Why Are So Many Americans Stupid?

 A lot of people think that Americans are stupid. The sad part is is that, for the most part, they're right. The even sadder part is that I'm saying this as an American myself. I've been getting a total influx of stupid lately, so I can't help but be totally exasperated. It's been learning about history, seeing how people learn about history and still don't make the connection and are just stupid in general. I swear most of my peers and their parents just sit on the couch and watch stupid crap on TV.

Of course, not all Americans are stupid. I'm certainly not and I know a lot of my friends aren't. Honestly, though, if you were to pull a random Brit off the street and ask them a bunch of questions and then if you pull a random American off the street and ask them a bunch of questions, the chances are that the Brit would probably win by a landslide. Maybe if you go to Starbucks, you might get different results (Starbucks is where the hipsters are) but generally, that's pretty much the case.

I'm not just saying this. I definitely have some proof and experiences to assert this theory, however, so this isn't just talk.

First off, most Americans couldn't have an intelligent conversation if their life depended on it. They're too distracted by reality TV shows and celebrity gossip. If they're a guy, they like sports (which has much more merit but still). While this would be alright if it was just the occasional guilty pleasure, it literally dominates the lives of way too many people. Instead of caring about what this country's former CIA director was doing in our lives (and the activities he was overseeing in Afghanistan), we care that he slept with someone besides his wife even though it's not like cheating is exactly a rare occurrence  I bet most people didn't even know the guy's name before this whole story went viral. Of course, Americans being shown some guy's business (that's none of their business) is a lot easier for them to handle than looking into the government's business (which is their business).

Secondly, not only can most of them not have an intelligent conversation but they actually think that they're smart. I can respect a stupid person who recognizes their own stupidity and knows not to pretend that they know something they're completely ignorant of, but most stupid Americans are not like that. Not only that but they hold fiercely to those beliefs that they pretty much know nothing about. That's the worst part. And, to their credit, they might very well be "book smart" but knowing how to cram and purge information is not a sign of intelligence. For example, a lot of them still think "America is number one and always will be number one" and have all of this bizarre patriotism. Uh, no. Our education system sucks, our currency is rapidly declining in worth, we are fourth in industry and our GDP and GNP have been much stagnated (versus China and India's, who are rapidly increasing). So, if we are "number one", we definitely won't be for that much longer.

I think the worst part all of this is the fact that this stupidity is perpetuated in society. Not only does our education system suck, but so does our media. Stupid people are praised and given reality shows; intelligence and intelligent programs are often seen as "geeky" and too complex. Essentially, intelligence is, at best, seen as nonessential and, at worst, as a flaw or setback.

Okay, now I know that there are plenty of stupid Europeans out there along with being an American. I'm not saying that being a Brit automatically makes you smart or that being an American makes you completely stupid. But, like I said, Americans tend to have a greater stupid population for the above reasons.

I mean, what is the fallout of a stupid population? It makes me think that there has to be a concerted effort to be that stupid or at least a combined concerted effort by the media and the government to condition people into stupidity. The idea that people could be this easily, naturally stupid is too terrible for me to comprehend, honestly.

It's really scary that I'm surrounded by this much stupid. Government officials can pretty much do anything they want and only a few random people would protest; the others would be either too brainwashed to do anything or too distracted to say anything. And, actually, this has happened and will probably happen more. They're actually quite dangerous, because that's how totalitarian governments like it. I almost feel like those kinds of people deserve to be stripped of their freedoms though, because they didn't work hard enough to keep theirs when they had it.