"RIP News Consumer - Dumbed down to death!"
I love that one....but...but...
Why should it apply to only 'News Consumers', and not 'Consumers-in-general?"
Let's consider one media that can be both an educational God-Send, and a boil on the butt of mankind: Television. Reality Television, in particular, and many "How-To" shows will follow a close second place.
After an American Idol (now X-Factor) show, for example, I hear people on the streets quoting Simon Cowell's critiques, word-for-word. I will ask them, "OK, now that we know what 'Simon Said', without using HIS words, what is YOUR opinion? Did you like the singer / song BEFORE you heard his critique, and did you change your mind after you heard him speak? I'm guessing you did just that! " You cannot possibly imagine the blank looks I get. I can look into that blank space (their minds) for miles... and miles... and miles. Ya know?
Have you ever watched "Sell This House"-type show on HGTV? Any remodeling show, or a show where an individual is either buying or selling a house is a good example of my next point.
Mr. Simon Cowell (and many others!) have "America by the balls", and he is loving it. He is just grabbing a handful, and steering this country which ever way his little heart desires, and like leading a bull by the ring in his nose, the American pubic (and many other countries, as far as that is concerned) will follow along without questioning. The hosts of these shows can say ANYTHING, and millions of lazy individuals will just 'take their word for it', rather than take the time and energy to insert their own values, morals and individual tastes. The absolutely scary part is that the public will not only listen to these individuals, and they will believe them, but they will readily substitutes the host's values for their own. Puppet, anyone?
In the mornings while he is getting ready for work, Mark watches many of these remodeling, repair and 'house for sale' shows. If I have to walk into the living room to speak to him about normal daily events, I inevitably hear some part of one of these shows. Incidentally, it is at that point that I threaten to throw a hammer through the television if he doesn't watch something a little more educational, but this is just me over here .... digressing!
While we're on the subject, another related bug that crawls up my ass is when I hear someone on one of these shows say, "I don't want to buy that house, because the bathroom is the wrong color!" I am screaming into the other room (because I can't stand to be in the same room as a television that is blaring that crap!), "GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND GRAB A PAINT BRUSH!"
The second chapter of that book is how inflamed my 'roids get when I hear the words "creepy", "odd", "weird". Those words, folks, pertain to your individual levels, and they mean absolutely nothing to me. Those words are individual filters that you, yourselves, have installed in your brains, and have no bearing whatsoever in my world, except to piss me the Hell off. It is your point of view - not mine.
Consider, for example, this next photo:
I was walking through the St. Louis Zoo this past fall when a child - probably aged 7 - 9 ran up to an enclosure that housed the Okapi's.
For more information on the Okapi's:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okapi
I overheard the child yelling back to his mother, "I don't like IT. IT's CREEPY!"
There are so many things wrong with that statement that I don't which issue I should address first!
Let's start with "IT". In this language (English), a pencil or a book is an "It". An animal usually has a sex, making him or her a HIM or a HER - not an "IT". The word "IT" used in that context offends me to no end. I won't even address how lovely I feel inside when I hear someone referring to their child as a "IT", and I hear that all too often! In any other language (Spanish, etc), even pencils and books are male or female.
"Creepy". Baby, who told you that a 100% completely natural, beautiful creation is "Creepy'? These lovely creatures have been here sometimes millions of years before the first human-looking being walked on the face of the planet!" I wanted to grab him and say, "Look, you are young enough to change your way of thinking RIGHT NOW - before you become a carbon copy of your lazy, dumbed-down parents. You need to understand that NO natural creation is 'creepy', but that parent that taught you that value might be so!"
The moral of this story:
Don't be lazy.... Don't allow yourselves to be 'Dumbed Down'. Expend a 'little' energy, and SMART UP!
I'm gong to the Memorial service this afternoon for Mr. Bob Cassilly. Bob thought outside every box possible. He was strong willed enough to fight every (political, conservative, lazy, bureaucratic) demon that dared to step between Bob and his dreams.
Bob's spirit was a little too invincible, but I will be willing to place any amount you ask on a wager that if he was asked, "If you had a choice, which would you choose: To die while being lazy, and being brain-washed while sitting in an arm chair watching a television show that was created to make you even lazier, or to die while actively pursuing your dreams, and creating something beautiful?" If you, dear reader, select the lazier route, I will be force to reenact the freezer scene in "Rocky Horror Picture Show", where Frank-n-furter comes out of the freezer, cleaning his hands off (after hacking Meatloaf to death!), looking a bit perplexed as to why the other people in the room are starring at him with horrified looks on their faces, and he says, "What? It was a mercy killing - really!"
- Michael
