The Modern Dark Era

The Modern Dark Era

by: Erin Pembroke

04/14/2011

Decline of the American Intellect Part I.

            Doesn't society seem to be changing to you? Have you ever wonder what is going on with the world today? Why is society so skewed? What is going on with our youth today? I am going to present a number of issues to think about such as lack of intelligence, lack of artistic value and social decay in today's society.

            I term the phrase “the modern dark era” after the “Dark Ages” except I am simply talking about one era or time frame and not several eras. When I say modern dark era, I mean a period of intellectual darkness among the youth and even in a vast number of adults. It is not just a period of intellectual darkness but a period of social decay and a scarcity of true value in artistic work. It is almost as if in the last decade or two we, as a human race, went back to the the age of darkness. It must be noted here that although, I do refer to this specific decade as the modern dark era, that it is not completely a dark era and should not be mistaken that the whole decade or era is completely “dark.”

            It is obvious to the naked eye that the pursuit of intellectual work or anything intellectual for that matter is declining. People prefer to not think than to figure something out. People prefer movies where bombs explode and sex take over most of the scenes in movies. We want everything right there for us without ever having to think or to get up and get anything. Kids prefer to play the Wii game system than to ride their bikes and play with each other. It is not just about not wanting to think but not wanting to get up and be active. Are we as a society not only becoming less intelligent but more lazy and hence prone to obesity and lack of intelligence in which we pass it on to the next generation after us?

            Let's back track to the lack of intelligence problem. I read in the New York Post, on http://getinvolved.rutgers.edu/programs-and-events/events-calendar/954, http://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/263669/re-snooki-rutgers-jason-fertig and on  http://thedamienzone.com/2010/12/05/snooki-to-speak-at-rutgers/comment-page-1/ that Snooki (a drunk and party-goer) from the television show “Jersey Shore” is or has gotten paid $32,000 for lecturing to students at Rutgers University. Who knows what advice if any that she will give or is even qualified to give?! I am more than dumbfounded at how this happened. I do not understand why would an ivy league college let this happen.

            This money apparently came out of “mandatory student fees” as quoted by Jason Ferig, the author of “Phi Beta Cons: The Right Take on Higher Education” in second link that I posted in the earlier part of this paragraph. This is clear evidence that in order for the university to make money, that they had to sell out to lower intelligence. I guess, low intelligence pays these days. The real question is why? Why do we find shows like “Jersey Shore” entertaining? Is it because our own lives are boring and unsatisfying that we need some form of bizarre entertainment to cope with the boring lives?

The Snooki Effect vs. The Pinky & the Brain Effect

            Is there something deeper here? You see, the New York Post called the mini article “The Snooki Effect,” but is there really a “Snooki Effect” going on here in society? The “Snooki Effect” to me is the dumbing down of society and young adults wanting to be like the people on “Jersey Shore” who only care about partying, getting drunk, tans, hair, fashion and a massive amount of exercise in men to obtain muscles. I like to term it the “Pinky and the Brain effect” due to the fact that in the 90's cartoon television show, “Pinky and the Brain,” Pinky always ask “Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?” Brain replies with “The same thing we do every night, Pinky – try to take over the world!” I term it the “Pinky and the Brain effect” because little by little stupidity is truly taking over the world. Little by little society through famous people in the media are creating both the “Snooki Effect” and the “Pinky and the Brain Effect.” It is like the song “American Idiot” (2004) by Green Day who sing:

                        Don't want to be an American idiot.

                        Don't want a nation under the new media

                        And can you hear the sound of hysteria?...

                        Now everybody do the propaganda.

                        And sing along to the age of paranoia...

                        Don't want to be an American idiot.

                        One nation controlled by the media.

                        Information age of hysteria.

                        It's calling out to idiot America.

            The song's motive is basically thrown in your face. The rock band is clearly sick of the way American's don't want to use their minds and think but just do as they are told by the media. They become the “American idiot” according to the band and “society's robots” according to me. Americans become paranoid with so many things that they hear but do not question whether any of what they are hearing from the media is true or not or question how much of it is true and how much of it is distorted. Americans are more into fashion and pop-culture and obtaining money than anything else and above all, intellectual pursuits.

Decline of the American Intellect Part II.

            People do not want to think anymore. They do not want to look up information through the use of books anymore. The Google search engine has become increasingly popular because when you logically think about it, a person just has to type what they are looking for and the answer pops up in front of them almost instantly. The person literally does not have to search for anything in a book because the computer does all the research, thinking and pulling of information. The information then becomes a fast find that is perhaps less appreciated than if we were to look the information up in a book.

            The use of Spark Notes or Cliff notes compared to actually reading the book or the use of “Nook” or listening to a device to hear a person reading a book to you as you drive through traffic or sit on a bus or watching a DVD than reading the book has become increasingly popular over the pass two decades. Reading a book is too tedious and takes far too long than “Googling” something, spark-noting something or watching a movie. We get what we want without sacrificing the time that we could use for the pursuit of something pleasurable.

            After people have finished school, they do not want to think about what they have learned. They do not want to pursue scholarly research, reading, writing or contributing to society in an intellectual way unless it deals with obtaining capital for themselves. People normally do not research, write or reach as much as when they were in school. After high school or college, their mental activity seems to begin to slow down and their interest in learning anything intellectual seems to also decline. People become too busy to read, write or research or just flat out, do not care or want to learn, read or research more on various topics.

