Hell yeah I'm smarter than a fifth grader.
Admittedly, I don't watch much tv. I don't own one, so it is a bit harder given that. The only tv I watch is whatever is on whenever I'm over at someone else's house. I see movies fairly often, but I really don't see "regular" tv programming on network tv that much. Most big shows that the peeps are discussing are shows I've never ever seen. Because of this, I feel like I'm viewing this aspect of the culture from a distance.
Right about the time I got rid of my tv, "who wants to be a millionaire?" had just come out and was this huge new sensation unlike any other show. Much like the rest of life, it seems as though a great idea or formula is molested and raped and left for dead. I happened to see "are you smarter than a fifth grader?" tonight. Almost the same exact premise as the other. Like 10 or 15 trivia questions with 3 life lines or cheats in order to win a million bucks. This seemed to have a " let's make a deal" vibe with it as well as there was this guy that was the supposed number one Celtics fan and was wearing a Celtics jersey. There were also the Celtics cheerleaders that were participating. Jeff Foxworthy was giving his best Regis Philbin schtick and trying to painfully create undue tension building up to whether or not the contestant got the question right.
Aside from the complete ripoff that this show is, it seems so depressing that people would be hardcore enthusiastic about people competing to "be smarter than a fifth grader." Of course, the peeps are going for the million, but the underlying ( or more really glaring) premise is exploiting just how stupid the American public is. The problem is that yes, it is pointing out that there is a deficiency in knowledge going around, however this show basically celebrates it. The worst part is that the whole thing really isn't true. The questions that they are asking are NOT on the level that they say they are. Like one question about what year Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" was written? A fifth grader would absolutely not know that. Load of crap. But, if you really used fifth grade questions, you would not have a show. I reckon the peeps watching the show get to feel good about themselves because they might know questions that the others don't. Peeps feel like " at least I'm smarter than that guy". There was one contestant "Miss Plus America" who was apparently an overweight beauty queen. (I don't even want to know why there is a "Miss Plus America BBW beauty pageant".) Her first question for $1000 was "True or False, the sum of the digits of the number 768is 22?" She said true, however the sum is 21. wow. I bet that made a lot of peeps feel like superman. I'm sure there was something else on another channel that was more worth watching that this ilk. Probably PBS or the discovery channel or something but I get the feeling that more people are watching "are you smarter than a fifth grader."
I try not to be judgemental about the whole thing. I feel like it is more a symptom of the bigger problem. Unfortunately, the problem is multipronged and difficult to even define. Yes, peeps definitely appear to be intellectually declining in the last few decades. There have been studies done and many articles written, but that doesn't fix the problem. They (those people, whoever they are) blame it on tv, video games, the internets, etc.... And it is probably all true. The problem is that few peeps offer any solution at all. It's kinda like someone pointing out that the roof is leaking and then not offering any solution. "hey everybody, the roof is leaking, I just thought you should know." Great, what do we do about it? How do you inspire someone to give a shit? No really, I'd like to know. I personally feel that humanity as a whole is very intertwined whether we like it or not, and therefore this kind of crap somehow someway represents the society that I am a part of. There is a part of me though that feels like King Solomon who was like "you fools, get some wisdom for yourselves." I'm not saying that is the most productive perspective, but I understand it.
Right about the time I got rid of my tv, "who wants to be a millionaire?" had just come out and was this huge new sensation unlike any other show. Much like the rest of life, it seems as though a great idea or formula is molested and raped and left for dead. I happened to see "are you smarter than a fifth grader?" tonight. Almost the same exact premise as the other. Like 10 or 15 trivia questions with 3 life lines or cheats in order to win a million bucks. This seemed to have a " let's make a deal" vibe with it as well as there was this guy that was the supposed number one Celtics fan and was wearing a Celtics jersey. There were also the Celtics cheerleaders that were participating. Jeff Foxworthy was giving his best Regis Philbin schtick and trying to painfully create undue tension building up to whether or not the contestant got the question right.
Aside from the complete ripoff that this show is, it seems so depressing that people would be hardcore enthusiastic about people competing to "be smarter than a fifth grader." Of course, the peeps are going for the million, but the underlying ( or more really glaring) premise is exploiting just how stupid the American public is. The problem is that yes, it is pointing out that there is a deficiency in knowledge going around, however this show basically celebrates it. The worst part is that the whole thing really isn't true. The questions that they are asking are NOT on the level that they say they are. Like one question about what year Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" was written? A fifth grader would absolutely not know that. Load of crap. But, if you really used fifth grade questions, you would not have a show. I reckon the peeps watching the show get to feel good about themselves because they might know questions that the others don't. Peeps feel like " at least I'm smarter than that guy". There was one contestant "Miss Plus America" who was apparently an overweight beauty queen. (I don't even want to know why there is a "Miss Plus America BBW beauty pageant".) Her first question for $1000 was "True or False, the sum of the digits of the number 768is 22?" She said true, however the sum is 21. wow. I bet that made a lot of peeps feel like superman. I'm sure there was something else on another channel that was more worth watching that this ilk. Probably PBS or the discovery channel or something but I get the feeling that more people are watching "are you smarter than a fifth grader."
I try not to be judgemental about the whole thing. I feel like it is more a symptom of the bigger problem. Unfortunately, the problem is multipronged and difficult to even define. Yes, peeps definitely appear to be intellectually declining in the last few decades. There have been studies done and many articles written, but that doesn't fix the problem. They (those people, whoever they are) blame it on tv, video games, the internets, etc.... And it is probably all true. The problem is that few peeps offer any solution at all. It's kinda like someone pointing out that the roof is leaking and then not offering any solution. "hey everybody, the roof is leaking, I just thought you should know." Great, what do we do about it? How do you inspire someone to give a shit? No really, I'd like to know. I personally feel that humanity as a whole is very intertwined whether we like it or not, and therefore this kind of crap somehow someway represents the society that I am a part of. There is a part of me though that feels like King Solomon who was like "you fools, get some wisdom for yourselves." I'm not saying that is the most productive perspective, but I understand it.
posted by Wurfel at
9:46 PM
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