The audacity of being stupid
I am not sure if you've heard this but there is a phrase that goes like 'yeda banke peda khana'. People say that when someone smarter pretends to be stupid to get something out of a situation. The anecdotal reference behind this is if someone normal like you and me acts like a mad person or beggar in a social scenario, sitting in line with other beggars outside a hindu temple to get some charity or a free laddu. That's when you say 'yeda banke peda kha raha hai'. So, for the smarter people in general, if you know what stupidity constitutes for in a particular setup (meaning what is considered stupid for the people around you) and you know which buttons to press to get a sympathetic response from someone, you can very well use 'stupidity' as a bait to get what you want. But, the thing is, other than you, rest of the people are getting nothing out of it. Therefore, its not exactly a viable medium of exchange for the long run. You can only fool people once...