Stupidity is at an all-time high. Knowledge and intelligence seem to be losing value, and things that can raise interest in the empty and self-absorbed minds of our generation are gradually being put aside.
Before lamenting the amount of praise stupidity gets through major media outlets, let me make an important distinction to define what kind of idiocy I am talking about.
I realize there’s an important side of human life that needs silliness. Everything can’t be about work and seriousness all the time. That’s the great purpose of comedy, and although comedic expressions in theater and TV seem easy and fun, being funny requires a lot of insight and hard work.
The stupidity I’m bringing up here mostly isn’t intended to be funny. To give practical examples, let’s ask ourselves why Sarah Palin, Jersey Shore and the University’s latest YouTube hit, “Pizza Girl,” are so popular?
It’s hard to say.
While we ask ourselves what kind of stupidity is making the charts, we should also ask if the knowledge being produced by our educational institutions is good enough to beat the idiocy of the world around us.
Apparently not. Being stupid from an early age at school can warrant popularity and attention. Keeping it up while you grow up and go to college obviously works to your advantage.
But why are there so many people making money and fame by portraying themselves as talking monkeys? If real monkeys could talk, they might be doing a better job.
If you read my columns last semester, you can remember I commented on a TV clown who was elected to Brazil’s Congress with a record number of votes. After the election, he had to go through a test to prove his literacy — which he almost failed.
He’s not a smart clown, like many. He’s famous for … well, being stupid.
Although I think American politics are much more serious and interesting than Brazilian politics, America does not lack its own political clowns. I don’t need to give any examples.
Stupidity is taking over, and ultimately, my goal is not to fight it — although I think I am fighting it just by trying to be a good student, artist, professional and person.
My concern is how much attention and prestige we are paying to idiots who manage to get their asse(t)s on national and international television.
Or why doing something stupid on camera and uploading it to YouTube can change anybody’s life from today to tomorrow. If you have a camera on you at all times, you might make a hit. But it just has to be stupid.
It’s sad, but I think we are running out of options.
Maybe our faiths should dismiss that which doesn’t really feed the better faculties of our minds. However, given some of the greatest demonstrations of ignorance, bigotry and misunderstanding shown by religious leaders — those who should be leading the “faith” business — it’s hard to believe faith can make much of a difference in saving us from our stupidity.
While we offer the sacrifice of our minds to the goddess of stupidity, the resources we could be using to spare the scarcity that afflicts society and the creativity we should be stimulating are going down the drain.
Not even this stupid column could give you an answer.
Maybe we should just stop and try to figure out why the difficulties of a troubled world are winning this round — but doing that just sounds stupid.
Marcelo Vieira is a 33-year-old jazz cello graduate student from Brazil. Follow him on Twitter
@TDR_MVieira.
 
____
Contact Marcelo Vieira at
[email protected]