Tag: Culture

Popular Culture — Temporary Truth

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Pop culture is to culture what water is to granite: write your name in water and see how long it lasts.  But, eventually, even the mightiest carved granite tablet will be worn away by rivers of water.  Pop culture might be trivial and easily forgotten (I’m looking at you, Beanie Babies) but while it hangs around, it can change the way we think.  For example, for 99% of human history, a person had to work hard to be universally hated – mass murder usually did the trick.  Enter the Internet.  These days, all anyone has to do is disagree with Twitter once too often and they’ll find themselves on the business end of a Cybermob, howling for their blood.  Here are just a few other examples of how Pop Culture has changed our perceptions.  There are many, many more.

Look what happened to clowns!  Back in the day, clowns were fun.  They were colourful.  They were silly.  They had big feet and made balloon animals.  They hosted TV programs and were everybody’s first choice for their child’s birthday party.  They even advertised fast food.  Then, in 1986, along came Stephen King.  BAM!  Suddenly, clowns became evil.  And not just regular evil, either — eat-your-eyeballs evil!  Now, everybody’s afraid of clowns as if humans have always had a deep, primeval fear of painted faces.  We even have one of those meaningless psychobabble names for it – coulrophobia.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, vampires were created to scare the hell outta people.  They were the creatures whose very existence broke the laws of God and nature.  They were the secret horror that lurked behind us in the dark, thirsty for our souls.  Wow!  What a difference a generation makes!  Anne Rice and a couple of million imitators have turned vampires into that kinda odd, undead guy next door.  Vampires play video games and Monopoly, and aside from the nasty habit of wanting to feast on your blood, they’re no more dangerous than an angry Chihuahua.

For centuries, machines were our friends.  However, the prevailing wisdom of our time is that, one of these days, your laptop is going to become self-aware, leap up and slaughter you, the kids, your neighbour, your cousin and anybody else who gets in its way.  Apparently, this is the inevitable result of Artificial Intelligence.  Crap!  It’s too complicated to explain here, but trust me: there is no scientific proof for this, at all.  None!  It’s all based on recent science fiction books, television and movies.  Think about it!  My computer can’t even get Auto-Correct right; how the hell is it going to take over the world?

And finally, one of the best ones:

Of all the lame excuses in the history of lame excuses, sex addiction has got to be the lamest.
“Sorry, honey!  I slept with your brother, his best friend and Carl from work — cuz I’m a sex addict!”
“No, not all at the same time.  I’m not that addicted!”
I’m pretty sure sex addiction isn’t a real thing.  Mother Nature made us wanna have sex because that’s how we make more of us.  It’s next to impossible to be addicted to something that you’re biologically programmed to do in the first place.  It’s like saying, “I’m addicted to breathing.”  Contemporary culture made up sex addiction so we’d have someplace to hide when we act like emotional assholes.

My point is, be careful what you believe to be irrefutable truth because, as some Persian poet said, a thousand years ago, “This, too, shall pass.”

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

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After years of trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with our society, last week (quite by accident) I discovered the problem.  It’s called the Dunning-Kruger Effect and it’s the reason our world is riding the Express bus to Crazy Town.

For those of you who haven’t googled it already, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is some serious scientific blah, blah, blah that boils down to this — incompetent people don’t know they’re incompetent.  In fact, they generally believe they’re actually good at what they do. (Explains a lot, doesn’t it?)

Okay, this has been accepted folk wisdom since the time of Socrates.  Most of us kinda know the world is full of arrogant assholes who haven’t got a clue; documenting it has just confirmed our suspicions.  However (and this is the scary bit) given the recent research, there’s a lot of speculation that this phenom is actually growing.  OMG!

The problem is, the 21st century has created a perfect storm for the Dunning-Kruger Effect.  Here’s how it works.  In our totally connected world, any nitwit can post the most cringe-worthy crap on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. and within seconds, tons of people are calling it “incredible,” “amazing” and “awesome.”  This just adds fuel to the fire.  Now, throw in an unhealthy dose of celebrity worship, and suddenly the flames of nitwittery are out of control.  Let’s take a look:

Gwyneth Paltrow is a decent actress.  She was a great Polly Perkins and an acceptable “Pepper” Potts.  She has millions of fans.  But, here’s the deal, folks: she’s not a health care professional.  Her lifestyle, health and welfare company GOOP is nothing more than a walking encyclopedia of quackery, chicanery and out-and-out stupidity.  Yet she boasts millions of disciples.

