I’ve been pondering the question of “When did stupid become cool?” and I realize that it’s not a new phenomena, but really, I continue to be surprised as watch bright students become complete idiots all in an effort to fit in. I’m not recommending that we all become pocket protector toting nerds, but I do think that if God’s blessed you with a brain you should use it to the utmost of it’s ability. Maybe it’s because stupid gets so many laughs in our entertainment world. I’ll admit, I laughed out loud (not lol-ed) at the movie The House Bunny, but it was more at the absurdity of how one person could be so “vapid.” Still, what are we teaching our children today when so many T.V. shows and movies celebrate the airhead, or mentally challenged jock? What would the world be like if stupid truly ruled?
We’d still be listening to vinyl, and would never have heard a CD, let alone an MP3 file played on the latest iPod Touch. We wouldn’t be watching our favorite sports teams complete in the vivid clarity of high definition television, not to mention our favorite movies in insane detail on our Blu-ray players. I wouldn’t be sitting here typing this missive on my conveniently portable Macbook connected wirelessly to the internet at the same time my husband surfs the web on his laptop across the room. We would still be stuck conversing over land line telephones, or heaven forbid, using snail mail instead of IMing to our hearts content and clogging up every cell tower around. Facebook, myspace? Sure it’s where all the coolest members of society can post embarrassing pictures of themselves and risk unemployment, but it took a geek to program it all in the first place. We have plenty of geeks to thank for the fact that our smartphones allow us to be completely accessible 24/7…I can text, email, IM and, gasp, audibly talk to anyone anywhere anytime thanks to that wonder of technology.
And that’s just the “fun” stuff. I also have to give props the intelligencia for the fact that my son’s seizures are reasonably controlled through medication. Many of us have loved ones who have been cured from cancer and are really thankful that some men and women decided to put their brains to good use in medical or pharmaceutical schools. What about the protection we take for granted every day? Leaving our personal feelings about war aside, I’m pretty sure most of us would admit we sleep better at night knowing someone is watching over us using the latest military intelligence.
So next time someone you know is tempted to become stupid just because it’s cool, remind them that McDonald’s can always use another fry cook.
