Dumb and Dumber

So Osama bin Laden collected porn.

So what?!

And so what if Bristol Palin had plastic surgery and Ashton Kutcher’s replacing Charlie Sheen on “Two and a Half Men” and Michele Obama has toned arms and Oprah might be gay?

I try to keep my mouth closed. I really do. I try to remember that what’s important to me isn’t important to everyone and people like to be distracted from negative news. But come on! We’re fighting three wars right now, for Pete’s sake! Our government is imploding at all levels. Bridges are crumbling and nuclear reactors are melting and floods and earthquakes are burying whole cities and politicians are taxing the poor to give to the rich and children are dying and oil companies are stealing billions...and I’m still hearing people talking on the radio about last month’s marriage of William and Kate.

Something’s wrong with this picture.

I watch mindless television, scroll down the Facebook wall, get lost in music and think about things that don’t really matter too. But I also read and write about things that affect the world, things I can't always control, things that will impact my children’s future. I’m supposed to do this. It’s part of being a grownup.

I spend hours gathering facts and information on what's going on in Lansing and Washington for my blog posts and hear nothing. But someone posts a video clip of a laughing baby on Facebook and it gets 50 comments. I love laughing babies too, but how many times do we need to see the little tykes, really?

Maybe if more people paid attention and did something – say, wrote a letter or sent an e-mail or called a friend or voted, even – instead of shrugging their shoulders and picking up People magazine, some of the bad stuff wouldn’t happen as much. Just maybe. If the media were told to stop shoveling so much crap and drivel and pablum down our throats, they just might.

Ask yourselves one question: who benefits from the “dumbing down” of America? Those who embrace the status quo, that’s who. People named Koch and Bush and Boehner and Palin. If you’re fine with things the way they are, then by all means buy The Situation’s next book. But if you think life is about more than escaping from reality, as ugly as it sometimes gets, then get mad and fret and do something. Anything.

That’s what I do.