Idiocracy

Non knitting related rant begins now...

I saw a commercial for a new DVD coming out called "Idiocracy" and as I watched the clips flash by, I was struck by the sheer magnitude of this movie. Even though, it's a comedy. It's not. It's going to happen. It is happening. Sadly, I must say that the golden age of the United States of America is fast coming to an end. We're not top dog anymore. We don't have the smartest, toughest, most elite anything anymore. What happened to the great All American geniuses?
Long gone are the days of the All American think tank. Where have all the really smart people gone? They are a rarity these days. The rest of the world has passed us by, yet we have "no child left behind!?" HA! What a bunch of bureaucratic bullsh*t.

You see the rest of the world wants what we have and they are intent to get it. The Chinese are now poised to be the world leader and we are handing them the keys. Soon, in a couple generations, North Americans will be the cheap labor pool that the rest of the world relies on. Why? Easy. They will be far smarter than we. They go to school all year long and study advanced subjects at an accelerated pace. Personally, I've already started learning Mandarin. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em right?

Don't like it? I don't either. What can we do? Stop babying ourselves. Challenge ourselves. THINK! Stop making things so easy for ourselves. Remember how good we have it and fight to keep our way of life. Our children need to THINK! Not only do they need to match the academics of the best and brightest in the world, but they also need to learn life skills.
Parents these days do way too much for their children. It seems to me like we have our priorities all messed up. We care more about a student's jump shot than we do their critical thinking skills. We make their beds, tie their shoes, iron their clothes, do their laundry, do their homework, make their lunch and cut their sandwiches in half. Tell them what to do and when. No wonder everyone is on Prozac and Ambien. *sigh* I had to tell my brother to stop doing everything for his kids. They are 7 and 9 years old and don't even know how to do basic domestic chores. They are very intelligent, but very naive. He didn't even realize he was unconsciously crippling them. They need to know how to make their bed, sort clothes, care for their own hair, find basic items in a grocery store or how to find something that they lost like the mate to a sock. *sigh*

I don't know about you, but I see no end in sight to the "idiocracy" at hand. All I want to do at this point is secure myself a spot somewhere warm, bountiful, beautiful and quiet to live out my golden years with my cabana boy and martini in hand.