Thursday, April 12, 2007

No Stupid Questions?


The two types of stupid questions most frequently manifest in our mobilization briefings: long, drawn-out questions by folks trying to show how much they know, and the incredibly self-focused questions which show the person has no clue what’s going on in the big picture, i.e., when shown a map of Iraq with current posts and major installations, one veteran of Iraq from a few years back asks “where is Key West?” referring to a FOB (Forward Operating Base) that he worked at last time he went. Of course, the presenter had no idea what he was talking about. As he finally started to understand he said, “It has all changed in the past year or so, but I can put a box labeled ‘Key West’ on the map if it makes you happy.” Priceless. Reminds me a bit of the Demotivator: "There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

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