Zero Tolerance

Okay, I'm announcing a new zero tolerance policy toward stupidity. Stupid people and stupid ideas make me tired, and they destroy society and civilization as we currently know it. The problem with the US today is that it is geared to pander to the lowest common denominator, and boy, are there a lot of people in that category. I, for one, refuse to tolerate it any more. I am waging an all-out war against stupidity.

Jeff encouraged me to begin this policy, as he hears me being repeatedly amazed that stupid people are allowed so much credibility in this society. People are allowed to get away with presenting arguments, in national media, that are illogical and irrelevant. How did this happen? Why does no one challenge such things? When did the accepted national language of the US cease to be English and become instead irrational insipidity?

Today is the day that, so it is reported, illegal immigrants will boycott work in order to show that they are vital to the workforce, etc. [Hint to employers: If your employee(s) did not show up to work today, you might want to check into immigration status.] This whole ILLEGAL immigration bill thing has been much in the news lately, of course, and I've just been waiting and expecting it to all blow over. Despite my low faith in human nature, I've been assuming that eventually, logical application of God-given intelligence will prevail, and people will stop being stupid and start looking at reality and approaching the issue to find some viable and lawful solutions. Jeff finally disabused me of this notion: "People are going to just keep being stupid, Deb," he said. "They're not going to suddenly start using their brains, and there are some people who are actively trying to keep them from it, because having sway over a large group of stupid people is a powerful position." ["Get all the fools on your side, and you can be elected to anything." -Frank Dane.] Wow. So depressing. I have read so much nonsense on the issue, and people persist in emphasizing non-essentials in an effort to hide essentials: Vis., there is much nattering about the bill being aimed at immigrants (which is true, but not the whole truth), and everyone apparently flaps their hands around, and forgets that the keyword in this debate is ILLEGAL. A moderately well-known film actor of Colombian descent supports the protests and boycotts, and stated in a news article that it's ridiculous for people to be called criminals simply because they are immigrants. Well, of course that is true, but it is not ridiculous for people to be called criminals if they are found to be ILLEGAL immigrants. Because they are illegal, i.e. not legal, i.e. against the law. Nobody has anything against LEGAL immigrants. They are always welcome. Seriously, pretty much everyone (including me) in the US is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants.

The primary problem here, however, is not semantics, when one gets right down to it, though. The primary problem is that people get caught up in the emotion of rhetoric (or, apparently this is true; I'm not one for emotional response to rhetoric, so all my reports on this phenomenon are second-hand), and fail to be consistent, to follow through and see the ramifications of their ideas and decisions.

For example, in the interest of being consistent and honest, are illegal immigrants, while protesting by avoiding the work that most of them reportedly came to this country (illegally) to do, going to also boycott those services which they so freely (and illegally) abuse? Are they going to remove children from the classroom, refuse to go to hospitals for medical treatment, and otherwise cease to take advantage of social welfare? No? Hmmm, how half-hearted and half-brained of them.

And if such protests, half-hearted and half-brained though they may be, still prove to sway public thought, what then? Why not take such behavior to the next logical step? Why shouldn't other people with illegal activities band together and demand special rights? I'm thinking that shoplifters ought to get together and boycott something, to demand recognition of their rights as human beings, and form special action groups to really fight any further restrictions legislators would seek to put on petty theft, and try to put legal limits on punishments for such actions. It's not out of line to expect that the Shoplifters Coalition (for so I shall dub them) will soon be so powerful that elected officials begin to pander to them, and the Coalition turn their attention to reversing those harsh anti-theft laws. They will argue that the American dream should be available to everyone, and stealing good and services is an acceptable way of achieving it. Why not? If illegal immigrants are allowed to steal goods and services, and get away with it, why shouldn't other groups be allowed to do it, too?

Think about it. THINK. Then encourage just one person per day to THINK. Together, we can start a mini-revolution of non-stupidity.

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."
-Elbert Hubbard

Oh, yes, and one more note. This is international Labor Day. The nonsensical brouhaha in the United States is obscuring some very real problems that other workers have in other nations. For shame, protestors! You claim that you want freedom and workers' rights, yet you are demonstrating only a selfish desire to live lawlessly and detract from the sacrifices of others. Workers (who are, incidentally, legal residents of the countries in which they reside) in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and other nations, are seeking better working conditions and higher pay, and their voices deserve to be heard. So quiet the clamor and be logical.