Question: I keep hearing that **users are stupid idiots** alot, and that being said it is also used as a reason to have everyone's experience crap now and in the future.

For example: not enough options for things that would enhance the overall user experience, because it might allow stupid users to do stupid things.

**Is user stupidity a reason for bad UX?**

*(Tried not to influence this question with my own thoughts too much, but: I've seen usability testing results in my days, and must say that sometimes the "stupid users" seem pretty damn smart when they nail/fail using a piece of software that's been designed by morons... ;)*

Answer: 
Users aren't stupid, they just have more important things to do than focus on the interface you're designing.
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For you, the interface represents a lot of thought and work, and you care about getting it right. But the user **doesn't care** about the interface; at most, they care about whether it's getting in the way of what they actually want to be doing right now. They don't *want* to take the time to appreciate the interface or figure it out, and **they shouldn't have to.** That's your job: to do the thinking for them, creating the easiest, most straightforward path through the work you can.

I highly recommend Squareweave's video ["The User is Drunk"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2CbbBLVaPk) on this topic. As the video puts it, *"The user is fine, but with the amount of attention they have to spare for your UI, they might as well be plastered."*
Following the "users aren't stupid" crowd, I'll add this "but very many UX coders are quite stupid".

Programmers write interfaces they are comfortable with because they often have little evidence to the contrary. This implies "If they are too busy to understand the entire system as well as I do, they're ignorable insignificants". I've actually entered a group which actively held that belief "What do you mean a customer can't understand what 'Manifold Reset Override' is for? Why not?" After beating such folks about the facce and neck, there is *some* hope of reforming them.