Back in 2006, a movie called Idiocracy was released. Director Mike Judge (of Bevis and Butthead fame.) satirically lambasted the dumbing down of society.
The reason I bring that movie up is that I think Judge's vision of stupid becoming the accepted norm needn’t be set 500 years in the future. One only has to look at that reality show Jersey Shore, or better yet, the 2013 Miss America pageant.
Yeah, I usually find out about the pageant the day after it happens. These ladies won the genetic lottery, I get it. They are beautiful, smart and all things wonderful. Nina Davuluri is from New York, born and raised in the U.S of A. Her family lives in Syracuse. Her parents immigrated to Missouri back in 1981. Yes, she is of Indian decent. We all had to come from somewhere. Having been born in 1989, she is American. Hey teabaggers, there is a reason we're called the great melting pot.
Faux 'News' revealed their true colors (again) when their radio host Todd Starnes commented that Miss Davuluri didn't represent 'American Values' and the better choice would have been the blond, blue eyed gal from Kansas, Miss Theresa Vail. Then the bile laden tweets came out. I only read a few of them before I had to walk away. These people represented the lowest of the low, stupidest of the idiots.
The morons are dragging us to their level.
Case in point: A 12 year old girl from my wife's home town jumped to her death after being bullied by more than a dozen other girls online.
I'd bet money that poor girl had a very high grade point average. The teen years are tough enough as it is. Intelligent people feel emotions more intensely than others. My gut reaction is these girls had a pack mentality... a mob mentality.
My daughters got bullied in school. To an extent they still do. Constant communication helps stem the worst of it, but I can't be there for them all the time, no parent can. The only thing I can do is to listen, talk to them and help them cope with the pressures of being a teen girl. Often times I help them develop strategies for dealing with the idiots. And let's face it, there are a lot of stupid people in the world. I'm not saying my girls are the smartest people on the planet, I'm saying they are smarter than most of their classmates. Wanna compare test scores? My kids break bell curves. When dealing with these problems, I took a line from Dan Savage: It gets better.
(By the way, Dan Savage's project, appropriately titled 'it gets better', is nothing short of brilliant.) Go to You tube and check it out if you don't believe me.
My middle daughter lamented the fact that the boys in her high school were so boring because they were (in her words) dweebs and immature. I had to reassure her that the boys she would be interested in were in college. Not the frat boys, but the ones who had the dreams... the ambitions and goals.
Yes, intelligence is an aphrodisiac to my kids. What I also taught them was just because a boy is in a dead end job, doesn't mean you automatically write them off. Probationary friend zoned... sure, but don't hang around them if they don't have a plan.
Now back to the redneck hicks that believe Faux News: When I think of journalists and newscasters with a high caliber of morals and ethics, my first thought is Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Ted Koppel.
Glenn Beck, Bill O'Rielly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh don't have a fraction of the integrity these real news reporters do. Faux incites and stirs up the masses with FUD. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
One of the first things I wrote when I started this blog: I don't do fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of the what if. Fear of the maybe. Blind fear of the unfounded.
I got your fear right here.
Think for yourselves people. Faux news is to real news what Wrestlemania is to the Olympics.
Those awful comments about Miss America 2013, Nina Davuluri? Read them here.
This open letter from Political Garbage Chute drops a few f-bombs, but sums up my feelings about this whole matter.
The rednecks and teabaggers are trying to drag you down to their level. Please be smarter than that.
The reason I bring that movie up is that I think Judge's vision of stupid becoming the accepted norm needn’t be set 500 years in the future. One only has to look at that reality show Jersey Shore, or better yet, the 2013 Miss America pageant.
Yeah, I usually find out about the pageant the day after it happens. These ladies won the genetic lottery, I get it. They are beautiful, smart and all things wonderful. Nina Davuluri is from New York, born and raised in the U.S of A. Her family lives in Syracuse. Her parents immigrated to Missouri back in 1981. Yes, she is of Indian decent. We all had to come from somewhere. Having been born in 1989, she is American. Hey teabaggers, there is a reason we're called the great melting pot.
Faux 'News' revealed their true colors (again) when their radio host Todd Starnes commented that Miss Davuluri didn't represent 'American Values' and the better choice would have been the blond, blue eyed gal from Kansas, Miss Theresa Vail. Then the bile laden tweets came out. I only read a few of them before I had to walk away. These people represented the lowest of the low, stupidest of the idiots.
The morons are dragging us to their level.
Case in point: A 12 year old girl from my wife's home town jumped to her death after being bullied by more than a dozen other girls online.
I'd bet money that poor girl had a very high grade point average. The teen years are tough enough as it is. Intelligent people feel emotions more intensely than others. My gut reaction is these girls had a pack mentality... a mob mentality.
My daughters got bullied in school. To an extent they still do. Constant communication helps stem the worst of it, but I can't be there for them all the time, no parent can. The only thing I can do is to listen, talk to them and help them cope with the pressures of being a teen girl. Often times I help them develop strategies for dealing with the idiots. And let's face it, there are a lot of stupid people in the world. I'm not saying my girls are the smartest people on the planet, I'm saying they are smarter than most of their classmates. Wanna compare test scores? My kids break bell curves. When dealing with these problems, I took a line from Dan Savage: It gets better.
(By the way, Dan Savage's project, appropriately titled 'it gets better', is nothing short of brilliant.) Go to You tube and check it out if you don't believe me.
My middle daughter lamented the fact that the boys in her high school were so boring because they were (in her words) dweebs and immature. I had to reassure her that the boys she would be interested in were in college. Not the frat boys, but the ones who had the dreams... the ambitions and goals.
Yes, intelligence is an aphrodisiac to my kids. What I also taught them was just because a boy is in a dead end job, doesn't mean you automatically write them off. Probationary friend zoned... sure, but don't hang around them if they don't have a plan.
Now back to the redneck hicks that believe Faux News: When I think of journalists and newscasters with a high caliber of morals and ethics, my first thought is Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Ted Koppel.
Glenn Beck, Bill O'Rielly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh don't have a fraction of the integrity these real news reporters do. Faux incites and stirs up the masses with FUD. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
One of the first things I wrote when I started this blog: I don't do fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of the what if. Fear of the maybe. Blind fear of the unfounded.
I got your fear right here.
Think for yourselves people. Faux news is to real news what Wrestlemania is to the Olympics.
Those awful comments about Miss America 2013, Nina Davuluri? Read them here.
This open letter from Political Garbage Chute drops a few f-bombs, but sums up my feelings about this whole matter.
The rednecks and teabaggers are trying to drag you down to their level. Please be smarter than that.
1 comment:
Rush Lumbaugh used to use the tag line "The Dumbing Down of America" almost daily. Now I see he is a Plagiarist as well.
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