Crazy, Stupid...People

Apparently, on occasion, they come labelled.



But clearly not often enough.

This is my first post ever on this site. The topic is dear to me, as I have commented on this in conversation with people for years now. I see this as a rather complex issue because it's not as simple as people just getting dumber or forgetting knowledge. God knows, we are constantly being bombarded with information...facts, truths, half-truths, lies, news, advertising, ideas, wisdom, junk, the list goes on and on. We're exposed to more and more news and news overload, events, anniversaries, weather events, emergency situations, family and social situations, it's enough to make anybody crazy. A medical finding today reveals a particular item causes cancer and a new study tomorrow determines the information to be flawed.
So people switch off the news and resort to watching whatever programming just happens to be on "the tube" at the moment. Especially if you just tried to have an intelligent conversation with someone, only to feel they belong on the aforementioned "Jay Walking" segment. (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno)
Let me get to the point, Are people getting more stupid? As I see it, yes and no. Despite a lack of proper education in our schools, I've met some very smart young people. Then there are those that don't seem to know anything besides what pop star just married who and what new apps are available for the Iphone. As for the older folks, attrition is a factor, along with those being dumbed down with medications (many likely doing more harm than good).
Depopulation is now going on, Jay Leno even mentioned it in last night's monologue. Here's a red flag...I haven't confirmed this, but I heard beer sales in the U.S. are down 11% this year. Does anyone believe Americans in hard economic times, have simply chosen to drink less, or is it because there are less of them? Oh, and yes, the U.S. population is down as well, you can check this out.

Originally posted by Alguien

This is my first post ever on this site. The topic is dear to me, as I have commented on this in conversation with people for years now. I see this as a rather complex issue because it's not as simple as people just getting dumber or forgetting knowledge. God knows, we are constantly being bombarded with information...facts, truths, half-truths, lies, news, advertising, ideas, wisdom, junk, the list goes on and on. We're exposed to more and more news and news overload, events, anniversaries, weather events, emergency situations, family and social situations, it's enough to make anybody crazy. A medical finding today reveals a particular item causes cancer and a new study tomorrow determines the information to be flawed.
So people switch off the news and resort to watching whatever programming just happens to be on "the tube" at the moment. Especially if you just tried to have an intelligent conversation with someone, only to feel they belong on the aforementioned "Jay Walking" segment. (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno)
Let me get to the point, Are people getting more stupid? As I see it, yes and no. Despite a lack of proper education in our schools, I've met some very smart young people. Then there are those that don't seem to know anything besides what pop star just married who and what new apps are available for the Iphone. As for the older folks, attrition is a factor, along with those being dumbed down with medications (many likely doing more harm than good).
Depopulation is now going on, Jay Leno even mentioned it in last night's monologue. Here's a red flag...I haven't confirmed this, but I heard beer sales in the U.S. are down 11% this year. Does anyone believe Americans in hard economic times, have simply chosen to drink less, or is it because there are less of them? Oh, and yes, the U.S. population is down as well, you can check this out.

Congrats on your first post! Glad I could inspire you to share your opinion!
I see quite a bit of blame put on TV and while that definitely has a huge role...you touched on education and retracted information (true today, false tomorrow). To me education is mostly filler, and with all the news we are bombarded with daily, perhaps our brains have resulted to kicking in to a default setting (watching, listening to, or reading something mindless) to avoid going into overload.
TILT

Speaking of TV, I watch many episodes of "Millionaire" (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?) and "Jeopardy!" and have noticed a disturbing trend of late. More and more of the questions, answers and catagories have become celebrity oriented and some even appear to be falsified! Starting with the celebrity aspect, "Millionaire" now has a large amount of questions relating to actors,actresses and the like, what movies they were in, who they married,etc. and this practice is now creeping more and more into "Jeopardy!". (Less science and math, more fluff) On Jeopardy!, many "solid" questions are being diluted with trivial matters, as in "last name of the Michigan senator whose niece was the centerfold for the 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated" (I may have details wrong, such as the state or year, but you get the idea.)
Now for the really disturbing part...On both shows, I have seen questions and answers that seem to be set to an agenda and not reality. At the end of the last season there was a teen or college tournament where the "correct" response to Final Jeopardy referred to Global Warming being the cause of Earth's weather woes. There have been other examples lately. On a recent episode of "Millionaire", I was apalled at on answer, which I forgot because of an even more shocking example on the same program a few minutes later. It indicated that an "October Surprise" referred to a woman unexpectedly finding out she's pregnant! What misdirection to the young people...

