I'm Not the Sharpest Spoon in the Drawer, But...

[the_gneech]

The last time I had an I.Q. test was elementary school, and while I came out above average, that doesn't really mean much, particularly at that age -- all it means really is that I was better at taking tests, whoopie.

Nevertheless, I sometimes boggle at the vast number of people who just don't use the brains they were born with. Is it the education system? Are people just not being taught to think properly? Is it the sheltered, perhaps even soft life our prosperity has afforded us, making life so easy that people never need to pay attention to the world around them or take time to consider the consequences of their actions?

The particular incident this evening was a commentary on PRI's "Marketplace," wherein somebody who went on one of those "surprise home makeover" shows only to find that 48 hours and $1500 later, the room in question had been made into a cheap facade with shoddy craftsmanship, and the moment you examined the patina too hard, it began to fall apart.

Laurie and I sat and listened to this, wondering just what the heck the commentator had been expecting. Had she never watched one of these shows? I've only seen one episode of "Trading Spaces" and that was enough to know that if any of those shows came within 50' of my house, I should go after them with a spiked club. The commentator was annoyed and outraged that after going on the show, they were going to have to spend thousands of dollars of their own money to undo all the damage. I found myself wondering why she didn't see it coming miles away.

This incident is not enough in and of itself to warrant mentioning, really, except that it's the latest in a series of them that I've been noticing more and more the past few weeks. From the guy who put a ton of hot sauce on his food and complained to the management that it was too spicy, to people randomly driving down the wrong side of the street, my awareness has been assaulted lately by wave after wave of people being spectacularly obtuse.

I try to view it with gentle amusement ... after all, every village needs an idiot and the particular village I live in has a population of several million ... but sometimes, I must admit, it makes me more than a bit nervous.

-The Gneech

Comments

[the-lizard-rat.livejournal.com]

Hell in a Cruise Missile as opposed to a handbasket. Enjoy the ride, Gneech-san! [/sarcastic] You'd think survival of the fittest would have done something to these freaks by now.

Or maybe humanity's compassion over 50-some odd years kept them alive to propagate their weirdness.

Lizard Rat out.
Not Making Sense As Usual in Rensselaer

Responsibility, it's a bitch...

[mammallamadevil.livejournal.com]

Pet Peeve of mine, as you well know...(grin)

These people are not overflowing with of common sense...like the person who sued McDonald's for spilling coffee on themselves....or overweight people going after the fast food industry when it was THEM who chose to eat the food!

I've met dozens of people with 140+ IQs but they a) refuse to take responsibility for their actions and it's always someone else's fault, b) constantly leap before they look and c) drift through life this way without taking the time to understand that life is a series of patterns...we won't even get discuss people that go on reality shows and eat worms...

You can't teach this in school...it is a behavioral pattern that must be taught by a parent(s), authority figures, or the school of hard knocks (thank the lord for my parents, who reinforced these traits repeatedly from toddlerhood)

MLD

[nekomimikun.livejournal.com]

Retardation is funny.

[sporklord.livejournal.com]

Bahaha! It is!

[spikedpunch.livejournal.com]

One person's stupidity, is another person's job security.

Look at me... ::sighs::

[kailucidricwolf.livejournal.com]

Welcome to America, Land of the Freely Stupid.

i had a rant about this same subject a few weeks back in my Lj.

Its down right appaling how... oblivious, self absorbed, ignorant, an just, Inbred people have become. I mean.. Theres not even a word to describe the level of innane stupidty many demenstrate.
An it just gets worse an worse as the generations go by!

People scare me. thats one of the big reasions i cant drive a car, or go into public places alone.

^~Kai

[hantamouse.livejournal.com]

When survival or making a good living required all ones time and effort, stupidity and laziness were often fatal. Nowadays, with reasonable wealth and free time common, there are many people who lack any sense of purpose in life. Being intelligent takes effort and practice. Some people simply don't have any reason to make the effort.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

There is an excellent and useful book on exactly this topic by philosopher/observer Steve Allen entitled "Dumbth". It is subtitled "The Lost Art of Thinking and 101 Ways to Reason Better and Improve Your Mind"

Allen is one of my favorite authors.

Let's see:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1573922374/103-6701005-3834237?v=glance

===|==============/ Level Head

[camstone.livejournal.com]

Yeahp, you never notice many of those places returning to the Scene of the crime, now do you?

[tygermoonfoxx.livejournal.com]

I think, in spite of it being a harder, harsher world that people are simply naive. They want to believe the best about other people, products, and things because considering the unpleasant alternative is too scary and takes too much effort. They need to believe in something so they place their faith in media and take it at face value.

I too watched those shows and decided that if anyone ever even TRIED something like that with my house, I'd brain them a good one. I like natural woodwork and antiques; I've seen enough to know they're the first things to go. If the one designer was a true southerner, she'd know better than to keep ripping out all those ceiling fans too.

On the other hand, Monster House holds promise (ever seen that one?) It's a more extreme building project but they're overseen by a general contractor and the builds have to pass inspection. I've seen some beautiful, high quality work out of that show.

Um....I think I fell off the topic train and hit my wittle head. I'll stop rambling now.