Do you think stupidity and ignorance are glorified?

Why is it that nowadays potheads are seen as cool, and "cool" low-lives are revered. Back in the day, people with the best grades were the ones who were hoisted onto a pedestal.

• When was this exactly? There's always been "cool" kids who went outside the norm and weren't studious.

• Republicans and Conservatives have ALWAYS glorified stupidity and ignorance.

• YES! That is all that is on TV now. It was not always like this.

• In my high school in the 80s, potheads were called just that and considered slackers and losers. Now weed seems far more socially acceptable. I can remember some of the popular kids getting caught smoking weed and having to live it down. I think we should have smoked more weed in high school. We would have been far more relaxed.

• Michele Bachmann has been reelected three times. THREE TIMES. Talk about glorifying stupidity.

• Listen to any of Toby Keith's songs, or other country artists who have lyrics that basically say, "I don't know nuthin bout government, don't have a college degree, but I know my lord Jesus, and that's all I need." Translation: blind faith in invisible deities is more important than dealing with any real-world problems. I am college-educated and I read the news. I have critical thinking skills and understand logic. I cannot tell you how many times I have been told I am "too smart for my own good" because I recognize fault in someone's argument. We live in this namby-pamby world where you MUST respect everyone's opinions. 15 years ago, Michele Bachmann would have been considered a fucking "fringe" nutjob candidate. Now she taken seriously by the media. It's sickening.

• Basic Idiocracy. More of 'em out there now to sing the praises of the other ones. Potheads still bore the shit out of me though.

• It's easier to be stupid, lazy, and ignorant. Not much is expected of you and you can perform at the lowest level of intelligence. People will defend you as unfortunate, disadvantaged. I learned early that playing dumb was a way to get out of situations but once I passed the "dumb and cute" phase, that didn't work if I wanted to be treated like an adult. I'm guessing it's this point in life many people either decide to be a smart adult or blissfully ignorant. Then there are those who were taught by ignorant parents to use the dumbass card and hope for the best. I know most here despise facebook but the posts are telling. It's more than they're vs their. People are really stupid. The youngins seems to think it's ok to be dumb. As long as you get their gist, spelling is a waist err...waste of time. The stupid kids I grew up with, in the same situation I was in (poor, oppressive,) didn't go far and when they came into money, they spent it. They work at menial jobs and pay rent. The smart kids went to school, struggled as young adults and own homes now.

  Did I just go off on a rant?

• Stupidity and ignorance have always been glorified to some degree, at least among the young. I've read 19th century boys' school stories, and even then the carefree "sportsmen" were the cool kids, and the studious smart kids were at the bottom of the social ladder.

• It's all part of the dumbing down of America by vested corporate interests and other "powers that be".

  anonymous

• The only place I like stupidity is in bed. There is definitely something hot about a slack-jawed nimrod -- the appeal of hustlers, no doubt. As Woody Allen puts it, they come over and you don't have to discuss Proust.

• The fact that people gleefully support Obama and Feinstein, Reid, and the like is proof positive that Americans glorify stupidity and ignorance. Or at least are shining examples.

• R12, that comment shows that you are a shining example of stupidity and ignorance.

• Even Booby Jindal of Louisiana recently said that republicans need to quit being "the stupid party"--yeah, good luck with that r12, were you sent to be their saviour??

  Anonymous

• It's the too long, didn't read generation

  They%27re%20swimming%20in%20the%20shallow%20end

• Eldergays are ruining DL. This thread is proof.

• Unquestionably. And it's worst among the elites, the university professor class, which is more ruthless about punishing excellence than any other single group in society.

• R17 = more ridiculous hyperbole.

• This is one of the better places where the theme, "Reublican potheads are increasing the country's plunge toward stupidy," can thrive. R2, you won. You're off the clock.

• I am pretty old, like 50, and I dont remember any "back in the day" when being a good student was cool. Even before my time James Dean was the most famous cool guy and he was not exactly a Nobel prize winner. Cook guys always were and always will be the outsides of main society.

