Ace-Garageguy Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) It just seems like there are a lot more idiots around today, but the reality is we're just hearing from them more than we did in the past.But now they're idiots with a voice.It is one of the damning facts that describe humans in general...for the most part, people would rather follow someone than lead, or even follow their own path, or even think about what a good thing to do might be. A lot of people hate their jobs because it's easier to just get work doing SOMETHING rather than finding something to do that they actually LIKE. And there's that little German who was able to inspire an entire nation to follow him into destruction, or the Jonestown mass suicide. Most people WANT to follow, to be told what to do, and even if it's a really really stupid idea, if they hear it enough times, it gets traction in their brains and influences behavior. That reality is the only reason marketing works at all.And when millions of morons are all jabbering away incoherently, stupidly, about mostly nothing of any importance whatsoever, the incessant stupidity HAS to have an effect on the perceptions and behaviors of the majority that prefer to NOT think for themselves. I believe there's a very real potential for a looming critical-mass of dumbing-down. and once we hit it, we may not be able to easily recover as a "civilized" society. Edited January 3, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 And there's that little German who was able to inspire an entire nation to follow him... Actually he was Austrian... And Austria was the first country he took once he had the power to do so. But I see your point where how the massive amount of stupidity now easily available to all of us may indeed be hastening the dumbing-down of society. You may be right on that. But to look at the flip side of the coin, that same technology that has given the idiots a voice has also helped with many positive advancements that might have taken much longer without that technology, or never would have been possible at all. For example, a set of encyclopedias used to be a luxury, costing several hundred, even thousands, of dollars. Today anyone with an internet connection, no matter how little they may earn, has access to a world of information that otherwise would never have been possible. As far as the internet, you gotta take the bad with the good, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Nasty Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 It kind of reminds me of that episode of "Twilight Zone" where Burgess Meredith is a librarian & the "State" decides he is obsolete. George Orwell's "1984" should be required reading in todays schools. JMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 It kind of reminds me of that episode of "Twilight Zone" where Burgess Meredith is a librarian & the "State" decides he is obsolete. George Orwell's "1984" should be required reading in todays schools. JMO Is that the episode where he breaks his glasses and then can't read anymore? That's a classic episode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Nasty Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Is that the episode where he breaks his glasses and then can't read anymore? That's a classic episode. No, that was a different one. In this episode he is in a courtroom & the magistrate is very Nazi like & claims that the "State" has proven that books are no longer needed. It was on tv just yesterday during Sci Fi channel's Twilight Zone marathon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjordan2 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Is that the episode where he breaks his glasses and then can't read anymore? That's a classic episode. In that episode, The"state" had nothing to do with the problem. It was typical Serling Irony within a post apocalyptic world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 CHANGE......not often good for us older types......or easy to understand. Goes for about all things I touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Who has to ACTUALITY BUY books or magazines? My local book store (a B&N) has chairs and benches where you can sit and read, and even an overpriced and far overrated coffee shop right in the store. No one ever runs you out or suggest that you buy anything. No wonder sales are down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High octane Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 CHANGE......not often good for us older types......or easy to understand. Goes for about all things I touch. I hafta agree with you there Dave, as when and if I do change something I do it very slowly and not always willingly either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I'm an old fossil. I don't have a problem with change, and I've been an early-adopter of several new technologies...when those new technologies were BETTER than what went before. I was, frankly, disappointed that the "semantic web" has taken so long to finally (almost) get here, that CAD took so long to develop (and wasn't really worth the effort until the tech matured to its present capabilities), that fully-functional AI is still on the far horizon, and that speech-recognition is just now becoming reliable enough to be actually useful for everyone who wants it.What I DO have a problem with is change-for-the-sake-of-change, especially when implemented by short-sighted bean counters, or that's just done because everybody-else-is-doing-it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Are you a fan of Ayn Rand's work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunc Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Are you a fan of Ayn Rand's work?that was about some guy shrugging...right?(just kidding)they probably don't want us to know the brightest have already gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 that was about some guy shrugging...right? Something like that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Are you a fan of Ayn Rand's work?I wouldn't say I'm a fan of anyone's, but I DO agree with much of her Objectivist philosophy. When I first read her at 18, i thought to myself "holy cow...this is the way things SHOULD be..." She was a voice of logic and reason. I also DISAGREE with some of her philosophy. But Atlas Shrugged, misinterpreted by many, hated and called "elitist" by many, makes a LOT of very valid points about what's wrong with how things work...like political cronyism...and is in large part an accurate predictor of what's happening in the world today.I somewhat prefer her Fountainhead, which is about a gifted architect who works in obscurity much of his life because he refuses to design regurgitated pablum based on "classical' architecture to satisfy clients who don't want anything original and new.Her non-fiction work like the Romantic Manifesto, about artistic philosophy, is worth the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) ...they probably don't want us to know the brightest have already gone.Kinda looks that way, doesn't it? That would sure explain a lot. Edited January 4, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I wouldn't say I'm a fan of anyone's, but I DO agree with much of her Objectivist philosophy. Your new avatar was sort of a clue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Just picked up The Elapsed Time magazine. Great issue. Nothing inside the magazine about why its been canceled. One of the few tiles worth reading. Wonder how long before they cancel hot rod deluxe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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