Thursday, February 09, 2006

Stupid: Nature or Nurture?

Every day we go through life and encounter stupid people. How do they get like that? Where did they learn to be a jackass that drives 55 in the fast lane? What possesses them to keep their fat ass in airplane aisles for 1 minute and thirty three seconds to get their neck pillow, popcorn and cassette playing Walkman (yes they still make them), out of their bag before stowing it?

I spend a lot of time in airports and so I am constantly bombarded with a barrage of this type of madness. As I glare at the barbarian standing in the middle of the moving walkway holding their Jamba Juice, listening to Dave Matthews (further evidence of their stupidity), while 14 intelligent travelers are trying to get by, I begin to ask myself, how did they get there. Is it contagious? Did they go to a special school? Did their parents go to great lengths to mentor them and take out second mortgages to bring in special “idiot tutors”? Or do they just “home school”, so to speak.

I realize it may seem like I am describing discourteous behavior but I see them as parallel acts of offence. For my part, I wake up each day and try to educate my daughter so that she is not stupid. Well, I guess I am counting on “nurture”. If in the end, it is “nature” and my daughter turns to be one of the 46.45% of the population that suffers from “stupid”, I will just bite my lip and love her in the same unconditional way I do now.

Jason

1 comment:

Brock Shinen, Esq. said...

I've heard it suggested that we have a "Darwin Day" or "Coll the Herds" day, where we let one day per year be the day when the strongest survive - guns, explosives, knives - the people that drive 50 in the fast lane are shot. I really like the idea.