"No Question is a 'Dumb' Question" and other Fables

You know what makes me feel fuzzy inside? The memory from high school of teachers ending classes with my favorite blanket statement of all time:

"Does anyone have any questions? Remember, no question is a dumb question!"

God that makes me cringe. The amount of hand-holding that went on during my education was unbearable. I get that the purpose is to encourage people to speak out even if they're shy, but a little tough love here and there would have been a better favor to people than pretending as though some questions weren't just idiotic. I conceptualized this post a while ago, but what I needed was a real, RECENT example. And then I got it.

Last night I was sitting in my hotel room eating hairy sushi for one (not joking) when I got a conference call from my beloved co-workers in DC (Hola a todos). Having a degree in Political Science has qualified me to answer all science oriented questions, and so when they were having an origin of life-based debate, they obviously knew who to call. The question went as follows:

"So like...if time machines were real, and you were a dude, and you went back in time and got your mom pregnant....could you be your own father?"

Suffice to say, something clicked in my head: THIS was just the breakthrough example I needed to prove my what I have known all along--There ARE dumb questions.

You can OBVIOUSLY be your own father.

I'm not saying it would be pretty--being born of your own sperm sounds a bit messy. I think it'd play out a little like this, a clip from one of my favorite South Park episodes.

So there you have it. A really, really stupid question.