As I do on a lot of weeknights, late last night I was flipping the TV back and forth between The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and The Colbert Report (with Stephen Colbert). Two funny guys with great shows - but not my point.
Conan's first guest was Bill Maher, the politically opinionated comedian. They talked about a recent controversy involving comments Maher made about Americans being stupid, and a piece he eventually wrote to defend that opinion. It's a must read at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html
Of course, it's inflammatory and an over-generalization to say Americans are stupid. But statistically speaking, it has the element of truth. As I've said before, we are in many ways a nation of sheep, allowing other people to tell us what to believe in or what is good for us without thinking about it for ourselves. It sort of comes naturally to us over time, as each generation learns to do what is easy and avoid what is hard. And it's a lot easier to know nothing than it is to know something.
America survives and will continue to thrive because unlike so many other countries, individuals have the freedom and tools to reach their potential, however limited that may be. As Carl the groundskeeper says in the movie Caddyshack, "So I got that going for me. Which is nice."
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