Idiot America? Maybe, but Maybe Not.

Just read this article about a new book entitled, Idiot America. Go ahead and give it a read (it's quick). Following, read a few of the comments below the article.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/idiot_america_new_and_expanded.php

Ok, if you decided to not read the article, then you're probably a good example of what the article is speaking to. To give a brief summary: the article discusses the book with the popularized Green Day lyric as its title. Throughout, the book highlights examples and the reasoning behind the act of the dumbing down of our society, often times reducing complex topics to very black and white terms. Aided by the ease of the internet and milestone advances in technology, now more than ever, anyone can be an expert. "If anyone can be an expert, then no one can be an expert!"

This brings something to mind something I've yet to address, and that is, the purpose of this blog. In short, I'm doing this for myself. It is an exercise in thinking, articulating, and then transposing that into something that, in turn, piques the interest of you, the reader. I'm not trying to make money or characterize myself as an expert. I'm certainly not an expert. And I may not even pique your interest.

I have goals, but if someone were to ask me what I do or what I want to do, I could not provide a clear or definitive thing. In fact, there are many things that interest me, and I'm OK with pursuing those things until it feels time to focus more energy in another direction. This blog helps me along in that pursuit. My purpose is for self-improvement, and thus far, I'm achieving that.

As far as Idiot America goes...well, I have a feeling in Whitman's time there were some greedy assholes, too. Some self-proclaimed whatevers. He dealt with it, though. People are pretty decent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GDU6ns2mRM -- Billy Bragg & Wilco