Hi, I'm an American

I just wanted to take some time to get a few things off of my chest.

America is a television culture. It is full of people whose only goal is to think up something interesting enough to say, so that other people, who aren't on television but wish they were, will watch them. Lately, this has gotten harder. The result is that the people whose job it is to think up interesting things have been saying things that are more crazy than interesting. We believe them of course, because it is what we do. Nothing is too far fetched that someone, somewhere, won't hear it and say, "Damn, I was thinking that this morning!"  Balloon Boy? 12 people thought of putting their kid in a balloon before lunch that day. New World Order? half the voting populace daydreams about it on a regular basis. Rectal polyps? Don't ask. If these common folk could learn to scream, not just louder, but at the right people, they too could be on tv.

America is also a culture of egos. We are right. Even when we are wrong we are right. Apologies are for Europeans, not us. Think we may be wrong about something? Wrong! Have we changed our minds about something? We always thought like that. You must have misunderstood. We like to throw our weight around, and so far, the world has let us. Hell, we know they secretly love us telling them what to do. We told them they did.

We are smart. Super, scary smart. Basically, we are all a nation of geniuses. Any one of us is more than qualified to handle any problem, to figure out any dilemma. We're so smart, we thought up Intelligent Design, and now we want to spread it. Once its in all our class rooms, we'll export it, don't worry. We're so smart, we don't even need to emphasize education anymore. We have such a huge storehouse of brains, that we can coast on what our predecessors stored away. We're so smart, we discovered how to look into alternate dimensions. I know OUR Iraq didn't have WMD's, but the one in the 12th dimension did. We just took care  of it in ours. I guess we're not just the world's police force anymore. We're also the multiverse's.

So that's it. I'm an American. I am the bull in the world's china shop. I am right no matter what you say. I have God, and I have guns, and what should scare you right now is that some Americans will get hard reading this sentence. They're my neighbors, and we try not to make eye contact.  Anyway, for all the accomplishments, all the wars, all the interventions, I just want to say to the world, you're welcome! No, you don't have to thank us. We know how much we are appreciated by everyone. The TV tells us so.

Mediocrity Continued

In America, a vocal minority has declared that rule by clowns and half-wits is infinitely preferable to rule by those with an education. For some reason, and with no sense of embarrassment, these people have decided that only the stupid know what people want. It has spread so far that I have people that ARE intelligent, people that I know for a fact blow standardized tests out the water and send the Test Companies back to their desks crying like little girls, spout the exact same platitudes. How is this possible? You would think that these champions of common sense would use some. So it goes, huh?

Most people don't give their doctors an I.Q. test before making an appointment. Regardless, I am perfectly comfortable, with no polling to back me up, that most people would rather have a doctor who was the smartest they could get. These champions of the middle ground would flee if given a choice from a doctor known as mediocre, much less plain dumb. The same can be applied to anything we have a vested interest in. Give me the absolute best person, as often as possible. Except for our government, and any area that politicians have managed to make an impression on. Need someone to figure out how to fix the economy? Why enlist someone who has spent all their lives studying and working in the top of their field when you can get someone with common sense? Never mind that a national economy runs on different principals than your checking account, you want a common man in charge! Got a question about global warming? Why ask a scientist who has studied this one subject all his life? Nah, he lives in an Ivory Tower.Ask Beck, he'll know, he's a common man/multi-millionaire.  They always know what's best for us!

Again, I want to stress what an absolute shame this is. A country built on greatness and potential has been hijacked by a group of people who think OK is just fine. Who have a deep distrust of intelligence, for no apparent reason. This country better get it together soon. Our money and influence can only protect us for so long. Eventually, we will have to deal with a world that is smarter and better prepared than us in every way. God help us.

America's Love Affair with the Mediocre is Killing Us

Quick, how do you feel about the stimulus package? Does what the administration did make sense to you? Do you wish the government would use more common sense and less expert opinion to make decisions? If the answer is no to the first two and yes to the last, then you're probably part of a group in America that desperately wants to be considered a majority; you believe that "experts" with a big emphasis on the air quotes, are really out to get us.


America has always had a love-hate relationship with our intelligentsia. We are more than happy to use their smarts to acquire new technology, learn new ways to get things done, and overall, use them to make our lives better. When asked though, many Americans will insist that the smartest people are out of touch, that they don't know what the people want, and, most famously, that they lack common sense. A large part of America will admit to not wanting the smartest people in charge.

