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Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

18 pointsby matstcover 17 years ago

5 comments

david927over 17 years ago
What would happen if you gave all the candy away. No, really, what would happen if, for one country in particular, candy was free? 10% would show restraint and eat healthily. The rest would more or less bing. If you put escalators everywhere, 90% wouldn't climb stairs anymore. This is what has happened with capitalism in America. We've made everything easy and most have binged on it. In fact, I think it's part of a natural cycle. America will lose the power to compete (the escalators will stop), and the next generations will be quite smart because they have to be.<p>Companies go through this all the time. Company X was at the top of the world, got complacent, lost its competitive edge, and had to start over. What makes us think that countries are any different?<p>Of course the article cherry-picks evidence to support its claim, and that's not fair. But I think, outside of America, no one questions its premise. Worse, it's evident there is nothing that can be done to remedy the situation; all we can do is wait and let nature take its course.
noonespecialover 17 years ago
Meh.<p>Most people are wrong about most things most of the time. Some people are right about some things some of the time.<p>Work hard, collect your "some things" into a narrow category and you'll be a professional, maybe even an expert. Just go with the flow and you'll have a brain full of random pop culture trivia.<p>The world is chock full of stupid people, it just seems like they're somehow easier to spot in America.
TMCManover 17 years ago
Sure they are. Once we have established that (look, we have plenty of anecdotal evidence!), we never need to reconsider our judgement or allow exceptions, since everybody arguing against it is clearly (in mentality) an American and thusly, (due to what we already know about Americans (they're dumb and dumber)) not a reliable source of information. Call me Logic Master.
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matstcover 17 years ago
The youtube video the author is referencing is this one: <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0" rel="nofollow">http://youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0</a>
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impover 17 years ago
Why the hell should I care?