            As technology seems to increase and become more intelligent, more human beings seem to become less intelligent because the computers do everything for people. However, it does take either a person of some intelligence or usage of a specific type of computer over time in order to efficiently operate the device. Then again, as a person becomes acquainted with the device, their brain goes on auto-pilot as their hands and bodies do the work.

A Confederacy of Dunces

            As pop-culture becomes more trendy, people end up following that particular fad and in today's world, having a brain is not a fad. Apparently, it is better to look “sexy” or “hot” and have expensive clothes and accessories than to have either brains or both looks and brains. When can a person ever have both looks and brains in today's society? When will that ever be acceptable? It is possible because I have seen it and I am living proof of it. When will young women stop acting “stupid” while looking good just to get a guy when they can be both? Jonathan Swift said in the essay “Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting” “When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.” It is true, I, along with some select few feel this way. I feel like I am one person suggesting that people have both looks and brains but I am one of many and the masses and odds are against me.

            In fact, I have notice that some men actually prefer both. One man I had a conversation with complained that all the women he has ever dated had nothing important to say and only read Cosmopolitan or some other magazine when asked what is the last thing you read? If not, he said they say a title of a book they last read in high school. There seems to be a lack of brains in these women. They do not talk about the news or anything important and thus a man cannot relate to them because all they seem to know are things about fashion and make-up.

            Oh, don't think I have forgotten about you men out there. Some of you guys are just as bad. How can a woman relate to you if all you talk about is sports and guy's fashion? I'm not here to bash but I am here to stress a call for action; a call for intellect. This current problem reminds me of the movie “Idiocracy” (2006) starring Luke Wilson, where a society in America out-breeds the intelligent and becomes a uniformly stupid human society where they have no thought about consequences except for this one “smart” man who traveled from the past to that apparent future.

Fall of True Artistic Value

            Not only does the majority of society lack in intellect, we are also lacking in what is deemed as something having “artistic value.” I mean something original, creative, thought-provoking not a mere copy of something already produced long ago and brought back to a new age group who thinks it is new and original because they do not know any better. It is unnecessary to have remakes of “Beauty and the Beast” or “Little Red-Riding Hood” with different movie titles. The same goes for music. Songs these days seem to lack artistic value because they are either from other songs that were made decades ago or they are simply about sex, money, getting rich, getting shot and pimps, hoes and strippers.

            I don't think the younger generation (my generation and younger) have realized that the beginning of Sean Kingston's “Me Love” (2007) is actually the beginning beat and similar line from Led Zeppelin's “D'yer Maker” (1973) but even this song imitated reggae from Jamaica at that time. Sean Kingston's “Me Love:” “Uh, uh-uh, uh, uh, oh/Why'd you have to go away from home, me love?” Led Zeppelin's D'yer Maker:” “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh/You don't have to go oh oh oh oh.” Sounds similar right? The point that I am trying to make here is that nothing is original anymore thus lacking artistic value. Everything seems to have been done already and there seems to be nothing left untouched or new to do or explore. How can one create something original when almost everything has been done not once or twice but several hundred times?

            Another point I want to make is that not only has a majority of things been done thus lacking artistic originality but is also considered art can also be questioned. Some people view art as an empty plastic bottle on display while some do not and some view stick people and paint splattered everywhere as art while other do not. I am on the side that I do not think an empty plastic bottle or stick people are considered art because anybody can do it. It does not take a genius or someone with artistic talent to do such a thing; even a kid can do it.

            However, it takes someone with real skills to sculpt a statue, to paint concrete objects with actual forms just how they actual appear in front of us or even for an artist to manipulate that in such a way that people can have a several different views on the subject or piece of work. There are simply way too many artists that call themselves such but cannot draw, paint or sculpt solid forms as they are seen just stick people and empty plastic bottles taking up unnecessary space in art galleries in which people pay a large amount to see.

            Don't get me wrong, art can and should also be abstract to allow a person to think and to get many different opinions from an audience but the art should not be so simple  to the point that an ordinary child or person with not talent can construct. This is what I personally deem as lacking artistic value in the past recent decades. I do not expect others to agree with me on this matter, in fact, I expect many to disagree with me on this particular subject and opinion.

Social Decay

            Lastly, we as a society lack social etiquette. We do not teach our children to say “excuse me” and “sorry”or “please” and “thanks” anymore,  instead we allow them to run a muck on a train or bus without reprimanding them and explaining why what they are doing is wrong or disturbing others. Society seems to be going through a social decay. Men no longer act like gentlemen on the streets and no longer hold doors for women. People in general no longer hold doors for others whether man or woman, old or young. Young people and kids do not give up their seats on buses or trains for the elderly anymore and parents bring their screaming and crying babies to quiet libraries while in the process of disturbing others with their baby's unruly ambiance.

            People no longer hold quiet conversations or lower their voices but instead broadcast their conversations on the streets, buses and trains for everyone to hear. Cars try to cut walkers off when they drive and run red  lights at the expense of everyone else around them. People litter everywhere and have physical or verbal fights on public transit. This is the way os society now; a lack of social etiquette and decency; perhaps even a lack of morals. My, my society has truly declined in intellect and social etiquette. This social decay will only get worse as we get more primitive and savage-like as our ancestors were eons ago. We are suppose to evolve as a society but the only evolution that has taken place is a technological one not a human/gene evolution.

           

            To conclude, society is on a spiraling loop of doom unless we do something about it. We should raise awareness to people to read more, pursue intellectual activities and to teach our the new generation manners to avoid a society where everybody lacks intelligence except for the computers. So far, people are becoming less intelligent, lack artistic value in their work and lack social etiquette. How far along can we as a human race survive this before the big fall of race occurs?