What makes a question stupid?

[DossarLX ODI]

With the internet, you can ask questions online anonymously without having to go through the embarrassment of asking someone in person. There are many questions or issues that we might have on our minds that we wouldn't want to share with certain people. This itself implies that there is some fear of bad consequences that would result from discussing an issue or asking a question. Being rejected by parents after admitting to being a homosexual is just one example.

I'm sure we all have had questions on our minds that we wondered the answer to but have been afraid to ask it from feeling uneasy about the responses that would follow. I'd like to illustrate an example of this:

Person A: Why are there rules? Shouldn't we be able to do what we want?
Person B: HAHAHAHAHA you're a dumbass, that doesn't even warrant a response!

However, another person could go into an explanation about how having no rules would result in total chaos, everyone would be afraid of each other, and so on. But that above explanation is an example of a response that would possibly make a person reconsider his or her question. In school, I was told that "there is no such thing as a stupid question". However, I have just illustrated a situation where a person thought of a question as stupid and not worthy of a response. A couple questions I'd like to ask from this is: What makes a question stupid? Does fear of the reactions to the questions have a detrimental impact on society today?

It's something I have been thinking about because I ask a lot of questions in class. I get laughed at sometimes from what I ask. I don't see other people in my classes ask questions often, but in my Calculus class last year, half of my class was wiped out -- and these were the students that did not ask questions.

[SC_coolguy44]

What makes some questions stupid is when people ask a question and before or after the question they end up answering their own question.

[Wayward Vagabond]

going with what plop said

*two people walk into a very well lit room*

Person A: Hey person B are the lights on in this room?
Person B: What a stupid question.

[Arkuski]

You actually hit on a really good point and you don't even know it. In a professional setting of any kind, asking questions shows your own interest and offers a chance at a personal connection with the answerer. I tend to avoid asking questions to assert my intellectual superiority and independence, but it really only hurts me.

I would add, however, that asking questions in a classroom or lecture setting is much different from asking questions in an interview or a one on one setting. If you want to avoid the scrutiny of your classmates, you could make a list of your questions during the class and ask the teacher after. From what you describe, it really seems like your classmates are annoyed at the number if questions you ask and not their content. I personally enjoy questions other people ask, but I know most people have an insanely negative reaction to any sort of peer "disruption" in the class.

[MarioNintendo]

There's a student in my electromagnetics class that asked, while we were shown properties of the cross product, why did quarks have a fractional mass.

We all had a good time. I think he has asperger. Idk to be honest. I don't really like him. He's from France at that. Speaks all weird n shit

[Netjet!]

Originally Posted by MarioNintendo

He's from France at that. Speaks all weird n shit

He probably thinks the same about the rest of you lol

[MarioNintendo]

Originally Posted by Netjet!

He probably thinks the same about the rest of you lol

Idk. Probably. He always asks random questions like this though. At times he raises his hand and forgets his question.
I've been to France before and mostly love French people. This dude however I can't stand. He's not even really French, he grew up here. Wtv.

[Netjet!]

Originally Posted by MarioNintendo

He's not even really French, he grew up here. Wtv.

ah ok then I'd probably agree with you haha

[Reincarnate]

No such thing as a dumb question

Here's why

[FrozenAngel91]

Thing is the reason teachers say "there is no such thing as a stupid question" is not so much because there isn't actually a such thing, as many people have already pointed out in the thread stupid questions definetly exist.

Rather, it's because if you're unafraid to ask questions then even if you ask a bunch of dumb questions one of those will be legitimate and will help you and the class learn much better, and moreover your brain will be much more active and you'll just retain information better. So the reward is worth the cost there.

Anyways if you're asking lots of questions then you're going to learn better, and the teacher doesn't want to stop that from happening obviously, so you should probably keep doing what your doing now Dossar. It's not necessarily harmful to other students either, you could say that you're interrupting the lecture and the lecturer's train of thought if you do it too much, and that's true enough, but I've had kids like you in my classes and I've always appreciated them because it makes me less afraid to approach the teacher and ask questions I need to myself.

Also if this is what your video says rubix, sorry I kinda couldn't watch it, I have way too short an attention span for that thing >.<

[Reincarnate]

It's actually a really interesting video -- start at like 1:35+ or so
It's an anecdote about a time he tried to do an experiment about our sense of time and what happened when he tried to get a colleague to do the same thing

[Arkuski]

Wait, you're mr rubix?

[Reincarnate]

yes

[Pseudo Enigma]

A question is never stupid as long as the person who asks it has the intent to learn from it.

[reuben_tate]

A question can only be stupid if it goes unasked.

[justin_ator]

"is that 0 positive or negative?"
actual question by a girl in my algebra 2 class in highschool...

Honestly a stupid question is impossible to define, because a stupid question to you might not be a stupid question to me. Even painfully obvious stuff may not be painfully obvious to another person.

[Hakulyte]

If you're asking a question about something that's complicated to you, but obvious for another person, they may not understand why you're asking this question because it's common sense to them. I think almost everyone especially at school see it this way unconsciously. It's not just questions, but also anything that would make you different from another person.

Subjectivemania strikes again.

[Cavernio]

A question will be called stupid when someone feels like the answer is obvious. It is a huge detriment to ignore them instead of address them because if it is such a basic understanding, then the detriment to the person asking it must be pretty severe.

Eg: You wouldn't ask if the light was on if you could see for yourself that it was, trolling or mispeaking aside.

There's probably social evolutionary reasons for rejecting and mocking people for things like stupid questions, like if someone is THAT dumb then there's no hope for them so its just a waste of time to include them as part of your group.
'stupid questions' are just another ugly part of human socialness, same nebulous but prevalent way someone who's different is going to be made fun of or bullied.

[Wayward Vagabond]

i think this applies to this

http://xkcd.com/1053/