From “The Scratching Post”: Unanchored minds

By Ken Marks

[Opening from the original on The Scratching Post, June 26, 2022, published here by permission of the author.]

If you’re a regular viewer of “Real Time,” Bill Maher’s weekly HBO series, you know the last segment is always a barbed commentary on something in the news that’s been gnawing at him. (A damn good theme for a personal blog, if you ask me.)
    In a recent show, Maher’s closing speech asked how a country [America] could solve any of its problems when “its people are so intractably, astoundingly, mind-numbingly stupid.” To illustrate his assertion, he showed excerpts from man-on-the-street interviews, most notably from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Jay Leno’s old “Tonight Show.”

Spry for her age

    The interviews are surreal. One woman, when asked where Queen Elizabeth was from, said, “Egypt?” Another was asked, “What is the largest city in the world?” She answered, “Europe.” In a clip from a TikTok show, a collage-age couple was asked, “Who was the first person to land on the Sun?” They didn’t know. A shopper was asked, “If you were born in 2021, how old would you be?” She answered, “21.” OK, maybe she was flustered, but what about the woman who was training to be a teacher? She was offered $100 if she could name the country where Venice, Italy, is located. She said, “Gee, I should know this … Paris?” I have no doubt these interviews are genuine. If you need convincing, go to YouTube and search for “dumb Americans.” Here’s a link I picked at random.
    Only a few years ago, I would have found all this hilarious and would have agreed fully with Maher’s opinion of the hapless people in the videos. But gradually, I began to see things differently….
[Read the whole thing on The Scratching Post.]

Copyright © 2022 by Ken Marks Ken Marks was a contributing editor with Paul Clark & Tom Lowe when “Moristotle” became “Moristotle & Co.” A brilliant photographer, witty conversationalist, and elegant writer, Ken contributed photographs, essays, and commentaries from mid-2008 through 2012. Late in 2013, Ken birthed the blog The Scratching Post. He also posts albums of his photos on Flickr.