Monday, August 07, 2006
Stupidity
Rhonda and I watched "Stupidity" last night. "Stupidity" is a documentary which attempts to explore the purposeful stupidity enacted in the nations of the U.S. and Canada. At first, he attempts to explore the definition by asking humans on the street. Then he worked through the actual definitions of the sociological terms such as "idiot," "imbecile," "moron," and many others. These are actual gradations used in the I.Q. test.
It didn't do what I hoped it would do. It was an interesting exploration of the subject, but left one feeling like...well...and idiot.
We are all stupid at one time or another. Rhonda and I later discussed some of our stuid decisions in our lives. We all have made stupid decisions and then...repeated them until we wised up...or not. That said,
My personal definition of stupidity is as follows:
Someone who is incapable or unwilling to think critically. Someone who is incapable or unwilling to think for themselves and needs someone else to think for them. Someone who is incapable or unwilling to feel empathy for their fellow human being because that would then be followed by potential critical thinking and thinking for themselves.
Mind you, this is my "personal" definition. The phenomena that we see happening today of people deliberately choosing the path of stupidity was touched upon. But it just didn't seem to touch the depths of the problem we see happening. It seemed to be missing something. It is worth seeing because one gets an idea of what were up against. Especially since I have the belief that we need to get these kinds of people on the wagon with us, as it were.
It was amazing, like with the Steve O. show, how people feel a strong desire to be completely stupid. As one college student put it (a young man shown pulling his pants down in a large crowd and showing his ass), "it's fun!" Being stupid is fun. One doesn't have to think.
I admit, one does need a vacation from the overwhelming amounts of shit happening in the world. However, spending a life avoiding it and seeking out "stupid" shit to do and "stupid" ways to behave and actively seeking out being purposefully "stupid" is not helping our global situation. It is as unsustainable as the current American economy.
I take little vacations because my "privilege" allows. Last night, Rhonda made a wonderful meal. We enjoyed eating. It was a great feast and celebration. It is a break from thinking about what the fuck to do about the global situation. It is a dance at our "Revolution." Then we're back at it.
The people in this film, the people at large, the people we need the help of, choose NOT to ever get at it. They choose to avoid and wallow in their "privilege" of not having to think about these things. Things like war, poverty, genocide, environmental devastation, human rights, etc. They choose to NEVER think of these things. Like if you just don't look, they'll go away.
It makes me think of a photo I saw recently. The first time I saw the photo, but I guess it was taken 6 or 7 years ago. It is of a young black child in Africa who is just a few hundred yards away from a UN aid station. The child is doubled over with his or her face in the ground. Their ribs are showing from starvation. And just some 15 feet away is a vulture waiting for the child to die so it can eat the kid. I wondered why the person taking the photo didn't pick up that kid and take the kid to the aid station themselves only to read a little further in the caption to find out the photographer committed suicide several days later.
And then there is Steve O. with a large audience of nothing but white faces that I saw. Steve smashes beer cans on his head and sprays them all over the audience. He makes himself puke on stage to loud applause from the audience... We've got our work cut out for us. But what else are we going to do, join in on the debauchery of these white privileged folks?
It didn't do what I hoped it would do. It was an interesting exploration of the subject, but left one feeling like...well...and idiot.
We are all stupid at one time or another. Rhonda and I later discussed some of our stuid decisions in our lives. We all have made stupid decisions and then...repeated them until we wised up...or not. That said,
My personal definition of stupidity is as follows:
Someone who is incapable or unwilling to think critically. Someone who is incapable or unwilling to think for themselves and needs someone else to think for them. Someone who is incapable or unwilling to feel empathy for their fellow human being because that would then be followed by potential critical thinking and thinking for themselves.
Mind you, this is my "personal" definition. The phenomena that we see happening today of people deliberately choosing the path of stupidity was touched upon. But it just didn't seem to touch the depths of the problem we see happening. It seemed to be missing something. It is worth seeing because one gets an idea of what were up against. Especially since I have the belief that we need to get these kinds of people on the wagon with us, as it were.
It was amazing, like with the Steve O. show, how people feel a strong desire to be completely stupid. As one college student put it (a young man shown pulling his pants down in a large crowd and showing his ass), "it's fun!" Being stupid is fun. One doesn't have to think.
I admit, one does need a vacation from the overwhelming amounts of shit happening in the world. However, spending a life avoiding it and seeking out "stupid" shit to do and "stupid" ways to behave and actively seeking out being purposefully "stupid" is not helping our global situation. It is as unsustainable as the current American economy.
I take little vacations because my "privilege" allows. Last night, Rhonda made a wonderful meal. We enjoyed eating. It was a great feast and celebration. It is a break from thinking about what the fuck to do about the global situation. It is a dance at our "Revolution." Then we're back at it.
The people in this film, the people at large, the people we need the help of, choose NOT to ever get at it. They choose to avoid and wallow in their "privilege" of not having to think about these things. Things like war, poverty, genocide, environmental devastation, human rights, etc. They choose to NEVER think of these things. Like if you just don't look, they'll go away.
It makes me think of a photo I saw recently. The first time I saw the photo, but I guess it was taken 6 or 7 years ago. It is of a young black child in Africa who is just a few hundred yards away from a UN aid station. The child is doubled over with his or her face in the ground. Their ribs are showing from starvation. And just some 15 feet away is a vulture waiting for the child to die so it can eat the kid. I wondered why the person taking the photo didn't pick up that kid and take the kid to the aid station themselves only to read a little further in the caption to find out the photographer committed suicide several days later.
And then there is Steve O. with a large audience of nothing but white faces that I saw. Steve smashes beer cans on his head and sprays them all over the audience. He makes himself puke on stage to loud applause from the audience... We've got our work cut out for us. But what else are we going to do, join in on the debauchery of these white privileged folks?
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