Recently, a blogger on tech website The Verge by the name of Paul Miller (not to be confused with eclectic rock god Steve Miller or angry creator of bleak comic books Frank Miller) made a public declaration of his intention to give up the internet for a whole year. This, despite his acknowledgement that he himself declared the internet one of the top five inventions in human history, is designed to allow him to get some sort of bird’s eye view of the internet and its effects on society, without actually interacting with it. This seems odd to me, especially considering his job, for which I assume he gets paid, is to publish, to the internet, articles on technology, most of which are connected to the internet.
Harry C. Marks, a well-respected tech blogger and self-declared pundit, has humorously excruciated Mr. Miller and his pledge, and exposed it for the hit-whore publicity stunt that it is. I dare not tread where Mr. Marks has so brilliantly led, lest I embarrass myself in comparison. On the other hand, what if I examine Mr. Miller’s clumsy attempt at social commentary in a more serious vein, and use the concept for something more positive.
There is something to be said for engaging in a ‘fast’ from an idea or object. All three major monotheistic religions, as well as several others, encourage their adherents to engage in fasting at certain points in the calendar year. Within the last week, I began a private, quiet sabbatical from playing “Bejeweled”, a highly addictive game offered recently as Starbucks’ free “App of the Week”. I knew I had been playing the game too much when I realized that I was dreaming about descending columns of exploding gemstones.
I am now convinced to extend this concept to something far more insidious than a highly addictive game. Something that truly has had a negative impact on my life, and, as I have observed, on the lives of countless millions of my fellow Americans. Something that has not just made lives uncomfortable, but has been actively used to make our collective lives less safe, less secure, and less prosperous. I am speaking, of course, about The Stupid.
The Stupid can be observed any time a self-obsessed blowhard spews a witch’s brew of talking points, unimportant or unrelated ‘facts’, half-truths, and downright lies. A recent, and persistent, example of The Stupid is the “birther” controversy. The birthers assert that there is no definitive proof that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, insist that he was born in Kenya, and claim that he is therefore not a US citizen, and as such, not eligible to hold the office of the presidency. They cling to this irrational belief despite several salient facts, most especially that both the White House and the State of Hawaii have made public Mr. Obama’s birth certificate, which clearly indicates that he was, in fact, born in 1961 in the Sate of Hawaii. They also ignore the Constitution and United States Code which state that the child of a US citizen is also a US citizen. As such, Mr. Obama, as the child of Stanley Ann Dunham, a US citizen born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, would be a US citizen no matter where in the world he was born, even Kenya.
This example, and many others, have convinced me to give up The Stupid for the next year, and I encourage others to join me in this self-cleansing. As of midnight tonight the chief purveyors of The Stupid, including by not limited to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity, & the rest of Fox News, Ann Coulter, Lyndon LaRouche, white supremacists of all varieties, Islamic fundamentalists, PETA, and the government of North Korea, no longer exist for me. The Stupid has no place in my life, and I no longer respond to it.
Wish me luck.
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