Jim Carrey, a comedian with zero medical credentials, talks about vaccinations as if he were the Surgeon-General.

Leonardo DiCaprio (a spectacularly gifted actor who didn’t finish high school, BTW) truly believes he has the inside scoop on climate change.

Bono, Sting and Sir Bob Geldorf, a crew of used-to-be musicians, walk with presidents and prime ministers, chatting about the causes and cures of poverty, disease and starvation – and they’re taken seriously.

Russell Brand is not an economist.  Neither is Tom Morello.  And, it’s no stretch to say the accumulated political expertise of Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin and Angelina Jolie is the ability to cry on cue.

And it goes on and on — from fly-by-night diets to Flat Earth athletes.

But the Oprah Winfrey Award for arrogant incompetence has got to go to Kanye West.  Mr. Kardashian, who freely admits he doesn’t read history books, somehow came to the incredible conclusion that slavery was a choice.  A CHOICE!  And this guy has 27 million plus Twitter followers!

This is insanity, people!

But here’s the scariest of the scary bits.  I haven’t even mentioned the Big Kahuna, the poster boy for the Dunning-Kruger Effect, the beginning, middle and the end of most arguments in 2019 — a certain politician who’s presumably the leader of the free world.  Now, that is scary!

 

Just A Few More New Year’s Resolutions

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We’re less than a week into the New Year, and the salad eaters are already getting a little crabby, the non-smokers are downright belligerent and if Rashema, from accounting, tells you one more time why she’s not eating chocolate, you’re going to shove a Mars Bar™ up her nose.  But not to worry!  This happens every January when the “I’m-going-to-get-better” resolutions are still fresh.  In a couple of weeks, things will settle down and get back to normal.  Thank God!

However, in the interests of social progress, maybe it’s time our world made a few collective “I’m-going-to-get-better” resolutions.  Just a couple of minor changes that would enhance our society and make the journey from the cradle to the grave a little better for all of us.  Naturally, I have suggestions.

#1 — It’s time to limit the size of baby strollers.  Yes, parents have to move their kids around somehow, but they don’t need a vehicle the size of a Smart Car.  Some of those Infant Transportation Devices (ITDs) are big enough to have their own WiFi, for God’s sake!

#2 – And while we’re on the subject: let’s give some reasonable thought to carry-on luggage.  It isn’t necessary to haul that much crap onto an airplane that’s only going to be in the air a couple of hours.  And honestly, how much stuff do you actually need for a weekend in Vegas?

#3 — Let’s quit “checking our privilege” every five seconds.  Folks!  It’s still there.

#4 – And could we kindly remember that the collective wisdom of 50,000 years of science, mathematics, art and history isn’t merely a matter of opinion?

#5 – Perhaps we could overcome the burning need to constantly call each other with minute-by-minute updates on our global location.  “I’m on the bus.”  I’m around the corner.”  “I’ll be there in 10.”  If your friends are that worried you’re going to wander off like an absent-minded puppy, give the people around you a break and text them.

#6 – This is the year we should finally stop using the term “speaking out.”  First of all, it’s redundant and secondly, there’s an implication that, at some point, the speaker was silenced.  I can assure you: in our 24/7 Social Media universe, nobody is silent — unless they want to be.

#7 – Let’s not forget there’s a reason we have right and wrong.  Again, it’s not merely a matter of opinion.

#8 – At some point, we need to realize that a 140-character tweet is not a well-thought-out discussion of anything – ever.  Tweets don’t deserve that kind of respect.

#9 – The world would be a quieter, gentler place if everybody who has one would just shut up about their student loan.

#10 – We need to stop thinking people get extra points for being “authentic.”  They don’t!  It’s what people are supposed to be.

But the thing we all have to remember in 2019 – seriously — is:

#11 – It’s not about you!