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Does America purposely promote stupidity?

I'm pretty sure that this has been mentioned in one way or another, but I guess I'll weigh in with my .02. Basically, I do agree that the idea of stupidity is promoted, but the way it's promoted has little to do with any conspiracy theories or anything of that sort. Rather, as in most things in life, nature tends to follow the path of least resistance. Therefore, the default setting is the one that's chosen by the majority - the lowest common denominator. For most people, it is easier to be less smart. (Here, of course, I mean the "true" smart - as in educated and well read individual, not just the loud-mouth one who uses big words). Real education and real brains are hard to build, hence most simply avoid it. Now, would you expect these people to glorify those who chose the hard route? Of course not, they would praise the fool for this is where they feel at home the most. In that light, the promotion of stupidity is not all that strange - it's the default of the nature itself. All we need is just enough brains to survive; that's all that nature and evolution cares about. The rest is up to us, and spending more effort and energy is not worth it for most, especially in a society like ours (American) where we already feel we've achieved more than the rest of the world. The motivation to go further and do more and be smarter is not there, and so the average is glorified.
 
Rather, as in most things in life, nature tends to follow the path of least resistance... For most people, it is easier to be less smart.
Thats a good one to remember! Since perhaps its accepted to theorize that supidity is promoted, then it is safe to assume that acting "stupid" is the easy way.
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Real enemies such as self-doubt, procrastination, belief in insignificance, paranoia, feelings of uselessness, fear.
The many people in government who are bending laws this way and that do so because they can, only the most virtuous have the right to condemn this, and I admit that I am not one. Whats the difference between finding a clandestine method of making money from taxpayers and keeping cash found in a wallet? How can we say no to white-collar fraud, yet pop pills every weekend? Both are illegal. Its easier to point fingers than to face your own demons.
Sorry that was off-topic, I think Xplore's post hit the bullseye. Competition is good for advancement, look at the Space Race, and the race to build the first atom bomb. What's left to compete for now? America is fighting terrorist factions with pathetic technology, all they'll learn from that exercise is how to run in circles. No stimulation, no learning curve.
THE WOOD - Nobody likes someone who can't take a joke. Next time let it pass and shoot a/some witty reply(s) that strikes him close to home, make the 'dumb' guy lose his cool, watch the effect as he is shamed in front of his peers. Don't overdo it though, you don't want to look like an ogre. Just enough to get that humbleness from him. Ignore his posse, it's you and him in a duel of wit - they're his spineless 'bitches' anyway. Show no fear. In my experience it is usually the ones with the most to be shamed for who try to humiliate others, just hold up the mirror and let self-realization do the rest.
Even though it doesn't offend you, and you probably couldn't care less, this course of action will reverse the stupid trend as onlookers of the encounter will walk away thinking you the hero as you honourably defended yourself without malice or fear. Think of it as you helping him realise something he needs to work on.
America/the human race/life promotes courage more than intelligence. Intelligence is useless without the courage to apply it.
 
PEOPLE as a mass entity are CATTLE. Individuals may act in ways that are outside the normal psychology of the CATTLE/MASS but the mass will continue to maintain the status quo. EX: People in Indianapolis IN reacted on the day of 9/11 by flocking to gas stations after a hearing that gas prices were going up DRASTICALLY. Indeed some stations were raising their prices in an all out gouging effort. I passed a station on my way to work that morning (8:30AM) that the price was $1.27.9 a gallon. Three hours later after watching the towers fall and being sent home from work, the price had risen to $1.85.9 a gallon and there was a line 3 blocks long. Some stations reached $3.95.9 a gallon before the end of the day. Now dispite these prices people were going out to fill their tanks in DROVES. Logic dictates that this is temporary and a knee jerk reaction to the events of the day, but crowd psychology says, " YOU BETTER GET GAS BEFORE THERE ISN"T ANY OR YOU CAN"T AFFORD TO GET ANY". Finally logic won out and the police were called in because a FIGHT started in a line of people waiting to fill their tanks full of $4.00 a gallon gas. SO, not only is the CATTLE/MASS stupid, it 's willing to fight over the opportunity to exercise that stupidity.
The psychological and sociological factors that play into the reactions of people as a population are completely different than those that effect them as individuals. It is only when you allow yourself to react WITH the CATTLE/MASS that you become at risk for a stupidity attack. Schools are prime examples of the hive-mind, they shape our social training, by showing us the blatent consequences of what it means to be an outsider. They train us to fit in or be singled out. Woe to the child that tries to be different, or an individual. EX1: If you don't wear the right clothes/shoes then you aren't identified as a part of the group. EX2: If you and/ or you parents don't drive a "cool" car, you aren't identified as part of the group. EX3: If there is ANYTHING DIFFERENT about you ( ie, socio - economic status, facial deformities, scars, nervous ticks, hairstyle, weight, ad infinitum ), you may not be seen as part of the group. And hey man, lets face it, in high school, it is ALL about being a part of the group. It is brow beaten into us by the GROUP, so we can be socially trained to be a part of the CATTLE/MASS. Does this make ANY sense, I for one can find no logic in it.
PEOPLE as a whole REACT, and most of the time they react STUPIDLY, it's usually one individual that THINKS and ACTS and saves the MASS from acting like LEMMINGS and following the dumbass in front of them right over the cliff. And thus saving the MASS to live to be stupid another day.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, LIVE OUTSIDE THE BOX! There is no safety in numbers in mass psychology.
 
