(Having just heard a story about Mike's sister being too lazy to calculate the gas needed for a trip): "Haha, that's funny, I was just going to write a post on laziness, but have put it off because I want it to include research rather than my own opinions." "...so you're procrastinating writing a post on laziness?" "...yes, but for research! ...like those Japanese whaling vessels, I know... haha alright, point taken, I will post whatever I've got immediately after this call." So here it is, with updates coming soon:
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Continuing on a series of more behavioral than political topics, I'd like to talk about laziness, particularly in the US. I feel like an old curmudgeon when I condemn the young people for being lazy, but when it comes to being mentally lazy, there's no generational threshold.Here's a funny video that got me thinking, "Are American's actually stupider than people in other countries, or are we in a habit of mental laziness?" I don't think stupidity happens over night, you have to condition your brain to be lazy for years. How on earth did we accomplish this? A series of cultural trends:
1) Lack of Biological Incentive: Kind of obvious, but the middle-class American lifestyle just doesn't have the same survival requirements that the hunter gatherers or farmers had. Our incredibly efficient society allows us to put our energy into our families, careers, art, hobbies, health, any number of things, but more often than not we're lazy slobs and just do nothing with it.
2) Negligent Parenting: Smart kids with negligent parents have got to be as rare as honest politicians. I don't mean negligent in the sense of not providing food, love and shelter, I mean neglecting to put in the time or effort to provide structure and build character. The kids are intelligent and may become good at what they do, but without parental guidance (or some very strong alternative adult influence) children rarely find their own way to activities that promote critical thinking, awareness and learning. All you good parents with lazy kids, don't worry, it's probably one of these other causes, but do examine what kind of an influence you are having on them.
3) Entertainment: How come educational shows stop being promoted past toddler years? After you've outgrown Sesame Street and Dora, there are really only a handful of shows that are both entertaining and educational for teens and adults. You have to be a tad eccentric to be one of the few people watching the news, Discovery Channel, History Channel, or National Geographics as a teenager, and even those channels are mostly garbage now. National Geographics has become the Armageddon theories channel, history channel is the aliens and Nazis channel, discovery channel lies to me all the time, and the news is, well... the "news." It's a sorry state of being for an activity we pour so many hours into.
On top of that, tying back to my second point, how common is it for parents to need some sort of trade system, where if a child spends x amount of time reading or exercising outdoors they're allowed to play video games for x hours? And that's just the responsible parents. It is HARD to get kids to be productive, and few parents go through the effort.
While I'm griping like Andy Rooney, and the Alvin Greene story is still in the news, I'd like to say, damn you MTV! *shakes fist like an old curmudgeon*. I have hated your "rock the vote" campaign for as long as I've been aware of its existence. "Go out and vote kids, it's cool. Doesn't matter if you know NOTHING, it's important that you exercise your right as an American." WHY do we want your opinion counted if you don't know ANYTHING about what you're voting for!?! "Do you know anything about politics?" "No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night." It really should be disturbing how many more people have a highly informed opinion on Crystal Bowersox vs Lee DeWyze, but have no idea about either Barbara Boxer or Carly Fiorina, yet there will likely be a pretty good voter turn out this election season. I am terrified that Alvin Greene may have legitimately won the Dem primaries in SC, I don't care WHAT the reason. Anyway, I'm straying from the point, I digress.
4) Acceptance without Evidence: Once we're on the right path to actually learning something, how many of us blindly accept whatever we're told, rather than looking for evidence? I've already written a post on this problem, so I won't belabor the point. One related issue that drives me nuts is students who blame poor grades on bad teachers. Most classes come with a book, READ IT! Most things can also be found online, LOOK IT UP! Unless the professor is teaching ground breaking material, the information is out there, FIND IT! Yes, a good teacher can be a great help and inspiration, but seriously, stop with the excuses. Those who want to succeed will succeed.
That's all for now, hopefully more scientific stuff soon to follow, but my first point really sums up my disappointment; we live in a time and society with nearly limitless access to knowledge and opportunity, but so many of us squander it. It wouldn't be that bad if we could keep our laziness to ourselves, but its effects manifest themselves everywhere. Our laziness makes us look like/become ignorant idiots, and our culture celebrates it. Very depressing :\
Honestly, the posts are coming more slowly because the more I write the more research I do, and the more research I do the more depressed I get. This is a truly sad state we're in globally.
~Yasu
