I don’t know when being educated and articulate became so contemptible in this country, but in a blaze of stupid glory we have been waving the idiot flag with gusto.
Was it when Sarah Palin couldn’t name a single publication that she reads on a regular basis and her supporters felt that she was being unfairly criticized by the left? Or was it when the Housewives of Orange County/Atlanta/New York/New Jersey/Beverly Hills started enacting a vapid, empty life devoid of anything of substance (save for collagen and Botox) on Bravo seven days a week? Or when 24-hour cable news needed to fill a whole lot of time and so they’d drag anybody in to offer an opinion whether they were qualified or not.
I used to shake my head at these kind of people and pity them for their ignorance, because it turns out you really can get pregnant when you’re raped. That expelling of rape sperm is completely made up and when you go on an interview and start saying stuff like that you look like a fool.
Except in this country you don’t any more. You have your fan base who will fight to the bitter end saying that you were misunderstood, and a media who is complicit in repeating the myth. Months later, the race for the U.S. Senate seat is still too close to call which to the even minimally informed person seems ludicrous.
My fool limit has reached its max. The Kansas House passed a bill to make it legal to not serve gays. Though it didn’t make it to the Senate I’m pretty sure it will come back in a different form because dumb people just mix the sentences up and present it again, much like the way they answered the essay questions on the history final in high school.
Arizona, not to be outdone on the stupid meter, passed a bill making it legal to not serve anybody you don’t like. The governor is being coy on whether or not she’ll sign it. Seeing as how they are hosting the Superbowl next year this should be very interesting. Even exceptionally dumb elected officials know that money talks.
At a party we were at on Saturday, a woman was telling me about a conversation she had with an acquaintance who joked that she went out for drinks with friends and completely forgot she had a loaded gun in her purse. Isn’t that hilarious? Wouldn’t that be a hoot if it went off in a crowded restaurant?
Which brings me back to Kansas and its quest for ignorance superiority. One representative has introduced a bill making it legal for a teacher/principal/babysitter/daycare provider to spank a child up to ten times. Marks, of course, could happen in the “disciplining” and would not be grounds for any criminal charges.
Many families are familiar with the dreaded relative that makes an appearance at Thanksgiving and sits at the table reminiscing about the good, old days when blacks knew their place, homosexuals got beaten straight, and the only Hispanics they ever saw was in National Geographic. Thankfully, the onslaught of racism and homophobia is an annual event to be endured, and you can’t be baited into an argument if you’re shoving another piece of pumpkin pie into your mouth.
Now that guy is your representative.