How does this make any sense at all? When did we as a people get so paranoid that we would rather the "C" student make policy as opposed to the "A"? Any business on earth is going to promote their best and brightest as quickly as possible, and they make money doing it. Lots of money.  One of the American myths was that you could work hard, get an education, and make it to the top. Now? Now you can't have gone to any University other than a state one, without being called an elitist. Its disgusting. 

Americans have no one to blame but ourselves. Our stubborn pride in our ignorance has doomed us to play catch up with countries like China who actually value and use all their resources.Our utter disdain for anyone who has the slightest bit of intelligence will be our downfall. There is no way a society can consistently try for mediocrity before we become just plain dumb.

Why it Doesn't Matter if Global Warming is Happening or Not

Think man is making the earth hotter, and that we'll destroy ourselves if we keep going? Or do you think that nothing we do can actually effect the environment? While I tend to side with the former (just because, you know, science) let's explore the possibility that this is just a cycle and we're in no danger. Whew! Guess we can keep shitting in our own back yard huh?

Here's why we should curb emissions and explore alternative energy anyway.

It will be worth it. Its that simple. Even if we see no dip in temperature at all, never worrying about the air you breathe or the water you drink will make up for it. Yes it will be expensive. Yes it will take sacrifice.But someone will have to pay it eventually, even if just to ensure we aren't suffocated under our own smog. Why can't it be us? Why can't we quit being selfish assholes for long enough to start? We have the opportunity to be known as the generation that started it all. That took the plunge for the future of our species. I hear a lot these days about how unfair it is to burden our children with our debt. Fair enough. Why then is it acceptable to burden them with our waste? Its not, of course its not. Still, burying your head in the sand is much easier than taking responsibility, isnt it?

As for the alternative energy, the main argument I hear about all of it is that it either does not work as well or is too expensive. Great. Who cares? Investing in alternative fuel is just like curbing emissions. We know our oil and natural gas will disappear eventually. We know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. So how stupid is it not to test, and try, and roll out every alternative you can think of? The answer is, its self-evidently stupid.

This may not be your problem. You will probably be dead before it becomes an issue. Your descendants will not be. It is up to you whether they remember you with pride for having acted, or as the selfish jerks we all try so hard to be.

Why We Have to Try the 9/11 Terrorists

Earlier tonight I posted a reply to a friend of mine on Facebook, in which he stated that giving the 9/11 terrorists a trial was naive, as they wanted to destroy our system anyway. I think the idea was that they don't respect it anyway, plus they aren't human, so why bother. He also made the comment that if Holder was so sure they would get the death penalty, why not push them out the plane taking them to New York. As an interesting aside, this same friend often criticizes the Obama Administration's health care plan (and pretty much all his other policies), as destroying our Constitution and running contrary to the will of the founders. 

The argument I made to him is pretty much the same one I will make here. Not giving the terrorists their day in court would be a betrayal of everything this country has ever stood for. One of the pillars of our society rests on the fact that everyone, no matter how horrible the crime they are accused of, will get their day in court. We know that no matter what, no one in the United States will be summarily executed on a whim. Instead, twelve men and women will sit down, look at the evidence, and decide guilt or innocence. This, more than anything else, differentiates America from those that hate us. If we execute them with no trial, or hold their trial in a secret military tribunal, we will never have the right to demand anything from anyone when it comes to human rights. We will have lost.

Why is it that some people will cling to the Constitution for all its worth, and then discard it as soon as it is inconvenient? And why are these people the first ones to accuse someone of being communist, or socialist, or just plain un-American? At least the majority just differ in their interpretation of the Constitution. This group though, my friend included, have decided that there is some sort of collective consciousness that gets to decide who gets the protection of our founding document, and who does not. Think about that for a second. They have taken it upon themselves to decide the fate of another person, disregarding due process and 233 years of American history, for two seconds of revenge that will not change anything anyway.

I personally think the men in question did it. I'm certain they will be found guilty, and I am just as certain they will be executed. I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is for our country to throw away what makes us special, what makes us unique. We can be better than that. We are better than that. These men will have their day in court. And we, as a nation, will be able to look ourselves in the mirror,  knowing that we proved our way works.