I was in the bookstore some months ago, and I saw a book called "The Tripumh Of The Airheads and the Retreat from Commonsense.", I thought it sounded interesting, so I read the blurb, which is as follows:

The airheads are winning. We live in an upside-down world where celebrity matter more than substance; correct spelling is less important than knowing how to do PowerPoint; bright maths and science students go into investment banking so they can make truckloads of money; and small girls seriously regard a trashy hotel heiress as a role model. We have an American president who gets Sweden and Switzerland mixed up and Australian politicians who spend millions on spin doctors while schools and hospitals go begging.
The age of the airhead has one message. Commonsense doesn't pay off. If you're smart, be smarter: play dumb.

Shelley Gare has been writing about the rise of airheadism for almost a decade. When she first spotted that airheads were soaring like hot-air balloons, she thought she was seeing things. She was so, like, wrong.
How did the airheads win? What were the rest of us doing?

ozymandias · May 9, 2007 9:58 am

Watching people with no talent become famous for simply being famous or infamous. The rise of style over substance! rolleyes

wandrew · May 10, 2007 8:38 am

Twas ever thus. As Space Ghost said to Bob Costas, "Things get easier as your brain dies." twisted

odeon · May 10, 2007 9:53 am

ozymandias wrote:
Watching people with no talent become famous for simply being famous or infamous. The rise of style over substance!

Exhibit A: Paris Hilton.

ozymandias · May 10, 2007 9:54 am

That explains a lot....for me...it's not getting easier for me, because my brains not dead yet! razz Just resting! winky

ozymandias · May 10, 2007 10:43 am

odeon wrote:
ozymandias wrote:
Watching people with no talent become famous for simply being famous or infamous. The rise of style over substance!
Exhibit A: Paris Hilton.

Don't forget, Lindsay Lohan, Ashlee Simpson, Pamela Anderson (ok, so she's got two talents), Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, etc, etc, etc, etc...........

Namiko · May 10, 2007 9:41 pm

ozymandias wrote:
odeon wrote:
ozymandias wrote:
Watching people with no talent become famous for simply being famous or infamous. The rise of style over substance!
Exhibit A: Paris Hilton.
Don't forget, Lindsay Lohan, Ashlee Simpson, Pamela Anderson (ok, so she's got two talents), Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, etc, etc, etc, etc...........

And 98% of all famous people, eh? wink

wandrew · May 11, 2007 5:00 am

Namiko[color=darkgreen wrote:
And 98% of all famous people, eh? [/color]

More like 90% if you apply Sturgeon's Law.

gan28 · August 16, 2007 12:36 am

If you dont play dumb you can get your self into serious mental strife.

wandrew · August 16, 2007 8:08 pm

gan28 wrote:
If you dont play dumb you can get your self into serious mental strife.

"Act like a dumbs*** and they'll treat you as an equal."--J. R. "Bob" Dobbs

turtle0403 · February 19, 2008 3:00 am

gan28 wrote:
If you dont play dumb you can get your self into serious mental strife.

That probably explains a lot. Maybe I'd be saner if I were just dumber.

renaeden · March 20, 2008 6:48 pm

^ Sometimes I think I would be happier if I were dumber. Less self-aware. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

turtle0403 · October 14, 2008 5:16 am

renaeden wrote:
^ Sometimes I think I would be happier if I were dumber. Less self-aware. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

QFT.

Scott Lynn · December 6, 2009 9:24 am

And the worst part is that those with the least bit of talent, and a platform to speak from (Oprah, Larry King, etc...) spend their time, talent, and resources lendign credability to the charlatans, rather than giving REAL scientists, doctors, etc... a platform from which to relegate them to the dustbin of society where they belong. We do truly appreciate the stupid and innane far more than we do the profound.

turtle0403 · December 29, 2009 9:11 pm

Yes, I wonder if people like Oprah have given time to that dopey woman who alleges she cured her son of autism (I forget her name - she's a washed up actress and the girlfriend of Jim Carrey).

On the Spectrum

#1 May 8, 2007 8:51 pm

The Rise Of The Airheads

#2 May 9, 2007 9:58 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

#3 May 10, 2007 8:38 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

#4 May 10, 2007 9:53 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

ozymandias wrote:

#5 May 10, 2007 9:54 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

#6 May 10, 2007 10:43 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

odeon wrote:

ozymandias wrote:

#7 May 10, 2007 9:41 pm

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

ozymandias wrote:

odeon wrote:

ozymandias wrote:

#8 May 11, 2007 5:00 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

Namiko[color=darkgreen wrote:

#9 August 16, 2007 12:36 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

#10 August 16, 2007 8:08 pm

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

gan28 wrote:

#11 February 19, 2008 3:00 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

gan28 wrote:

#12 March 20, 2008 6:48 pm

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

#13 October 14, 2008 5:16 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

renaeden wrote:

#14 December 6, 2009 9:24 am

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

#15 December 29, 2009 9:11 pm

Re: The Rise Of The Airheads

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