whooey. good luck w/that one. it sounds really nice, & i too would love to live in a place that doesn't revel in its own stupidity, but people have been trying to make smart cool for a while now...

you almost have to be kinda devious about it. you don't necessarily need to show everyone you meet immediately how smart you are, right? then slowly & subtly show them how it's beneficial to them to be able to make some of those connections that come w/critical thinking. i've gotten quite a few people to think a little more this way. a lot of people aren't going to trust you if you start off 'talking smart' when you first meet them. develop that trust first by kinda meeting them on their level. i know it's not always the easiest thing to do, but i think it's worth it if you really are interested in making small changes for the better.
but i get the impression you're thinking more in terms of a larger scale than that. & i don't really have any suggestions for that.

Well, I hear that there's a show out there called "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"

....I guess that's a start?

I think most Americans are deeply entrenched in their stupidity, and nothing short of nuclear (noo-kyuuu-luuuurr, ha ha) holocaust will make America less stupid. In other words.... Game Over.... Play Again? (y/n)

being stupid is genetic...being ignorant is a completely different matter. One of the biggest problems we face as a nation is that people with 'average' IQs (which is 100, I hate to tell you) breed at much higher rates than those with higher IQs. Therefore, we are diluting our collective IQ. There is nothing you can do to make stupid people smart, except to keep them from reproducing. Unfortunately, Darwinism will not help us with this matter, cuz their peckers and ovaries work just fine, regardless of their IQ.

As for Darwinism, I am all for it. Why we help people with genetic defects reproduce is beyond me. I try to be sensitve and understand that we all 'have the right to reproduce', but if you have Type I diabetes, dwarfism, spinal bifida, etc. God only knows why you would want to risk passing that shit onto your off-spring. It is incredibly selfish to assume that 'well, I dealt with it just fine, so my kids can too.'

Don't think I am some crazy right-winger either, I am a very liberal leftist. I have been talking about forced sterilization since I was a teenager. I also think people should require licenses to reproduce. They should get the equivalent of a college degree in child rearing, be able to prove that they can afford a child, have a background check, etc. Why the hell we allow people who are incompetent in more ways than one to continue to provide our country with more bumbling idiots for public office is a mystery to me.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, now, back to work.

GOD & NASA!

Carlos Castaneda has an explanation in his last book.

I do not. I give up.