Have people become less intelligent? What effect will this have?

[bawbag]

As a teenager I find that a lot of people my age are either incapable of or just unwilling to form any objective or reasonable opinions. I always try and provoke my friends to share their opinions on any issues, be it politics, sport or drugs etc. and it just feels like they cannot grasp any opinion other than what they have been told by either newspapers (in terms of politics) or police, teachers and parents (in terms of drugs). Whenever I try to give an alternative opinion they just don't ever seem to take it on board or they are unwilling to accept it.

To be honest I don't know where I am going with this but I just feel that people are becoming mindless drones who think what they are told to think and that there is no other option and any other opinion is wrong.

If this is the case, then how would this effect a socialist/communist movement?

Like, if you were to tell them to believe that communism is right and you kept on telling them, spread out loads of communist propaganda, could you convince them that it is right? Even though they don't really agree with you, they just agree because they think they should (if you know what I mean).

Or have they reached the point that if you did the aforementioned, they still would not go for it because it is new to them and any thing new or any change to the current system is wrong, no matter how much you tell them, explain to them and give them a whole load of facts about it, they would still not go for it because its different?


I can't really seem to get my point forward properly, I apologise for that but I am really tired and am not sure how to get it across really, maybe you will understand, if so, good, I just wanted to know if any one else thinks that people are becoming less intelligent and lazier all the time.

Cheers,
Bawbag

[bawbag]

Maybe its time to get new friends?

:lol: Yeah maybe, but it just seems strange to me, I come from a really working class area and all the people I went to school with just seemed to not care about anything or couldn't understand that the people in authority could be wrong, it confuses me, I try to play devil's advocate sometimes in discussions just to get reactions and provoke alternative thought in people but it surprises me that they can never seem to grasp any other opinion.

Like if I was to say drugs are good or capitalism is wrong, they just either won't hear it, don't care or don't understand.
It bemuses me and it scares me sometimes to think that people are too wrapped up in their own insignificant lives that they fill with nonsense, they care more about the latest pop idol has a spot on their chin or has put on 2 pounds, or they care who is going to win big brother.

[Chambered Word]

Same here. It's funny because when I was talking to a comrade from Melbourne he told us about walkouts protesting Pauline Hanson's racism and the Iraq war happening in high schools which he was involved with when he was in school.

Where's the big outrage about the Free Gaza Flotilla at my high school? I'm sure I'll come back from exam week in a few days and no one will have a fucking clue. :(

Oh, and this reminds me of the May Day celebrations here. Nearly all the people there were 40+ years old and most of the younger people were either non-affiliated or were part of communist parties.

[Garret]

Either they are not interested, (Probably can't blame them, if it doesn't affect them. Most teens would rather play games, get drunk and get girls.) or they haven't grasped the concept of looking outside mainstream media and the bourgeois lies they don't question.

[Antifa94]

people aren't becoming less intelligent, bourgeois media is simply controlling their minds.

[eyedrop]

"People aren't agreeing with me, they must be stupid" is a cheap, self serving cop out.

Since IQ scales, where 100 is supposed to be the average, continuously has to be rescaled, IQ is rising. This seems to suggest that intelligence isn't decreasing. (Yeah I know IQ isn't all encompassing and correct for intelligence.)

Intelligence isn't the major factor determining if someone has the correct opinions. In politics I think experiences, material conditions and expositions to various viewpoints is some of the major ones.

In a world where it seems impossible to majorly affect the world, ("The end of History" propaganda, Fukijama.) you can't really blame people for not caring forming strong opinions on situations they are told they can't really affect.

[Palingenisis]

This is a problemn largely due to the fact that people are no longer called upon or expected to develop their intelligences rather than them actually becoming thicker. A Socialist state would ban pop music for instance and trash television while encouraging people to read good books and listen to good music.

[eyedrop]

Palingenisis

Are you trying to alienate as many people as possible?

Besides, pop music and television doesn't make people stupid, lack of challenging content does.

[Chimurenga.]

Where's the big outrage about the Free Gaza Flotilla at my high school? I'm sure I'll come back from exam week in a few days and no one will have a fucking clue. :(

Maybe hand out some flyers, informing people about this? I mean, you can't expect everyone to share the same outrage as you. Unless you go to Marx-Engels High, if that's the case, then yeah, that's ridiculous. ;)

I'd like to add that you shouldn't generalize when it comes to people. If people are surrounded by things that don't challenge them intellectually and politically, chances are, they won't care about it. It's important to remember this.

[Zapatas Guns]

Maybe hand out some flyers, informing people about this? I mean, you can't expect everyone to share the same outrage as you. Unless you go to Marx-Engels High, if that's the case, then yeah, that's ridiculous. ;)

I'd like to add that you shouldn't generalize when it comes to people. If people are surrounded by things that don't challenge them intellectually and politically, chances are, they won't care about it. It's important to remember this.

I think it is a much bigger problem than this. It starts early in life. Look at schools now. They teach less than ever before and they cost more than ever before. Grade school through high school covers only rudimentary stuff which is what most people are exposed to. Take Texas for example. Women and minorities are getting written out of history books because they 'did not constribute enough things of value'. There is an exam called TAKS, which is a student assessment that passes or fails the student. Nothing else the student does matters if they fail this test.

