I don’t keep up with celebrity gossip, at least not on
purpose. Still, somehow the stupid antics of
“celebutantes” always seem to slip into the collective
consciousness, and I become unintentionally privy to the fact that
Britney Spears is reportedly trying to have another baby with K-Fed
to “strengthen her marriage,” and that Paris Hilton
supposedly peed in a cab but was “way too drunk to notice
that she had wet herself.” The real danger of all this is
that celebrities aren’t the only ones acting the fool.
Always on the heels of celebrities, the public has adopted this
trend ““ ignorance seems to have become increasingly
fashionable.
So, my friends, welcome to the age of idiocy, where feigned,
fashionable stupidity reigns supreme.
Here on campus, I see the familiar trappings of mock stupidity
in people I believe to be intelligent. I had an English TA last
year who used so many “umms” and “likes”
that it was umm, like, seriously hard for me to, like, take her
lectures seriously. Now, this girl was quite intelligent, but she
hid her intelligence behind a mask of stupidity. To be sure, men
adopt the speech patterns and pseudo-stupidity of celebrity icons
at least as much as women do.
Libby Turows, a fifth-year English student, feels that media
trends portray ignorance alongside glamour. “People associate
intellect with ugliness these days,” she told me. “I
think stupidity is more prevalent than ever.”
Not everyone is acting stupid. Many of the people I talk to and
the various campus workers I deal with on a daily basis are not
only smart, but also incredibly friendly ““ from the cheerful
girl who makes my coffee in Northern Lights to the students who add
their thoughts to the educational banter of my discussion
classes.
All of these people are great, but there are many others who
make themselves look far less intelligent than they actually
are.
In some ways, it seems that people are willing to forsake
intelligence for amiability ““ they don’t want to look
like elitist intellectuals, so they tone it down in an attempt to
fit in. If we were to follow our parents’ advice and surround
ourselves with people who we can learn from, then in turn, we
should strive to be intelligent people who can function as teachers
for our peers. In this way, we all add to our collective
intelligence.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Nothing in the world is
more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity.” These words helped people stand up against the
ignorance that led to racial discrimination, and in some ways, I
believe these words are still valid in today’s media-obsessed
world of carefully crafted ignorance.
Of course, it’s unfair to compare pop stars and
jet-setting celebrities to men like King, but my point is, people
are certainly acting stupider and stupider, no matter how smart
they really are.
In some cases, college students may actually be getting
stupider. A recent study on literacy shows that 50 percent of
students at four-year universities can’t perform complex
tasks such as comparing credit offers. Stats like these make me
wonder who to blame.
It’s certainly easy to blame the Hiltons, the Simpsons and
the Federlines of the world ““ they are in the spotlight and
make an easy scapegoat.
In reality, times are a-changin’, and I’m not sure
if we can blame anyone for the recent trends.
Columnist J. Peder Zane noted in the News & Observer
(Raleigh, N.C.) that in the increasingly specialized job market,
there is a serious trend toward “narrowcasting.” He
says, “We are forced to become specialists, people who know
more and more about less and less.” Perhaps this is the
reason for the trend I have been noticing. Perhaps Jessica Simpson
focused all her intelligence on being a good singer instead of the
general concepts of chicken and fish.
People dream of the instant riches. In a world where this is the
ideal means to obtaining popularity and a fat pocketbook, education
just doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere.
Ignorance is not something to be proud of, but at the same time,
it’s not something to be ashamed of. In some ways, perhaps
Jessica Simpson was right to make her query about buffalo wings
““ at least she knows the answer now.
At least she wasn’t afraid to ask the question, and in
some ways, she is doing something to combat ignorance.
Perhaps we could all take a lesson from Simpson and learn to
embrace our ignorance, but let’s try not to act stupider than
we already are.
Let Deitchman know how ignorant you are at
jdeitchman@media.ucla.edu.