Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest

Today is Thankgiving. Allow me to wish you a wonderful feast.

And, why not also feast on some examples of the profound stupidity that continues to infect our politically correct cultural ecosphere. America is being dumbed down… it’s going from dumb to dumber to dumbest.

For your delectation George Will has collected some prime examples of profound stupidity… the kind that seems to be endemic.

You should read all of Will's column. For the same of economy, I have selected a few choice morsels:

Washington’s subway banned a civil liberties group’s ad consisting entirely of the text of the First Amendment, which ostensibly violated the rule against ads “intended to influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions.”

And,

California now can jail certain caregivers who “willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns.” A Massachusetts librarian rejected a donation of Dr. Seuss books because they are “steeped in racist propaganda,” and the New Yorker discovered that “Thomas the Tank Engine” is “authoritarian.” Always alert about planetary crises, the New Yorker also reported: “The world is running out of sand.”

And also,

In toney and oh-so-progressive Malibu, the City Council voted to become a sanctuary city. The councilwoman who made the motion for protecting illegal immigrants said: “Our city depends on a Hispanic population to support our comfortable lifestyle.” In more-progressive-than-thou Oregon, where you can get state-subsidized gender reassignment surgery at age 15 without parental permission, the Legislature made 21 the age at which adults can buy cigarettes.

Also:

A year after a NASA climatologist (from the “settled” science of climate) said California was “in a drought forever,” torrential rains threatened to break dams.

Not to be outdone, America’s finest universities weigh in with their own absurdities:

The University of Arizona guide instructed instructors to encourage students to say “ouch” when something said in class hurts their feelings. Clemson University’s diversity training washed brains with this idea: Expecting punctuality might be insensitive because in some cultures, time is considered “fluid.” The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that student snowflakes are not the only victims of academic suffering. It seems that after the nine-month school year, professors endure isolation, solitude and depression during their three-month vacations.

The following missed the cut for Will’s column, but it is worth noting. In a stern rebuke to Naomi Wolf millennial women are now spending more and more money on cosmetics. And  yet, note the way the New York Times reports the story:

Young shoppers like Ms. Roark are the driving force behind a boom in the cosmetics industry. Always camera ready, they are buying and using almost 25 percent more cosmetics than they did just two years ago and significantly more than baby boomers, according to the research firm NPD. And millennials who identify themselves as “makeup enthusiasts,” NPD found, are using six products each day.

Did you notice that the punctilious New York Times, gender sensitive to a fault, refuses to identify those who purchase cosmetics as women? They are shoppers… as though men and women in roughly equal proportions hang out in the aisles of Sephora.

And finally, just in case you thought that America was alone in these forms of postcultural stupidity, we read this from Great Britain. A woman wants schools to spare first graders from the appalling message promoted by Sleeping Beauty. The Daily Mail reports:

Sarah Hall, from Northumberland Park, North Shields, claimed the fairytale promotes an 'inappropriate sexual' message to young children. 

She argued the story is irresponsible because it teaches children it is acceptable to kiss women while they are asleep.

The mother of two said: 'I think it's a specific issue in the Sleeping Beauty story about sexual behaviour and consent.

'It's about saying is this still relevant, is it appropriate?'

Ms Hall is worried about what message the tale, which features a Prince waking up a Princess by kissing her, sends to impressionable youngsters.

Better for Sleeping Beauty never to wake up, don’t you think?

Enjoy the turkey, but go easy on the tryptophan.