So you have teachers only teaching for a test and the material that is covered isolates a large part of the population.

The important thing to keep in mind is that the elite want us dumbed down because dumb people are eaier to control and manipulate. They want us smart enough to do menial tasks and labor but not smart enough to band together and overthrow them.

Waking people up to their reality in capitalism won't be easy. People don't like to admit they are wrong and they will not want believe they are being exploited. That is why they must be engaged constantly, their world views must be attacked repeatedly so they can snap out of their false consciousness.

[Chambered Word]

This is a problemn largely due to the fact that people are no longer called upon or expected to develop their intelligences rather than them actually becoming thicker. A Socialist state would ban pop music for instance and trash television while encouraging people to read good books and listen to good music.

Come on. :rolleyes:


I'd like to add that you shouldn't generalize when it comes to people. If people are surrounded by things that don't challenge them intellectually and politically, chances are, they won't care about it. It's important to remember this.

Quite true. It's just annoying how I ask around if people want to come to a rally for same-sex marriage rights and I get people umming and ahhing or just acting like I don't exist. Many of these people have a friend or two who is homosexual and somehow in this day in age we still have to fight so that people aren't treated like second class citizens. I mean shit, you'd think someone would be slightly concerned.

Anyway, when I get some leaflets for the next demo I shall try informing people. Hopefully I will raise some awareness. :(

[RadioRaheem84]

I am of the opinion that people are discouraged from thinking independently these days. The culture surrounding the United States for instance is wrapped around doing you're own thing to get by. People are bombarded with issues related to work and school and feel that they have no time to think about a better world. They've also been conditioned to think that this is the best system we have so we might as well just live in it and shut up.

It's just a matter of priorities.

[piet11111]

Its not that people are getting dumber its that the dumb ones with modern technology can be louder then those that spend their time wisely.
Case in point youtube video comments and 4chan.

[Desperado]

Intelligence is a pretty vague concept. But they have been re-revising the IQ watermarks for decades now, as the average rises, if you are thinking about that area of it.

Knowledge wise It's pretty obvious that most that more information is available than ever before, from a far greater variety of sources. But I think this is counterbalanced by the fact that there is more entertainment available than ever before. Faced with the choice of an hour reading wikipedia absorbing facts or a comedy show on TV, it doesn't take a social expert to know what most people will choose.

[RadioRaheem84]

Its not that people are getting dumber its that the dumb ones with modern technology can be louder then those that spend their time wisely.
Case in point youtube video comments and 4chan.

Word of advice to anyone thinking about debating others with opposing viewpoints online. It actually hinders your ability to grow yourself. It's best to read, learn and debate other like minded people to grow. Maybe use the youtube people are practice but do not engage too much.

What we're dealing with is hardcore presuppositions that are utterly flawed and backwards.

[Nwoye]

People are significantly more intelligent and are exposed to a vastly larger amount of information in modern times than in any period in history.

[leftace53]

Formal education these days turns the quest and excitement of knowledge into grades that create unnecessary stress because one or two grades can determine their futures, which, in the case of post secondary education, they paid for. Or atleast that was my problem for a while, and why I hated "learning".

[Ocean Seal]

I feel that people aren't less intelligent, but that they are more apathetic. I partially blame the college scramble for all this. There are many kids at my school who don't learn for the sake of learning, but rather for grades so that they can get into a good college. It's truly a terrible phenomenon which keeps them selfish and ignorant of the world around them.

[Quail]

Formal education these days turns the quest and excitement of knowledge into grades that create unnecessary stress because one or two grades can determine their futures, which, in the case of post secondary education, they paid for. Or atleast that was my problem for a while, and why I hated "learning".


I feel that people aren't less intelligent, but that they are more apathetic. I partially blame the college scramble for all this. There are many kids at my school who don't learn for the sake of learning, but rather for grades so that they can get into a good college. It's truly a terrible phenomenon which keeps them selfish and ignorant of the world around them.

This is sadly so true. While I've been at uni I've also noticed that there are some courses that seem specifically designed to make people suitable for jobs. The whole education system feels like it's designed to churn out employees.

[ContrarianLemming]

IQ has steadilly been increasing the alst 50 years...

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

The whole education system feels like it's designed to churn out employees.

But that is exactly what it is supposed to do. Create perfect slaves and perpetuate the system.

[Gecko]

petit bourgeois spawn..yuppy larvae..maggots whose role in life is to consume,consume,consume from birth to death..
living a comfortable life off the blood,sweat and tears of the 3rd world...
fuck em..they are spoiled,selfish,petty,greedy..
put the fuckers to toil in the fields and sweat in the factories to see how the rest of the world survives ..a lesson in humility and an appreciation of how the youth of the 3rd world live..
it would be sweet communist justice for the 3rd world to bring down white europe and america and their fellow white dingleberries..australia,canada,new zealand..
take away their nukes and their war machines and the cowards ain't shit..
hell yeah,let the 3rd world stock up on as many nukes as they can acquire or make!! level the playing ground..come on europe,america and your other little anglo saxon lap dogs..you have nukes..we have nukes..let's see how you do now white man..
one day in the not so far off distance I am sure the black,brown and yellow world will teach the white world a profound lesson which they justly deserve..and communism is our weapon of choice to accomplish that goal!!