Some people are idiots; quite a number in fact. But idiocy comes in degrees; in fact, a lot of people have at least a little idiocy, they just don’t realize it (part of the idiocy). In my experience, the levels of Human idiocy can be classified into various defined levels.
(First off, realize that this is just in fun; please don’t hunt me down with pitchforks and buckets of tar and feathers.)
First, there is the True Idiot. He is an idiot but not aware that he is. Thus there is always a danger that he will run off at the mouth on nearly any subject as if he actually knows what he’s talking about. Nearly everyone around him will spot him as being an idiot but himself, and most others will ignore him except others of this same level of idiocy.
Next up there is your Basic Idiot. This is someone that is an idiot but at least knows that he is an idiot. He will let others more educated than himself make decisions in things that he knows he lacks qualifications, which would be nearly anything. He is a true follower.
Now comes your Intelligent Idiot. This is someone actually possessed of a modicum of intelligence, but only enough to get himself and anyone around him into lots of trouble. They tend to be violently opinionated on something they know only a little about, using their supposed intelligence as proof enough for anything they care to claim as true. They often will only study a given subject just long enough to prove their own opinions then stop studying anything more, such as why their ideas really won’t work. These are also called “Dangerous Idiots”.
Higher up on the rung comes your person of Average Intelligence. Neither idiot nor intelligent, they will simply go along with the crowd. These people are called “Sheeple”.
Finally we have people of True Intelligence. They are aware of their intelligence, their limits, when they need to study up a bit more on a subject, and how to get past misinformation. However, they tend to come in two main varieties. First there are those that will use their higher intelligence to manipulate all those of the lower intelligence types to get their ends, no matter any repercussions; they have no scruples. Perfect examples would be Politicians. This type are called “Manipulators” or often simply “Scum”.
Second are those with the intelligence, but possessed of scruples and honesty. These are called “Critical Thinkers”, “Sages”, or sometimes mistakenly called “Red Necks”. These latter types end up being the ones trying to shout and make people aware of the shenanigans of the Manipulators since they tend to see straight through them. They are also quite often ignored, since the lower casts of idiots have been skillfully brainwashed by the Manipulators, and in fact will claim that they (the idiots) know better than the Critical Thinkers, often mocking them and claiming that the Critical Thinkers are actually the idiots.
I hope this clears some things up, especially for those unaware of their own level of idiocy.