How are people getting stupider?!
Question: People seem to be getting stupider and I think it's attributing to the fact that no one critically thinks anymore.
Society seems to be keeping us down with entertainment and media. It seems as if they want us to only think linearly because they don't want us to question what truly exists beyond our borders and our immediate media infested lives.
Why don't people ever consider all the facts anymore? Why do people only have one answer for everything and think that's acceptable?
Please don't post a 2 line comment on this because you're just proving that people are stupid. If it's already been said don't say it again.
It's like in a game of charades. If I said it was wrong the first time why the hell would you guess it the second, third and fourth time?
Answers: People seem to be getting stupider and I think it's attributing to the fact that no one critically thinks anymore.
Society seems to be keeping us down with entertainment and media. It seems as if they want us to only think linearly because they don't want us to question what truly exists beyond our borders and our immediate media infested lives.
Why don't people ever consider all the facts anymore? Why do people only have one answer for everything and think that's acceptable?
Please don't post a 2 line comment on this because you're just proving that people are stupid. If it's already been said don't say it again.
It's like in a game of charades. If I said it was wrong the first time why the hell would you guess it the second, third and fourth time?
I disagree with your implied assumption that people are getting stupider. And yes, I will elucidate.
For starters, I suppose it would be important to clarify what is meant by 'stupider' - does you claim indicate that you believe that there has been a decline in general intelligence (which - as measured by most I.Q. scores - would be incorrect based on research involving something called the Flynn effect. (Link to wiki summary below). Overall IQ scores have been rising for decades (or would be if the test were not frequently re-normed)
If you are talking about critical thinking skills, that might be a bit more fuzzy. After all, throughout time there have been plenty of people who are both intelligent (in an IQ sense) and well learned who do foolish things. A visit to a college kegger (hypothetically - especially if you are under 21) will show numerous examples of individuals who are by most definitions quite bright (college students) attempting to give themselves alcohol poisoning (also known as "drink 'til you puke").
But this is hardly anything new. I went to college two decades ago, and my father has stories from decades before that (and if you want to go really far back even the ancient Greeks have stories of drunken debauchery).
Consider the idea that the whole meme of "people are dumber/less civilized/foolish and easily influenced" has been around since antiquity. It's a variation of the old "kids today" rant.
Speaking of which:
"Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. What will become of them?
This world is truly coming to an end.
-Socrates "
World hasn't ended yet. ;0)
Now, as to why many people seem to be dumber - that I have a few possible answers to as well.
First up is the revolution in communication. In this internet age anyone with a computer and rudimentary typing skills can have their own blog, or post comments on a site that allows them. (If you really want to lose faith in humanity, try reading the comments following many online news articles - these things seem to attract the sort of person who in previous days would scream and cuss at their TV). In the old days, you couldn't hear these people unless they lived next door - now their shallow rantings are available for all to see.
A second possible reason (and forgive me for saying so, please be open to new ideas) is ego. It feels good to buy into the idea that everyone else is getting dumber and that one is smarter by comparison.
That said, there are battles being fought over the educational system. Though it would be a gross oversimplification to say that one side focuses on rote practice and test scores and that the other focuses on encouraging the development of reasoning and higher order thinking (and the way I have phrased it indicates my own biases in the matter), there are very serious debates about what education is to accomplish as well as the best manner to measure those accomplishments - but that goes far beyond the subject of this answer...
As for the media, there is a lot of it out there. There has always been trash (classic literature is not the only literature people have read - it's just the stuff that has passed the test of time. Just as you're unlikely to see "my mother the car" or "supertrain" in reruns, the lesser writings of previous days are less likely to be seen than the more famous writings.) and there probably always will be.
Your absoluety right, Media and Television I'd say is destroying others' minds and whatnot. Today it seems its all about sex, drugs, Women. I believe others are blinded by the fact that they only worry about the things they want, or they care about. And don't care who they step on to achieve it. Society has shaped so many people and makes people feel insecure that doing what they want to do is wrong. That you have to like a certain type of music, you have to like a certain sport. Things such as that.
Because we let inertia rule and expect someone else to do it for us. We also believe all kinds of propaganda and lies from advertising, the administration and others with something to gain.
Oh! The irony of your question.
f*** the stars! i dont care whos having a baby or getting married. besides they just get divorced practically 2 weeks later!
TV rots your brain