Stupid questions and a simple answer

Questioning everything is a very human thing to do, the thirst for knowledge is something almost every person in the world has. We like to ask questions for clarifications or to learn something so we can grow smarter, so what if we asked a stupid question? Personally, I feel that no question is stupid, because everyone is different so their knowledge is different. Asking a question shouldn’t be ridiculed unless the intent of the question was to belittle someone when it is asked rhetorically or sarcastically.

Plenty of times I have asked many people questions, and typically all will answer, no matter the foolishness, it gets answered. My father is the one person I don’t always like to ask questions in a lot of situations, and the same for my mother, as they can often turn into lectures instead of simple answers. Lecture may not be the entirely right word, and my mother is a bigger offender than my father, when I would ask something like “Who was the first president of the United States?”, my mother would start in on listing off the parents, then the reason for why he became president, and who voted for him, and who became president after before ever telling me that George Washington was the first president of the United States of America. When she starts in with her villainous monologue, I eventually just zone out, because it happens so often I would rather not listen. I sometimes decide not to ask questions, even as a clarification, because I know that a five-second question with a 3-second answer turns into a 4-minute lecture.
I also quite often have my headphones on so I can miss some things, even on a card ride. When I ask my family what they said, they get annoyed with me because I wasn’t listening. It gets to the point where I sometimes decide not to ask what was being said, and to use context clues in the rest of the conversation to figure out what they were talking about.

I don’t think I have ever really felt any worry about asking a question because I just don’t worry about it. If I am going to ask a question, then I ask it, I might think others think it is stupid, but that doesn’t stop me from asking anyway. I may get nervous about talking to someone, but about the questions, I have never really felt worried about asking the question.

I suppose the statement “I have never felt worried about asking a question.” isn’t entirely true. I have felt sometimes when asking a question was definitely not the right thing to do, less worry and more timing. When someone is angry or upset, asking a question, one especially sensitive to whatever topic that thas the subject upset or angered can make them further angry or upset. When I was younger, I would ask questions at inappropriate times, mostly when the subject was angry, and it only made them angrier. I don have any specific story, as I have slowly forgotten, but I have learned to read someone for the most opportune time to ask a question.

While I have never personally experienced this, I can see where one may find a question rude. Instead of asking a question politely, raising your hand, using a calm tone or waiting, interrupting, or yelling can be quite rude to the subject or speaker. This is less about the question and more about the tone of voice or body language, but it involves questions, and the only other thing that can really fit into this is a statement. When the question is seen as rude, one of the times it may be viewed that way is by someone we call “pretentious”. If you ask a question they view as below them, in which they would have to lower their IQ or something akin to that, to answer the question if you get what I am saying. An example could be like asking a really pretentious astrophysicist to help with your little brother’s first-grade math work. The physicist would find it so below him to do the math that’s so. You could even turn this around on yourself. If you have really supportive parents or friends or family, and they see you as really smart, especially if you are, asking a “dumb” question, they could see that as below you, and tell you that it is such a stupid question because you should know the answer. The only time I have personally experienced this is when I asked a rhetorical question to my mother, who facetiously responded with a “You should know that answer.”

Something others may consider a bad question is a basic kind of question like, “What color is the sky?”, “What is the square root of 8?” and other such questions that are easily answered by any online search engine. I have asked questions like this myself, and while I have gotten answers, the people around me haven’t made it seem like such a bad question unless I was interrupting them. I haven’t felt bad about asking these because I don’t really have a reason to. Asking these kinds of questions is not bad, but the people who make you believe such are. In fact, it is not bad at all. I can see why some would feel worried when asking this question, especially if they are the anxious type, or if the person they are asking is judgemental, and they may feel something like worry or anxiety if the subject is notorious is known for answering questions like “Why can you not just search it on Google?”.

Ultimately, I personally believe that no question is a bad question, no matter who or what the subject is. Feeling stupid for asking a question is not something you should feel, which is why I do not. Yes, find the right time to ask something, and if you know the subject, then find alternate sources if need be, but don’t not ask a question because some may feel it is stupid.

“Question mark in Esbjerg” by alexanderdrachmann is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.