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Jay: “What event dominated the 1940s?”
Respondent: Long, l-o-n-g pause, then, “Roswell.”
Jay: “The alien spacecraft landing in Roswell, New Mexico — that was what the 40’s were famous for?”
Respondent: A very slow . . . “Yeah.”
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Look, we can all laugh and wince at such episodes, illustrating how terribly ignorant much of our population is. But it’s not just the young. Recall that ex-White House Press Secretary Dana Perino tried to defend her own deficit with “I knew the Cuban Missile Crisis had something to do with Cuba and missiles.” A White House Press Secretary!!!
And reading the comments in response to my blog efforts, I realize that tragic ignorance, nay — indefensible stupidity, is not limited to America’s young or to those on the Right. It’s right here in River City, folks. “Indefensible,” because, with the Internet, via a 30-second Google search, one can now have the resources of the world’s great institutions of higher learning at one’s fingertips. (Homework assignment: In the Google search box, type in “diseases of rose bushes,” “tomato plant diseases,” “Bunker Hill,” “Appomattox Courthouse,” and “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often.” Yeah, the entire sentence; you can do that in the Google search box, ya know.)
Via the Internet, you now have available, for FREE!! newspapers from almost every city, including those in Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, and New York. Being ignorant makes of one easy prey for the multitude of those in search of easy prey. And why anyone would voluntarily want to make of him- or herself easy prey just plain escapes me. Especially when it’s so easy not to be.
Recently, I overheard two elder acquaintances debating which of the “stars” on “Dancing with the Stars” was most likely to be crowned champion at the end of the season. One held it would be the former Playboy magazine cover model (Now there’s a “star” if ever there was one.), while the other felt the 17-year-old gymnast held the best odds. Both these folks knew not only the actual names of the contestants, but their life histories as well.
As sort of a quiz that was intended, I readily admit, to annoy, I asked what they thought of Ed Liddy, whose name has recently been plastered, front page to back in every newspaper across the land, and across every television newscast.
“Who?”
When I told them who Ed Liddy was, I got the rejoinder, “Ed, I can’t spend every waking moment studying political stuff.”
Me, “Tell me, say, during just this past week, how much time have you actually spent ‘studying political stuff’; four hours, one, 15 minutes; how much time?’”
Dead silence and deadpan looks, as if I’d just asked to peek inside their respective dirty laundry drawers.
Would any adult with statistically normal intelligence walk through a bustling crowd, holding his billfold or her purse out at arm’s length? That’s essentially what you’re doing when you fail to arm yourself adequately with at least basic facts concerning economics, history, our Constitution, and what’s going on in government.