In answer to the original question:
No, but it often promotes a lower class.
if someone else said this, sorry, i don't often read through the pages of posts because often they FUCKING SUCK. or im lazy. :p
 
No, i didn't mean the posts really suck at all - i just had about 20 seconds and i wanted to respond to the original question while my answer was still in my head.
in fact:
I agree w/ Srgt and nads - i have some friends that, let's just say, aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they act even dumber than they actually are. why? well, why not capitalize on what you've got going for you, accept it, and make people laugh?
someone mentioned comedians being smart - not that a degree in philosophy = intelligence, but Steve Martin?? and a couple other pretty famous comedians (chevy chase? shit, i can't remember at all) have degrees in philsophy.
as far as public schools go, some sociologists think that by dealing with "troublemakers," and "delinquents sp" the way that we do, we are making sure that we have people that can be our "ditch diggers." focus on and reward the smart kids, let the kids that do bad do bad. it wouldn't necessarily be a conscious thing, either.
 
In answer to the original question: it only seems that way. It might be a weakening of the opposite, i.e. a reduction in emphasis on education, which presumably would have a knock-on effect. It isn't necessarily profitable to have everyone smart. It's probably all about elite profiting. Profit has a higher priority than knowledge. This cannot last if it's true, and if it's true it's not restricted to the US. They may be better than some at it though. Statistics would seem to back some this up. Isn't the US education system 18th in the world. What is wealth ? Ah, thought so.
 
We may well think, society rewards stupidity, aims for stupidity, etc. But who out of any of us would prefer to be stupider than they currently are?
 
keeping people stupid is a form of control. They didnt teach the slaves to read because they might get organized and start thinking for themselves.

What does the billboard say?
come and play, come and play
forget about the movement

RATM

rage says it all again.
 
i don't think we're kept stupid, just entertained. Overly entertained. I also think our pride adds to our mass arrogance.. and arrogance can lead to ignorance.
 
Intellectual elitism is just as bad as making fun of someone's intelligence. But maybe some people make fun of the so-called intelligent because a lot of their knowledge is nothing but trivia. Anyone who calls a farmer stupid because he doesn't know about the civil war or astrophysics shouldn't be allowed to buy food, and anyone that makes fun of someone with "book smarts" should have their cathode ray tubes and other technology taken away. People that complain about the government making them stupid really need to take some responsibility and realize that the government doesn't limit any citizen's access to education.

It's just that people are lazy and irresponsible. If you want someone else to do your thinking for you, you can have it done. If you want someone else to do the dirty work for you, you can have it done. I don't see why the two groups bitch at each other though. Without stupid people (or just people with more important things to do than sit at a computer all day), tech support people would be out of jobs. Without hardworking people growing and making food, "intelligent" people would have no time to read because they would be busy struggling to survive.

For example, the fashion industry is completely stupid, but the taxes from it go to useful things like building roads (and not so useful things as well).
 
I think people just tend to listen to the loudest voice. And, more often than not, the smartest voice is not the loudest voice.
 
I Know in the army stuypidity is a valued, I see the dumbest fucks promoted to corporals and the ones with a head on their shoulders always in trouble. I'm laughed at when someone sees me reading philosophy...oh well, just a thought...
 
Its a facet of social control and conditioning, the education level is maintained for a reason. People are after all economical resources that need to be herded and directed towards the status quo. At least thats the theory. Anyway, should american democracy be meet with an educated polulation, it would fall apart. Some major re-working would be needed and the concept of democratic expression need updating. Stuff like being proud of stupidity, and of being a sexual object, its a fundemental part of modern life.
 
