There was a brief period of time before my book came out that I was worried we were getting smarter.
My book, titled ‘Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon’, was based entirely on the premise that we’re all stupid.
To varying degrees, of course, but generally all morons.
I can’t remember the specific timing but I think a year ago things were looking bleak.
Rational thought became vogue again, critical thinking was on the upswing, and ne’er do wells were coming face to face with accountability.
It was awful news for my book.
Then things began to turn back towards their previous trajectory.
Straight into the pits of idiocy.
Thank goodness.
Well, at least for my book it was good news.
For the planet and humanity in general it was rather terrible news.
It continues to be terrible (again for my book, it’s been great… three versions of it sit happily in the Top 100 of Political Humour in Canada).
Concerningly, however, we seem to have picked up the pace recently.
We’re getting dumb done with great efficiency.
We elect people who refuse to debate or answer questions.
Want to win an election these days? Hide.
We elect people who do debate but spew nothing but easily proven fabrications and outright lies… because they do so with conviction and without remorse.
Want to win an election these days? Ignore facts. The truth is immaterial.
We elect people who tell us that the people who hold them accountable are not to be trusted.
Want to win an election these days? Rely on the public being idiots.
Not just Canada.
Not just the USA.
Not just the UK.
Everywhere.
We seem to be getting dumber.
Like, a lot dumber.
People lie.
Not all but most and they have since people have existed.
That’s not new but what is is our blind belief in some of those lies and/or our superhuman ability to simply not care if they’re true or not.
It’s like if you had a sandwich on the table in front of you
turned your head and the person next to you stole it
and when you turned back around
the person across the table told you the person next to you stole it
and they, through muffled mouthfuls of your PB and J said they didn’t
and you said
”I don’t believe they stole it plus meh…"
and then went on to complain about not having any lunch.
To our own detriment, we’re stupid and getting stupider.
So, why?
In the 80s it was said we were being bombarded by messaging 24/7 on TV, radio, and newspapers……hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
We were adorable.
Let’s jump to present day where we still have TV, radio, and newspapers plus access to the entirety of human knowledge in our pockets, smart watches that excitedly tap our wrists to let us know the latest delivery service deals, and, beyond going extremely off the grid, an almost complete inability to be unreachable.
Is technology the problem?
No, we are.
We’re stupid.
It’s too much for us to process.
The good news is that humans will get better at processing the deluge of information.
The bad news is that possibly won’t happen before we apathetically blow up the planet.
And there’s the real danger in dumb.
Apathy.
We stop voting.
We stop thinking about things.
We stop caring.
Apathy is the frog being boiled.
The frog doesn’t need to get angry, he needs to get smart and get out of the pot.
We need to be aware of how stupid we are.
That awareness and acting to remedy it is our only hope.
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You can buy a signed and inscribed copy of my book direct from me via Stupidpocalypse.com. Shannon will force me to sign it and then she’ll mail it to you.
" And there’s the real danger in dumb.
Apathy."
I am nodding my head from Calgary.
#commonsensejournalism