

Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? - matstc
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html?ex=1360645200&en=0cd591c7ca4da736&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

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david927
What would happen if you gave all the candy away. No, really, what would
happen if, for one country in particular, candy was free? 10% would show
restraint and eat healthily. The rest would more or less bing. If you put
escalators everywhere, 90% wouldn't climb stairs anymore. This is what has
happened with capitalism in America. We've made everything easy and most have
binged on it. In fact, I think it's part of a natural cycle. America will lose
the power to compete (the escalators will stop), and the next generations will
be quite smart because they have to be.

Companies go through this all the time. Company X was at the top of the world,
got complacent, lost its competitive edge, and had to start over. What makes
us think that countries are any different?

Of course the article cherry-picks evidence to support its claim, and that's
not fair. But I think, outside of America, no one questions its premise.
Worse, it's evident there is nothing that can be done to remedy the situation;
all we can do is wait and let nature take its course.

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noonespecial
Meh.

Most people are wrong about most things most of the time. Some people are
right about some things some of the time.

Work hard, collect your "some things" into a narrow category and you'll be a
professional, maybe even an expert. Just go with the flow and you'll have a
brain full of random pop culture trivia.

The world is chock full of stupid people, it just seems like they're somehow
easier to spot in America.

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TMCMan
Sure they are. Once we have established that (look, we have plenty of
anecdotal evidence!), we never need to reconsider our judgement or allow
exceptions, since everybody arguing against it is clearly (in mentality) an
American and thusly, (due to what we already know about Americans (they're
dumb and dumber)) not a reliable source of information. Call me Logic Master.

~~~
TMCMan
BTW, notice how my argument (the one behind the irony) is based on an
incorrect assumption about the message of the article. (I read something about
rhethorics.)

~~~
TMCMan
BTW, notice how I try to get away with not reading TFA by pretending it was a
special rhethorical feat.

~~~
TMCMan
Further, notice how I seem to be replying to myself all the time.

~~~
TMCMan
It surely is the expression of an inner intellectual dialogue; no, no MPD
here, go along!

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matstc
The youtube video the author is referencing is this one:
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0>

~~~
mechanical_fish
Well, yeah: If you pay them to be entertainingly ignorant, Americans are very
good at being entertainingly ignorant.

I mean, geez, the show is _called_ "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader". If
_I_ were a guest on that show, I would damn well find a way to make the fifth
grader look smart. Otherwise I would be a _spoilsport_ , a far greater sin in
American culture than pretending to be stupid.

Replace Ms. Pickler with the all-time Jeopardy champion, and the show is
boring. The guy just gets everything right, the kids get frustrated, the
premise falls apart. Then they leave him on the cutting room floor. Not much
of a way to get ahead in your career.

I'd say that Pickler did an excellent job -- her bravura performance as an
idiot seems to have landed her a mention in the _Times_ , made her extra
famous on YouTube, and probably boosted her asking price for her next gig. Now
even _I_ have heard of her, and I've never watched five minutes of _American
Idol_!

Whether or not I think that such a show should exist is a different question,
but that's kind of beside the point. Who am I to decide? I am pretty sure
that, in a culture that has spent fifty years promoting egghead-positive
television like _Jeopardy_ and the more recent _Millionaire_ , this kind of
parody is bound to become popular now and then.

~~~
yters
Yeah, American's are meta-stupid!

------
imp
Why the hell should I care?

