200 million dollars a day.

I recently had a conversation with one of my friends about stupidity. It should be pointed out that both of us are the type of person who, on our worst day of narcissism will call ourselves average; however, most of the tiume we consideer ourselves simple.

We got in to this discussion because so much has happened lately to show us that if we are average, than average is below average.

This is to say, that if we took iq tests, we would get between 90 and 110, but the vast majority of the population would score 65....which btw is technically retarded. Of course, this is not possible, since the iq test is a median test. It shows you in relation to the population. That means if the majority of people scored 70, that would be the average, and become the new 90-110.

For those playing at home, if you want to be sure that iq tests are ridiculous and meaningless, I have been tested twice. The first time I scored 65. Yes that makes me retarded. Yes indeed, you are reading the blog of a person who is by definition, incapable of forming complex thought streams and divining multiple connections and deeper meaning from experience.

The second time I scored 157. That would make me a theoritical physicist on par with Einstein....assuming Einstein is on par with Einstein, and not just a slightly smarter than averrage hair club for men patron who was smart enough to steal the ideas submitted to his patent office.

Anyway, long story short, we came to the conclusion that we are uncomfortable with how stupid people are currently.

It mostly comes down to critical thinking. I have previously intoned a rant about how lazy we are mentally, and that continues to be the norm when we talk about critical thinking skills. Having been in a school for internship last year, I can assure you we attempt to teach these critical thinking skills early. Whether or not they take is another story.

This morning I heard something on the radio that made me go....well for crying outloud you are being stupid.

I generally like to go to sleep listening to paranoid schizophrenia radio. The one drawback of this is that the station I listen to seems to have gone to the Foxnews school of broadcasting, instead of the industry standard, Broadcast News school of journalism....which by the way I went to.

So the story goes, a study shows that those who send more that 120 texts a day are far more likely to engage in sexual activity than those who send zero text messages a day.

NO SHIT!

So they spent the next hour on this station trying to convince parents that texting causes sexual promiscuity. These people are confusing cause and effect. A person who text messages a lot is a popular person. A social person. A person who does not text message is far more likely to be a person who has few friends, or is otherwise socially awkward. Guess which of those two is more likely to be having the sex?

Once again, symptom is confused with the underlying cause, and we run away with it because it is scary....not that sex is scary. I am on record as being very very very pro sex. I would be having sex right now if the option were available.

Ok, example number two comes from the actual Fox News. Seems that they decidedd that the American President is on a trip to India that is costing 200 million dollars a day. They have come up with all sorts of crazy ideas to fit this scenario, and people are buying in to it. Right now, 54% of americans polled believe this to be true.

It is in fact completely untrue and made up. Wanna know how I know? The war in Afghanastan costs america 190 million dollars a day.

Dispatching 34 naval vessels and an aircraaft carrier to cover the president's trip woul mean about 10% of the US navy was tasked with this....instead of watching the coasts, patroling the oceans and seas and what not.

Here's what happened. An Indian new outlet cited an anonymous source as saying that this is what it cost. One of tswo things happened here. Either that news outlet made up the story, or, and this is far more likely, they misprinted it. You see, 200 million worth of the Indian currency is approximately 4 million american dollars....which makes far more sense for a trip of this magnitude.

It should also be pointed out that, for the most part, all the shit they are talking about is standard presidential entourage.

Anyway, the point here is lack of critical thinking. No one thought to go...wait a sec, that seems a bit odd, or hey, I wonder why something is the way it is.

So often we are told what to think. We let others do the thinking for us because it seems so much easier. It is faster for us to let others tell us what to think so we can get back to thinking about Grey's anatomy and whether Snooki is going to do something stupid. Spoiler elert...she is....because she is stupid.

Tomorrow I am going to talk again about what passes for entertainment, but today, I am asking you to not take what is spoon fed to you. Always thinks about why something is the way it is, always think about causality, reasons, consequences. Nothing is linear, and nothing is the way it is for one reason only.

There is always deeper meaning behind human action and interaction, though I guess by deeper, I really mean broader, cause sometimes it is just about getting laid, or about borrowing your car, and not necessarily about your undying soul.

Yep, a cigar is just a cigar, but why am I smoking it?

In the end, if I can tell you anything about the world it is this.....I am probably just trying to sleep with you, fox just wants your dollars, aliens haven't been here cause they aren't on jersey shore, and for the love of god, if you don't get it, stop claiming to be smart.