Just How Stupid as a Culture Have We Become?

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Vader AL said:
there may be too much analyzing going on here. people like the different type movies some like to think, some just want to be entertained, etc. they are just movies afterall and are for entertainment. i like them all depending on my mood. i find it ironic that this is being discussed in a toy collector forum. :)

I don't think it is irony at all. We collect the bye products of mostly films. It is only natural I think to discuss films in any collectible forum. Most of the reasons that I collect toys is to have my own personal piece of the film. I think that is why Star Wars collectors are so passionate about it. Most of us were just kids when we watched it. It wasn't really till I reached my 20's that I wanted to collect it. I did so because it brought back good memories. That's just me though.
 
BadMoon said:
I don't think it is irony at all. We collect the bye products of mostly films. It is only natural I think to discuss films in any collectible forum. Most of the reasons that I collect toys is to have my own personal piece of the film. I think that is why Star Wars collectors are so passionate about it. Most of us were just kids when we watched it. It wasn't really till I reached my 20's that I wanted to collect it. I did so because it brought back good memories. That's just me though.

i just meant the bashing of people who like "different" films, even if they are the majority, since we all are labeled as "fill in the blank". yeah i really started collecting in my early 20's for the same reasons.
 
Maybe people think if they have to read the subtitles they will miss a lot of the action while reading.
 
We are overwhelmed. We try and absorb the surface layers and we've become conditioned to oversimplify. I think its directly related to the shrinkage of that attention span. We want it all and immediately if not sooner.
 
I don't think it's a stupid culture issue so much as a stupid human issue. Humans have been saying, thinking, doing stupid things throughout all recorded history. We are scared, imperfect, judgmental, insecure creatures.

As George Carlin says, think of how stupid the average person is and then realize half of the population is stupider than that. A lot of people who seem to be rational, reasonable people yet believe that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ....But He loves you.

I do agree with Al Gore's new book that we seem to be less interested in reason and thought and more interesting in feelings. Stephen Colbert also spoofs this general trend, exemplified by our imperious overlord GW Bush, to pander to emotion, to value graphics and soundbites over facts and thinking, gut over brain.
 
Hollywood, as well as the rest of Corporate America, cater to the "lowest common denominator" to sell their product. That in turn tends to "dumb down" everything thrown at us for mass consumption.

I have never been able to understand the thinking of people who wouldn't watch a movie or TV show just because it was in B&W, silent or sub-titled. I truly do not comprehend their thinking. It is really sad to think that they are missing out on some of the greatest movies of all time, just because they won't watch a movie that is not in color or that doesn't have sound.

I have to deal with this very attitude at work as well. People don't like to feel "stupid" but will do nothing to actually improve their knowledge or understanding of the equipment given to them to do their job. There was one manager at my office who had to be shown repeatedly (over 15 times) how to open and edit a web site in Microsoft FrontPage. Because of "office politics" she was put in charge of the company web site because she was the Marketing Director, but knew nothing about how to design or edit web sites; and she had even taken a course in FrontPage at Global Knowledge, a software training company, but didn't remember a thing from the course. So she "labeled" me as arrogant, and said I made her feel stupid, because I sighed and rolled my eyes when asked to show her how to open the web site for about the 15th time. In another example, my network admin assistant, claims I make him "feel stupid" at times because, get this, he will call me to help with some computer or software problem he has been working on for 30 minutes or an hour, and I can sit down and fix it in a minute or two most of the time. So what I am supposed to do, not use my knowledge and intelligence around these people? Lowest common denominator...
 
I will keep my post short for King's benefit; if anyone is really interested in this topic you MUST read Neil Postman's writings - esp. Amusing Ourselves to Death.

:lecture
 
LOTRFan said:
I will keep my post short for King's benefit; if anyone is really interested in this topic you MUST read Neil Postman's writings - esp. Amusing Ourselves to Death.

:lecture


The Foreword to the book basically sums up this discussion very well!

Forward (by the author)
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
 
Dear Lonnie, I don't see why you can't say to them that if they feel stupid, it isn't because you made them feel that way, but because they recognise their own flaws and that they are intelligent enough to see it but not smart enough to be bothered to do anything about it. So tell them to get sssssssstufffed, that they are nothing but a bunch of sssssssucks, and they give you the sssssss*****s.

It's the same when people do their block. It isn't usually something you have done in itself, but rather something you have done that they have a disliking to, or transgresses their beliefs or value system. Same advice. Tell them they give you the sssssssss*****s, they are nothing but a bunch of sssssssssucks and they can go and get stuffed. Be prepared to defend yourself, these people cannot be reasoned with, as everything is always someone elses fault.

Now I will go back to the start and see what the hell this thread is all about. Same advice in any order.

Well I took the time to read this thread, and found it very interesting. Different strokes for different folks.
 
lcummins said:
The Foreword to the book basically sums up this discussion very well!

Indeed Lonnie, it is a great read. Have you read this yourself? :wave
 
creecher said:
Dear Lonnie, I don't see why you can't say to them that if they feel stupid, it isn't because you made them feel that way, but because they recognise their own flaws and that they are intelligent enough to see it but not smart enough to be bothered to do anything about it. So tell them to get sssssssstufffed, that they are nothing but a bunch of sssssssucks, and they give you the sssssss*****s...


Oh don't worry Creech, I refuse to not use my own intelligence for their benefit, and have told them so! :D

The good news... that manager no longer works for us! :chew And it wasn't by her choice...
 
Entropy Chicken said:
I do agree with Al Gore's new book that we seem to be less interested in reason and thought and more interesting in feelings. Stephen Colbert also spoofs this general trend, exemplified by our imperious overlord GW Bush, to pander to emotion, to value graphics and soundbites over facts and thinking, gut over brain.

i think what's going on is reason rather than emotion. i can't think of much al gore does or has does that uses reason. they have no thoughts for themselves...that's why they have no identity as a political party. overlord? please....no more than reagan was an overlord, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. gut over brain? how about you use your brain when someone is punching you in the face and see how that goes. anyhoo off topic....time in.
 
lcummins said:
No, but I probably will now! That came from Wikipedia when I did a Google search...

Do it, you will really appreciate his writings; and get your hands on Technopoly as well.
 
LOTRFan said:
Do it, you will really appreciate his writings; and get your hands on Technopoly as well.

I will. I find it rather sad that I can see both sides in myself. While I love to have my mind challenged, especially through reading, I also find myself giving in to simple entertainment, being a couch potato far too often.
 
lcummins said:
While I love to have my mind challenged, especially through reading, I also find myself giving in to simple entertainment, being a couch potato far too often.

No comment ... my post count is higher. :monkey3 :lol
 
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