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the_gneechThe 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
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
