True Idocracy: Is the Nation's IQ Dropping?

My life has been full of interesting little stories about some of the dumbest people you will ever meet. The fact that I've met so many idiots is not the unusual thing that makes it necessary to ask the question "Is the nations IQ dropping?". What's unusual is the idiotic stories they tell are viewed as normal. They say every family has one and that you will always work with one. But everywhere you turn there is an idiot doing something idiotic. Whether its the pop princess giving her baby a bottle with soda in it or the sports icon robbing people in their Las Vegas hotel room. Idiots have always been around but it seems to be in greater number more now than before. Now, we can excuse the guy who slams on his brakes while going through a red light and then backing up only to have his car stuck in the intersection... "Idiot!" But what the hell are they feeding the young girls in South Carolina. Little Miss Teen fancy pants ended all of the debate as to how our education system is going. Somebody left that child behind a long time ago. Lindsy Lohan... how is it possible to have been in rehab 3 times before you turn 21. Most people say to just ignore it all and live your own life, but that type of thinking has made us all so distant from each other that when a fellow classmate is tazed in a public auditorium we sit back and just watch it happen.

I grew up watching the Muppet Show and Cosby. I saw the Berlin Wall come down and remember bomb drills. I fought for my country in Desert Storm because it fought for me and supported me. Today it's South Park and 24. A wall is coming up on the boarder of Mexico and for the first time I am witnessing the greatest soldiers on Earth be sent into a meat grinder with no clear reason why. Our Education system is becoming a joke. Children learn more on the Internet then they do in class. Maybe that is a good thing. Children learning at the age of 8 and 9 what I learned as a pre-teen all due to the fact that they are searching fo more knowlege then they are finding in school. The only problem is parents that refuse to learn with their children further separate the generations.

Remember the term "Generation X". How the country was so concerned about how the "Generation X-ers" were going to handle things... Now I know why they were so concerned. Those of us between the ages of 29 & 49 are in that generation. The demographic that makes up the middle class in this country. I was a middle class worker doing sheet metal work for Airplane manufacturers. I worked for Bombardier / Lear jet before 9/11 and contracted 2 years after. It was after 9/11 when the blue collar worker in this country began to suffer. Suddenly work was harder and harder to find and many "Generation X-ers" had to go back to school to find another trade. Parents had to find second and third jobs to match the salaries they lost from lay off after lay off. Not to mention out sourcing to other countries causing a large resentment toward immigrants. It is a continuous cycle that has been perpetuated for decades and will only be redirected... never stopped. It is time to embrace a new way of doing things.

For far too long Americans have looked at the world with rose colored glasses. Being somewhat isolated from the propaganda showed on the world stage about America. We are the salvation to some and an abomination to others. What do we do about it? Where do we go from here? If you haven't asked that question you can stop reading here... If you have, well read further and see if what I am telling you makes sense...

This is still the greatest country in the world in my opinion, but the way this country in being run is heading for failure. The only thing worse than an idiot is a greedy idiot and this country is full of greedy idiots. Just take a look at the CEO's of all the media & production companies for television and radio. Today crap is being passed out as art and we are taking it all in. Does anyone read anymore? I really don't consider myself to be an avid reader but I do pick up a book now and again and I have found that the one media that isn't tainted yet is the written word. Most likely because reading has been replaced in the home for the computer and the television. I remember when it was encouraged for children to read for a minimum a 2 hours a day and television was limited to 30 minutes. All I see now is more and more ads, posters and billboards for video game consoles, TV programs and people standing in line overnight and sometimes days to buy $400 cell phones. I tell you it is time to think differently. Seriously, I can't be the only one who feels this way. All these little things are adding up to one huge problem. Lack of communication! More and more people are not listening enough in order to make good decisions. Like lemmings they follow the majority to save themselves from having to make any decisions at all. No wonder our elected leaders are using all kinds of bells and whistles to get our attention. Flashing images of the trade center attacks and assuring that under their particular type of leadership we will be safe and secure. Sorry if I seem cynical but I don't feel safe and secure when Madonna and Britney Spears are being threatened by the same people our soldiers are fighting to protect in the middle east. Life is in a bad way when your enemies find your musicians as threatening as your military.

It all ties together; from the way we treat each other in our homes, to the way we communicate at work. We even need to pay attention to how we greet strangers in the street. There is a fundamental element missing in our American lives and that is common courtesy. An acknowledgment that we may all be equal, but there might be someone who has studied or experienced something that you have not. when we take the time to listen we learn and that my friends is what life is all about... learning from eachother. We are all equal as in the sense that we all have the same opportunities in this country, not that we all have the same ability. If there is any hope for us in the future we must change things now. Take the time to share your energy and knowledge with your family and then your friends. Pretty soon you will get that feeling returned and you can spread it to your co-workers and even a stranger or two. The beauty of being an American is that you can communicate with anyone you wish. It is not a right in most countries but it is in America... It is time to exercise that right and ask questions and find answers. And for crying out loud leave Britney Spears alone... you have more important things to worry about now.