• Uh, OP pot heads were always the cool bunch in my school, unless you actually believed mom and days speach about good grades are cool. That and find a nice woman some day. Glee club forget it. The reason that show is funny is because in the real world none of those kids would be cool.

• Andy Cohen, Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, Michele Bachmann, Fantasia, Ryan Seacrest, Dubya Bush, Honey Boo Boo, the Lohans, the Palins...

• Hello ???

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• OP you obviously didn't get good grades in science. If you did, you would know that Mr. X the unaccredited scientist who wrote the praises of weed as a way to expand your mind was no other then Carl Sagan ( American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author). FYI He also wrote the book Contact that Jodi Foster did the movie about. And he was also an atheist like the character.

  http://boingboing.net/2009/10/07/carl-sagan-spaced-ou.html

  Carl%20from%20Outer%20Sapce

• None of those are cool R22, they are popular only because everyone likes watching an accident happen.

• You are a sheep OP, I can tell by your glorification of good grades being cool. They were never the cool kids. Good for you yes, cool, no. This describes you exactly:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DOfh6TGnyjG8

• [quote]None of those are cool R22, they are popular only because everyone likes watching an accident happen I wasn't claiming they're "cool," but they're glorified and add to the dumbing down of America. The title of the thread points to stupidity and ignorance being glorified. Perfect examples of that are: Andy Cohen, Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, Michele Bachmann, Fantasia, Ryan Seacrest, Dubya Bush, Honey Boo Boo, the Lohans, the Palins...

• We heard you the first time R27. I disagree about Andy Cohen. He is not just a gay TV host, he actually is the creator of these shows like Real House Wives and Queer Eye. He is a very wealthy successful good looking business man. Do I like his shows? No but that dose not make HIM stupid, just the people who watch.

• What a pack of silly old ladies. I agree that the eldergays are utterly ruining this website just as R16 says... It's so boring. I'm 43, earn 6 figures, and am a responsible member of society in every way. I smoke pot occaisonally. I'm a graphic artist and it makes me creative. I prefer to smoke pot rather than drink alcohol. So to answer the OP's question - yes stupidity is glorified in America at the moment but it's not because of smoking pot. Cut the crap.

• You all are stupid because you all watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Don't even try to deny it, who do you think their audience IS?

• Things are much worse now. I grew up in the 70's and back then we had much more intelligent shows like Charlie's Angles, The Bionic Woman and her Fembots.

  Lee%20Majors

• OP, you are the idiot here. Why are you equating Potheads with ignorance and stupidity? I iknow Potheads who are College Profs and CEO's of big companies and Wall Street millionaires. Get a life, OP, and stop pushing people into boxes your mind can understand.

• [quote]He is a very wealthy successful good looking business man. Do I like his shows? No but that dose not make HIM stupid, just the people who watch. Can you comprehend "add to the dumbing down of America"? Both Cohen and Seacrest add to the dumbing down of America with the crap they push on TV audiences. No matter if they're good looking or fugly, intelligent or stupid, their shows are a major contribution to the dumbing down of America.

• The OP is jealous he never got to pay. He is just realizing what he missed out on now that the world has changed and passed him by. All those good grades got him was a lonely life sitting in front of the computer posting stupid questions without realizing his question is stupid. There ARE stupid questions, this is one of them.

• [quote] Charlie's Angles Farrah was divine as Reflex Angle. I agree that ignorance is glorified, but it's nothing to do with pot use. What I do hate is when a pothead is stereotyped and it's also glorified. I'm talking about movies were 8 people share one joint and suddenly everybody is eating a bag of cheetos.

• "I agree that the eldergays are utterly ruining this website just as [R16] says... It's so boring. I'm 43..." Oh, dear.

• It has been this way for a long time, OP. I was a competitive debater in high school (89-93), kept up on all current events, made straight A's, and was Valedictorian of my graduating class. But I was picked on for being a loser. The straight C football players and cheerleaders, OTOH, were always considered cool. You know, the ones who never left their home towns, got married and started having babies at 19, were fat/bald by 25, vote Repug, and whose only hobbies are going to church and getting drunk.

  PPSM