People are getting dumber

Essay by HisotasoCollege, UndergraduateA+, June 2008

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People, and in particular citizens of the modern capitalist countries, are becoming dumber and dumber as time goes on. This is of course due in large part to technology and most notably the television. I know, I know, not another TV bashing article, but bear with me, because I am part of a small percentage of our population that doesn’t believe that life happens to me. Quite frequently in my day to day pursuits I engage in small talk with the people I come across. The conversations range from the weather to the kids, politics to religion, but there is one thing I hear quite regularly from my conversational counterparts that is like an alarm going off in my head, my own personal example of just how much this big problem in our society has permeated the thoughts of all of us. The phrase “Guess what happened to me…?” This phrase indicated you were just sitting there minding your own business when something just happened to you, like a guy ran up and stole your wallet/purse, or punched you in the nose, or hit your parked car.

Now all of these are examples of something happening to you, but when someone says “Guess what happened to me today? I got fired from my job.” I get a little fired up. This is a situation where the subject in question, let’s call him Johnny, obviously played an active part in the situation that was his job, and it goes without saying said situation ended in a rather unpleasant manner for Johnny. Upon further conversation with Johnny, you would learn that that he was habitually late, not a real go-getter, in fact some might call him lazy, and quite frankly he had it coming. Poor Johnny doesn’t see it that way though.