We're so dumb -- I blame TV

I went to a play tonight at Berry. It was pretty enjoyable. I liked it. Some of the folks I was with didn't.

I was disappointed. The play required some thinking. Each of the characters represnted a different side of the issues confronting soldiers. They were paired up for much of the play. One was nationalism while the other was the anti-nationalist. One was the religious one, one was the anti-religion. One was the friendship guy one was the loner.

No one got this. They seemed to be ready to leave by intermission. After it was over my roommate said "I'd rather just watch stuff blow up and switch off my brain." Now I am all about the mind-numbing violence, but what if we forget how to think critically enough about things when we need to we are in trouble.

Video games, porn, action movies and hockey. What do these have in common? They all appeal to basic and simple parts of the brain. There is no thinking involved.
In baseball, golf and football the action happens gradually so that there is at least some thinking involved. In hockey, there is no thinking. There is just reflexes and hitting people. Something is always happening to stimulate weak brain waves in that part of the brain left over from neanderthal days.

In most forms of movies there is some thinking involved. Mysteries, suspense, and dramas all cause us to think. Action movies just cause our brain to secrete some enzyme that feels good.

Relationships take thinking. Porn does not.

The similarity between all these things is instant gratification. We don't want to work or think. We just want our enzymes to secrete. I think TV has a lot to do with this. We are not used to thinking. All we do is sit and absorb the predictable situations on TV. Make me think, and I will change the channel to Jerry Springer.

Take me to a play and I will not have a clue what's going on.