A place where we practice random acts of insight and humor.
Is Killing Us
Published on December 15, 2008 By OckhamsRazor In Life

Ok if you read the title, don't get me wrong.  I'm the coolest!  Right...

 

Long story short, I made a facebook profile, and there are all these little gadgets you can add to your page.  One of them is called "Pieces of Flair" which if you don't know is a reference to one of the great movies of all time, Office Space.  Basically, a waitress in the movie is supposed to wear lots of doo-dads on her uniform to show how motivated she is about her workplace.  The doodads are called "Flair." 

 

So on Facebook, "flair" comes in the form of buttons - you know - the kind you pin to things...like a hat or your shirt, and they have cutesy little messages or pictures.  On Facebook, you can create your own flair and send it to your friends.  So there are a LOT of "homegrown" flair on facebook.  Most of these homegrown variety are a great baseline for determining where the greater part of up and coming human beings lie in the intellectual food chain.  To save you the trouble of looking for yourself, I'll just tell you - it's sad.  Really really sad.  We, humanity, are in real trouble.  See "Idiocracy" on IMDB.com.

 

While going through the retardedly long list of flair that I might send to friends, I noticed things in the messages people created. It's something I noticed 20 years ago in high school, and it seems to be true - maybe even more true (is there such a thing?) now.  Being smart is not cool.  Being a moron makes you a rebel, and being a rebel is cool.  And because being smart is not cool, our next generation of kids, overwhelmingly, are retarded.  Really fucking stupid, people.  I'm not talking the difference between a math whiz kid and a B student.  I'm talking the difference between an accomplished scientist and a bucket of snot.

 

Meanwhile, it's common place to pay a guy millions of dollars to run full speed into another guy whose job is to be a brick wall.  That's "cool" in today's world.  Breaking your body repeatedly so some mouth breather has an excuse to eat lots of nachos and consume ludicrous quantities of beer.  It's commonplace to pay a guy a huge amount of money to get into a ring and try his best to beat the living shit out of a fellow human being.  Is it any wonder our society is as fucked up as it is?

 

Hey...I love sports, too.  To a degree.  But when society values speed and endurance over intelligence, I get a bit concerned.  Does society realize that speed and endurance isn't going to cure anything?  Build anything?  Invent anything?  Does anyone give a shit?

 

I'm to the point where I've washed my hands of it.  I turned 46 yesterday.  I may influence a few people here and there with my dedication to thought and BRAIN EXERCISE, but it's way too little, way too late.

 

I wonder if society is ever going to realize that everything that has ever had a positive impact on our collective quality of life was created by thinkers.  Or will we just tune in to some retarded television show and tune out the world?


Comments
on Dec 15, 2008

Ok if you read the title, don't get me wrong. I'm the coolest! Right...

Bullshit. That would be me. But you are right about one thing: we're all about "dumbing down" these days. In fact, the people I deal with in my line of work BRAG about "bein' fools." Heh, now how fucked up is that?

on Dec 15, 2008

Welcome to my hell, Ock.  These people are my fucking peers, and I don't know how most of them figure out how to feed themselves. 

~Zoo

on Dec 15, 2008

Zoologist03
Welcome to my hell, Ock.  These people are my fucking peers, and I don't know how most of them figure out how to feed themselves. 

~Zoo

+1.  But I keep trying anyway.

on Dec 15, 2008

It's funny that Zoo and SanCho responded to this, because as I wrote it, they were the JU exceptions in my mind.

 

Thank science for you two.  Keep on thinking, guys.

on Dec 15, 2008

P.S.  I dunno how old you are Roy, but don't let my exclusion in the previous response mean anything  I just don't know what age category you fall in

on Dec 15, 2008

I have 2 years on you. I'm 48.

on Dec 15, 2008

 I don't have much to add, but happy belated birthday!

on Dec 15, 2008

Whatever you do don't go to a professional wrestling event, it will squash the last bit of hope you had for our future.

I turned 46 in November. I now get to spend 20 min a day looking for my reading glasses.  

on Dec 15, 2008

stubbyfinger...I have been meaning to ask you. Is that a fish you are holding in the picture? I think I may need glasses.

on Dec 15, 2008

Why yes it is, all 24 inches of a rainbow trout caught in the Kenai river Alaska. What else did you think I was maybe holding?