How did we get here?
Sometimes it feels like we authentically live in "The Age of Stupid," or at least a period in history where being stupid is elevated to a somewhat strange and surreal art form, in which stupidity somehow gets translated into "being clever..." perhaps because if what you project to people is inane enough you end up going viral and making a bunch of money on social media, which is smart.
Right?
Of course, being smarter than the average was never well seen; "way back when" people were dweebs, or nerds, or brainacs or something else if they "dared" to have even an ounce of common sense.
What made you "cool" was skipping class and getting a D- on your test because you valued robbing a vending machine or going to the movies above actually doing your homework.
Somehow it seems like Dumb and Dumberer is what sells; anything that requires you to rub a couple of brain cells together is suddenly "highbrow" or "arrogant."
Not that long ago I heard someone describe a friend as "sus" (suspect) because they were texting with actual punctuation and capitalization.
Of course, some of the problem arises when people who live deeply inside "Stupid Culture" end up as perpetual victims of endless scams designed to part people from their money... scams that usually would fall apart if you applied even the slightest bit of common sense to them.
Which brings me to some of the absolutely idiotic stuff people forward to me, on a daily basis.
"Revolutionary invention means you'll never have to pay another electric bill!"
"Ancient Chinese remedy cures high cholesterol in two weeks!"
"The Government has activated the Worldwide QFS!"
"Heat your entire house with two votive candles!"
"Latest crypto strategy guarantees 800% a month returns!"
I can feel my brain rotting, even during the few seconds it takes me to scan the message. I used to take the actual time to do a quick search, locate the most rational debunking article and return it to sender.
I don't anymore. The fact that I don't just blindly jump on the idiot train makes me a bit "sus," you see...
If there's anything specific I notice about life in our times, it is perhaps a complete vaccum where there once used to be what I might describe as "healthy skepticism."
A friend of ours insists that he found a 12-carat pink diamond as part of a necklace at a pawn shop. All he needs is for someone to "authenticate" it, and then he'll sell it and be 'set for life." The fact that five different jewelry stores have told him it's a piece of glass and otherwise refused have anything to do with it makes them scammers, not him wrong. This is an otherwise intelligent, college educated individual.
But then again, he also believes there's a trunk of Mexican gold buried somewhere on his land in Oklahoma.
Maybe I'm being unfair by lumping this sort of thing in to the "stupidity" category. Intelligent people — it seems — believe in lots of different fantasies.
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