind of spoof that the Daily Show and the Onion wish they could produce. Don't believe me? I'll leave you with the first section so that you might witness its perfection:

"The First Basic Law of Human Stupidity asserts without ambiguity that

Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

At first, the statement sounds trivial, vague and horribly ungenerous. Closer scrutiny will however reveal its realistic veracity. No matter how high are one's estimates of human stupidity, one is repeatedly and recurrently startled by the fact that:

1. people whom one had once judged rational and intelligent turn out to be unashamedly stupid.
2. day after day, with unceasing monotony, one is harassed in one's activities by stupid individuals who appear suddenly and unexpectedly in the most inconvenient places and at the most improbable moments."

Read it.