All it takes is one person. Presented as mostly internal monologue, this is how it goes: One insecure kid who isn't very smart (kid X) feels threatened when they are in competition (read: in the classroom) with a person that they know is smarter (kid Y). Kid X says, "Oh shit, that kid is smarter, and their intelligence will humble me, and I'll feel inferior. I better do something about this quick so my feelings don't get hurt." Kid X gets up and says, "HA HA, kid Y, you're a DORK!" Kid Y feels very ashamed for having been made fun of publicly, so he/she doesn't respond for fear of the potential social consequences. Kid Z, who also knows that he/she is not as smart as Kid Y says, "Oh shit, I don't want to be humbled by Kid Y either, and I certainly don't want Kid X to think I'm like Kid Y, so I better follow suit to make sure that Kids X and Y won't humble me, too." Kid Z gets up and says, "Yeah Kid Y, you're a big dork!" All the other kids A, B, and C, go through the same process as Kid Z and start laughing out loud to show that they are also not a threat to anyone else. And so on and so forth. And then Kid Y goes home and cries, just like I did day after day throughout elementary, middle, and high school. It's all about social pressure, and people wanting to come out on top. No one (stupid) wants to be perceived as a threat to other people, because then they know they won't get friends/be popular/have whatever stupid societal status. Only the smart people don't play in to this game because they are smart enough to know better, but the rest are all left to wear their matching uniforms from Abercrombie and Gap, just to make sure they don't stand out so that they can't be a threat in any way. It's really just a pretty simple facet of human nature. Not only was I the smart kid that got picked on, I was the smart kid that wasn't ashamed of being smart, so people hated me even more. I was picked on even more because a dumbass popular guy had a crush on me, and seeing as he could never admit that (even though I certainly found out) he felt the need to torture me endlessly, even DURING teachers' lectures. And then they hated me EVEN more when I started dating a REALLY hot (really popular) STAR wrestler from an area high school, a guy who had nonetheless dated one of the popular girls from my school. OOOOOOH were they PISSED! :) (and no, i didn't date down, he was a really smart, really talented guy, but he was just that cool of a person. SO cool that even the popular kids liked him. Those guys are hard to come across!) :)
 
I like kitties. I wrestled, and kickboxed. I'm pretty intelligent, I think.

Wanna come over?;) Sorry had to leghump.



Duh! of course they promote stupidity. Smart people don't buy more than one pair of shoes if the one pair they are wairing is still good to go. They don't make money, if everyone was smart.
My shoes are like three years old, and look new. PUMA's rock for durability.=D
 
The problem is, is that there have apparently been stupid people since the beginning of time. Up until recently, we would just kill them off when they did something stupid. Ending their genes with them (hopefully) and making the world just a little bit smarter. Now we are overly compassionate and coddle stupid people as if they will ever get any smarter, allowing them to reproduce and fill up the world. Some stupid people manage to pop out some smart babies and here is where the trouble comes in. Smart people raised with stupid values. These are the people that think it is a good idea to dump toxic sludge into the ocean.

But that is really making the whole situation too simple. Which is stupid. So forget it, I didn't say anything.
 
david: forgiven :)

zx13xz - EXACTLY! you're not stupid... - if a caveman was stupid, and decided that running up to a sabretooth tiger might be a good idea, he would be dead. No more stupid genes to pass on. Back in the prime of human evolution, stupid people would be "darwin-ed" straight out of the gene pool. Now stupid people are showered with attention that will supposedly make them smarter, but only encourages them to remain stupid in order to garner attention and an easier time in life (stupid people are never expected to be able to do anything right, this is why I have a constantly available job at Koss where the factory workers will do things like fuck up 6000 pairs of $120 headphones, which I then get to fix all by myself.... :)).


What it comes down to is that stupid people are stupid, and as such, they only like other stupid people. Cuz they're stupid. So if you aren't stupid, you better watch out, cuz they'll do anything they can to make themselves better than you. Even though they're not.
 
Intellectual elitism is just as bad as making fun of someone's intelligence. But maybe some people make fun of the so-called intelligent because a lot of their knowledge is nothing but trivia. Anyone who calls a farmer stupid because he doesn't know about the civil war or astrophysics shouldn't be allowed to buy food, and anyone that makes fun of someone with "book smarts" should have their cathode ray tubes and other technology taken away. People that complain about the government making them stupid really need to take some responsibility and realize that the government doesn't limit any citizen's access to education.
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Awesomely stated. :)
 
May i also suggest that many of you are confusing "stupidity" with "ignorance" there's a difference.
 
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