Some scientists fear that human intelligence is declining. Gee whiz, they noticed. They chalk it up to a genetic mutation, or fluoride in our drinking water, pesticides, processed food, whatever.
But they’ve only scratched the surface. Here are some of the other key factors behind the rise of idiocy.
One. Higher education makes you stupid. There is no way you can sit in a college classroom for seven years to get a degree in “human rights” or “women’s studies” and not turn into an imbecile. If you think the university doesn’t maim the human mind, you haven’t really listened to the Occupy Wall Street crowd.
Two. Public schooling makes you stupid. How could there be a sillier idea than to make your age-group peers—other kids who are as dumb as you are—the most important, the most influential people in your life, and conformity your goal in life? Not to mention such added frills as the gender coach, the cuddle puddle, “social studies,” and “math” lessons about the joys of redistributing wealth. As Paul Simon once put it, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.” Only the process starts in kindergarten, not in high school.
Three. Being governed by Democrats makes you stupid. Some would disagree, saying that being governed by Democrats is an effect of stupidity, not a cause. Who but complete dunderheads would ever choose to be governed by Obama, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Bob Menendez, Charlie Rangel, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Hank Johnson, and on and on to the last drop of distilled brainlessness? Case in point: Dems propose “universal pre-school.” Why wait until kindergarten to start the stupefying process? The fact that the country can’t afford such a colossal waste of money is just icing on the cake. Anyhow, scientific studies prove that just listening to the above-mentioned individuals causes necrosis of the brain cells.
Republicans are not much better—but who can remember the last time Republicans governed anything? As soon as they take the oath of office, they start acting like Democrats.
Four. Movies about superheroes make you stupid. That goes for comic books and video games, too. If you still have any interest in costumed superheroes after celebrating your 12th birthday, it means your mind stopped growing at eleven.
The human mind needs nourishment, or it will not grow. It needs challenge, or it will not expand. It will be smothered, stultified, by movies about superheroes, with bodies flying all over the screen and dialogue like “Yeeowww!” and “Waaaah!”
Five. Reality TV makes you stupid. Watching anything about any Kardashian is like injecting your brain with carpet cleaner. If nothing else, it offers a totally unreal vision of reality. Whose reality looks like that stuff? The horror, the horror.
Once upon a time, when it cost real money to produce them, TV shows offered coherent story-lines and professional actors to bring the characters to life. If you don’t believe me, go to youtube and watch a few episodes of “The Rockford Files” or “Wagon Train.”
In truth, our whole popular culture is a vast toxic ocean of stupidity in which we, poor fish, must swim. No one is entirely immune to its effects. And it gets worse by the day.
For instance, this from the U.K. Independent, Feb. 8, 2013: “Academic takes swipe at David Attenborough wildlife documentaries for ignoring gay animals.” Can you believe it? A professor at the University of East Anglia, home of “Climategate,” says the documentaries “are perpetuating the notion that animal relationships are predominantly heterosexual.”
This is stupid beyond anything we ever dreamed was possible. (“And here are the gay salmon struggling up the rapids, so they can mate with other males and produce jack-bloody-nothing…” “And over here we have some lesbian fruit flies…” Gimme a break.) It comes spewing out of an institution incredibly described as a facility of higher education, out of the mouth of a registered “intellectual.” Has anything more asinine ever been said by anyone?
We need to start wondering about whether stupid humans have the survival skills and instincts necessary to perpetuate the species. Meanwhile, the Bible succinctly explains how we wound up on the Pinhead Parkway.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” —Proverbs 9:10
That’s where we missed the turn and just kept going, right down Stupid Street.
© 2013 Lee Duigon – All Rights Reserved
2 Responses to “Duigon: What Makes People Stupid?”
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Thanks for giving me such a good laugh today. Until, of course, I calmed down and reality hit, knowing that it’s all true and we are in a sorry state. God help us all.
Yes Doris, I agree about the good laugh but when the frightening truth hits, it gives me grave cause for concern. I have 5 grandchildren. Before the internet came upon us, I used to ‘shake’ my head at the utter stupidity and ignorance of some people. Now when I view some of the idiotic nonsense spewed out on line, it makes my head ‘spin’.