There Are Such Things As Stupid Questions
The First Essential Scary Truth
The streets of New York are almost empty, night and day, almost like it’s a holiday weekend. The rush of humanity blustering around, next, through, by you, fierce in it’s determination to get there first, wherever that maybe, has become shy and timid. The last cabbie that blew his horn made it sound like an apology for existing. Such is the timbre of the city as the first blush of the financial crisis punches us in the gut. I haven’t seen the entirety of NYC with this much anxiety since week following 9/11.
The difference between the terrorist threat of 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008 has forced certain characteristics of fear to the fore. It seems the edge that many are walking is very sharp and painful and people tend to verbally snap at each other when they feel pushed or threatened. The one thing that the looming bailout, failure to bailout, and possible deep recession have destroyed once and for all is the concept of intelligent civic discussion.
I am one of those who enjoys reasonable discussions on occasionally divisive topics but in the past few months I have stopped talking about anything controversial at all, specifically anything political. I just leave it at sports and movies, two topics that rarely get heated to the point of punches being thrown. In order to get into a discussion about politics or current events it seems everyone wants you to answer a question. For someone on the left, the question goes like this: don’t you think Bush is an idiot? The folks on the right want to know if you believe, as they do, that the liberals are G-dless and screwing up the country. If you don’t agree with the person promulgating said point, you are wrong and the discussion must cease immediately. In other words answer my stupid question in the affirmative or shut up. Granted, I hear most of these discussions take place in a bar, restaurant or on CNN, MSNBC or FOX but it is troubling to see how our existential fears and passions are governing our reason. How did we sink so low; a bad education system, fear of the unknown or just the final death rattle of the lost art of conversation? How we got here is a useless point to discuss. The Stupid People have won. The Idiocracy of Mass Man is now running the national debate.
There are those of you that would claim I am overreacting and am allowing my Ortega fueled paranoia to run amok. Passion is good, even when that passion is misguided and stupidity is simply ignorance and as a society we must educate those that are uneducated, you might argue.
Interesting point.
I remember someone once telling me there was no such thing as a stupid question, only the stupid people that don’t ask them. Well now it goes both ways.
A year or so back, a server I worked with ordered a Grey Goose on the rocks.
As I poured the drink, she asked me why, when we pour vodka in the ice, it melts. At first I thought I was being put on, after all, Ellie was an aspiring comedienne and being fodder for a new routine had a certain appeal.
“No, Alex. I’m serious. I don’t know why the ice melts,” She reiterated.
At first I thought a didactic lecture on physics was in order but the bar was filling up. I decided to entertain my guests and myself. “Ellie, you’re Jewish, right?” I asked.
“Yes I am, just like you.”
I grabbed her forearm. “Honey, if your genes would have pre-dominated, the Hittites would have gotten us back in the day.”
Ellie looked at me like a grouper that I’d just kicked in the ribs: totally uncomprehending. “Alex, what is a Hittite?”
Granted, I should have seen that answer coming. However, the larger point still remains: without a sense of history, science and a debating style run from the point of fear that encourages the slinging out of epithets instead of reasoned, rational thought, how can we make intelligent arguments. After all isn’t debate the life’s blood of the republic?
My proposal to stem the tide of group stupidity in venues unbecoming is to bring back public floggings – every Thursday at noon in public parks all over the USA. The crankiest barman/woman in the various locales is the person who will decide and mete out the punishments.
How would you get our public discourse back onto an intelligent track?
Ads
Denizens of the Zola System
- A Visual Identity
- Ashley Morris
- Clip It Baby
- CNN
- Dennis Machinegun Thompson
- Detroit Free Press
- Detroit News
- e3 Your LIfe
- Fox News
- Henry Mena
- Hollywood Gem
- Jewish World Review
- Jimmy Fallon
- Mick Farren
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- New York Times
- Open Salon
- Sacred Fools Theatre
- Scoop Momma
- Skip Williamson
- SPIN Magazine
- The Blacklisted Journalist
- The Choke
- The Financially Troubled Arizona Republic
- The Los Angeles Times
- The Nearly Famous Barry Young Show
- The Purple Gang
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Washington Post
- The Washington Times
Categories
- Alpha Female/Beta Male
- Assholes Anonymous
- Character Sundays
- Detroit Stories
- G-d's Guide To Home Appliance Repair and Sports Betting
- How Drunk Do You Have To Be To Get The Joke?
- Jimmy Fallon
- Overheard in a Los Angeles Bar
- Overheard in a New York Bar
- Overheard on the Subway
- Post Urban Culture
- Quotes from How To Fix a Horserace
- Rachel Kramer Bussel
- Skip Williamson
- Sleaze Culture
- The Best of the Zola System
- The Con
- The Core Belief
- The First Essential Scary Truth
- The Magic Bullet Theory
- The Martini Chronicles
- The Second Essential Scary Truth
- The Street Hustle
- The Summer Of 1992
- The Zola System In Action
- The Zola System On The Road
- Uncategorized
- What's in Your Fridge?
Archives
- February 2017
- May 2016
- May 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- March 2014
- January 2014
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008