Monday, July 22, 2013

Stupidity

There are days when you wonder if the collective IQ of the world is somehow managed to move lower than the average annual temperature of Siberia. There was recently a crash involving a passenger airliner in San Francisco. One of the local television stations reported the pilots names as follows.

The names of the alleged pilots on the flight were broadcast over the air. Really? No one at the station realized these were a joke? No one? They claim the names were verified by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB claims the verification was done by a summer intern. I thought about that and put myself in the intern's position. If you are stupid enough to call me and ask for verification of those names I am quite sure I am stupid enough to verify them for you. My defense when approached? First I would have given them a fake name when I verified the story. Probably something like Suk Mai Dik or Fook Yu. If they managed to figure out it was me then I go to my fallback position. "I'm just an intern and all you guys were busy with a real disaster and couldn't be bothered." Stephen Colbert did a good job covering this mess. Here's a link to his video.
 
 
 
If you think this is just an isolated incident and collectively the world has not gotten that stupid I offer for your consideration the George Zimmerman verdict. The verdict is not only stupid for its complete failure to consider what happened the Florida stand your ground law is crazy stupid. There are certainly times to claim self defense but when you call the police and are advised to stop following someone, you confront and subsequently shoot an unarmed teenager and stand your ground gets you off. Well then my friend something is wrong. The problem to me is that there really are two people who know exactly what happened that night. One is dead and the other one, as is his right, did not testify in court. He has, however, made several inconsistent statements in the months since the incident which make me wonder. A jury of his peers has spoken and as with the verdict in the O J Simpson trial we must live with the results. It does surprise me what folks are willing to believe.
 
I can always count on George to put things in their proper perspective.


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