reply to post by Alguien


I have found that TV game show questions have been dropped down to grade school level.

I think what the OP is talking about is not so much that some people are stupid but that there are more people doing stupid things and displaying a level of stupidity which appears to be much higher than in the past.

Everyone has said or done something stupid before; I know I have. Yet, what I see is people actively choosing to be stupid more than a few years back. I know plenty of people who could very easily educate themselves on just about any topic of interest yet choose not to for whatever reason. I see people make a decision which is clearly going against, not only their, but society`s best interest.

Yes, people are choosing to be stupid more and more often. I too wonder about this from time to time. I think it has to do with the overall social situation we find ourselves in today. In general, the average person is becoming more and more powerless. They don`t feel they have a lot of responsibilities so they simply choose to be stupid.

Jump from the roof of your house with a bicycle; go for it! Not know how your own government works; no problem. Know more about the local baseball team then you do your own community; Shut up the game is on! Not be able to talk about anything other than sports, famous TV/movie stars and beer; why care about all that smart talk it makes your brain hurt.

A powerless people will lead to powerless minds.

Originally posted by freedomwv
I think what the OP is talking about is not so much that some people are stupid but that there are more people doing stupid things and displaying a level of stupidity which appears to be much higher than in the past.

In a nutshell no pun intended YES

reply to post by abeverage


I had heard the name Honey Boo Boo once before but never knew what it was until now.

I am not sure what else to say other than...........................

Why is this stuff important?


Raist

Originally posted by Raist
reply to post by abeverage

 

I had heard the name Honey Boo Boo once before but never knew what it was until now.

I am not sure what else to say other than...........................

Why is this stuff important?


Raist

Truly it isn't but the sad thing is stupid people have made it important. Not unlike major sports, media icons and celebrity news...

Originally posted by Raist
reply to post by abeverage

 

I had heard the name Honey Boo Boo once before but never knew what it was until now.

I am not sure what else to say other than...........................

Why is this stuff important?


Raist

It was simply brought up during the course of the thread as proof of my OP. Certainly I would never generate a thread based solely on that tv show.

reply to post by abeverage


I wish I could laugh. However it makes me sick


Raist

reply to post by AccessDenied


Oh no I was not trying to imply that. I hope you did not take it as if I were. I just came across that and was so struck with the stupidity of it all that I had to comment on it.

I really cannot believe people watch that stuff. If I thought it would help I would advocate that anyone watchign such garbage be subject to being punched in the face by a rather large individual.

Raist

Originally posted by Raist
reply to post by abeverage

 

I wish I could laugh. However it makes me sick

Raist

Too bad it doesn't enrage enough people to leave it off the air...suppose it is much like watching a train wreck in progress...

it's all perspective. We are not that great either.

reply to post by Raist
I commented about recent episodes of "Millionaire" and "Jeopardy!" a few days ago and watched yesterday's edition of the latter. On the most recent episode, "Honey Boo Boo" made it into the show as one of the correct "answers". (Jeopardy!,Thursday,11/8/2012)
Now, I can't fault the producers for covering topics of interest to the viewers,but, like I said..."less math and science, more fluff".

reply to post by Alguien


I remember watching that show as a kid with my grandma. They used to cover some really educational tough questions.

I guess they have to stick with the change that the world is going through. To bad the change is that of stupid.


Raist

This article fits here quite nicely.

Mutations in the human brain are making us stupider, new research shows