Doofus

Asshat, dumbass, schmuck

So you are probably curious why I have chosen the word “doofus” for a topic. This is not to be confused with Highlights “Goofus and Gallant.” Of course, I always thought of Goofus as a doofus, and the implication is that he simply doesn’t know how to act, behave or have any social etiquette, of course.

Interestingly, in generations past, it was thought of as a needed part of an upbringing that people know how to properly interact with one another. It was drilled into us to have manners, say “please” and “thank you,” hold the door for the person behind you. Today not so much.

I think though that doofus has come to mean more than someone who is socially uncool. Well the nerd, or the geek was usually seen as a doofus, until they became tech billionaires, then it was okeedokee to be just this side of weird. (It fact labeling a VP candidate as “weird” kinda backfired on the democrats this season, didn’t it?)

In truth, I think the entire society has gone doofus. Society has just lost their collective minds. And we could say it started with the meltdown over Trump almost 10 years ago, but in fact I think it was a long time coming. I would say that the societal meltdown actually started with the advent of the personal computer. Yep, we can blame it all on Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and every newfangled technology that has graced our homes since the 1980s.

No, I am not a luddite by any amount of imagination. The problem,as I see it, is that human maturity has not kept up with technological growth. It’s why there is such a brouhaha about AI. In truth, humans have not been able to handle new technology at any age of our collective development. I am certain that when our prehistoric ancestors developed the wheel, there was some troll around who figured out a way to cause consternation and angst, while using the wheel for a nefarious purpose.

The question though that you have to ask about the age of the personal computer is how is it that one human being can have the collected wisdom of humanity at their fingertips, but instead of reading Plato, Aristotle, studying Da Vinci, Rousseau, and Shakespeare, most people use the internet for porn, political extremism, and to troll each other. Talk about the Age of the Doofus.

I know that some social scientists held out hopes that with the advent of the internet people would grow, develop and create societies that would resemble utopia. People would sit at their keyboards and discuss the philosophical underpinnings of the industrial/technological age and figure out a way to make the world a better place. This would lead to the end of poverty, hunger and homelessness. That when humanity understood each other we would join together as ONE people, the People of Earth to create a better world.

Problem was that these scientists, while steeped in PhDs, academia, think tank fellowships, and intellectual awards forgot one basic thing. They have no idea how people actually function. They should have read and reread “Lord of the Flies.”

There is much being written about the TikTok generation. Children who think OBL is the best, and that Islamo-Nazis like Hamas, is a progressive cause. You could say it started with MySpace. Maybe it did. However, then came Facebook, which was an interesting way to stay in touch with relatives and friends. Then of course people found twitter (now X) The problem is that while these social channels began as a good way to stay in touch they have morphed into an almost gladiatorial like arena where bad ideas and evil people hold sway.

Who remembers when twitter became a big deal? I do. Not many people had heard of twitter at the time, but it was used by the Green Revolutionaries in Iran to try to stay in touch while they protested the regime. (Not that Obama helped them at all. It would have undermined his love of the mullahs.) I remember people hearing about twitter, and going on line, opening accounts, and posting the Iranian flag in support of the freedom fighters. (And I use freedom fighter the way it is supposed to be used. As a democracy seeking individual, usually unarmed, who goes up against a mightier army, seeking to overthrow an authoritarian government.) Unfortunately, the world’s attention did not last very long and twitter digressed into a cesspool of porn, antisemitism, racism, homophobia, and hate in general. But mostly antisemitism. (Pretty much a precursor to today’s world.)

While, we did use twitter for awhile as a place for support in the autism community, twitter simply devolved. The Twitter Files whether the left/ dems like it or not speak to the collusion of the government with social media to censure any thought the government didn’t like. And therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare would say.

Governments don’t like wrong speak or wrong think. They have found a way to stifle the creativity of humanity by using the internet. Instead of allowing thoughts to flourish they have decided what is and is not appropriate and have decided to enforce their own paradigm. (Apparently in the UK you can go to jail for being antiMuslim- or as the politically correct say “islamophobia”- in thought not actually in deed. However, if you call for genocide against Jews week in and week out, you get police protection. And if you actually carry out actions that harass, threaten, or impune the Jewish community your charges are dropped.)

We have seen that thoughts and opinions can be controlled by what is on social media. This is why Congress has passed a law that TikTok has to be sold to an American company. The owners (Bytedance), being part of Chicom society have to provide that antiAmerican, antiwestern authoritarian totalitarian government access to its data. It also manipulates what the users see and then that turns into how they view politics. This is why so many young users think OBL was right, and that the rapists of Hamas are actually the victims of October 7.

Interestingly enough though, society also likes to pretend that we used to think for ourselves. In truth, we never really did. We thought as we were taught in school, or church, on what is right and wrong. There was usually very little outside influence in society or any challenges to our belief system. And while it is not bad to challenge oneself, the question still needs to be made who is challenging you and why? Do they have your best interests at heart? Or are they simply trying to control you? Are they here to manipulate how you think and feel about a subject? Are they teaching you to be discerning in your facts and how to seek the truth? Or are they simply using the internet to turn you into a little automaton, to do their bidding and ruin western society (freedom) from within?

When you don't know how to think, write, or lack basic reading comprehension skills, you are easily led astray into arenas that are not necessarily there for your long term benefit. When you lack a basic understanding of history or civics, you do not know the power in the vote or how your country came to be. You are ignorant of the purpose of free speech, or the idea that you are endowed by the creator with rights, not that these rights come from other human beings. The internet, due to a dirth in actual fundamental education, has created a generation of stupid people.

So yes, the internet while it held out hopes for the future to solve humanity’s most urgent issues, it has actually created a new sphere of sadism, hate, and stupidity. It is sad really when you think about it. The squandering of such magnificent human capital, the destruction of the promise of a better future for all thrown away because humans are happy to be manipulated by those who are simply petty, stupid, and malevolent.

Hence, The Doofus Generation.

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