The Death of Common Sense

We at Deep End of Stupid are sad to announce the passing of Common Sense.Since Common Sense has been circling the drain for quite some time, it should come to you as no big surprise.  Sort of like when a 98 year old chain smoker dies. You know it’s coming and are frankly quite surprised that the old broad lasted so long.

Now I must confess, like everyone, I too have a family yarn about the absence of Common Sense. In 1981 we moved to the country and since we heated our house with a couple of wood stoves, we thought it would be a good idea to install some smoke detectors. Alas my dad inserted a 9V battery and stood on a ladder in the kitchen and attached the thing to the wall. It did not take long to test the detector as my dad grew increasingly frustrated trying to fasten it to  the wall because the detector kept going off.  After a few false alarms my cousin’s wife noted that perhaps my father should not be SMOKING A CIGARETTE WHILE INSTALLING THE SMOKE DETECTOR.

Sadly I wish I could say that this was an isolated incident. My father managed to set our house on fire several times so I guess it was a good idea that we installed the smoke detectors.Dad’s preoccupation with fire was just one of the death nails in the coffin of Common Sense.

A few weeks ago I saw a co worker’s ass, we are talking the flag was at half mast, because buying a pair of pants that fit and a belt would require, well you know. And while we are on the subject of pants, pants on the ground guys you look like a damn fool. I suppose if you are 15 years old you can get away with looking like a half wit yokel because lets face it 15-year-old boys are idiots and prone to peer pressure. It just takes one celebrity to look  like a jackass and they all follow (case in point – Bieber hair!)

We used to conscript young men into the army so they would at least learn to wear their pants properly. But we don’t conscript boys into the armed forces anymore so they shuffle around like damn penguins until they are well into their 30s. Wake up, you are too old to be wearing your pants around your hips and far too old to succumb to peer pressure. In fact all the 90s rappers who started this trend, are in their 30s and 40s and guess what, they now wear Armani suits and worry if their kid’s private school fees are too high. If you insists on dressing like a wannabe gangster in your 30s don’t expect a big promotion at work or the approval of the father of the girl you are dating. Oh girls don’t think you are immune to no Common Sense.  If you dress like a tramp you probably won’t attach quality material.

With the advent of technology, everything happens so much faster. Like water on a grease fire, this boom in technology has accelerated the death of Common Sense. Not a day goes by where I am NOT subjected to some idiot swerving all over the road because hands free cell phone laws do not apply to them (but everyone else of course). Last summer I witnessed about 20 people, count ’em, 20 people standing at the bus stop screaming into their cell phones while standing next to a roaring piece of equipment that was cleaning some ducts at a nearby bank. It was like being inside a jet engine. There was no way anyone could hear anything but that did not stop the people from repeating over and over again, “I can’t hear you.” Common Sense would dictate that you just don’t answer the damn phone and let the call go to voice mail. But no. I found the noise intolerable so I hopped on the next bus and got the hell out of there.

Note – Man on bus last week who just kept shouting “Amen” over and over and over again into his cell phone for 10 minutes, that was really freakin’ annoying.

Since I work in tech support I am deluged on a daily basis with people with no Common Sense. The internet has made finding information really easy but that would require, well, Common Sense (man, I do sound like a broken record!) The internet has made taking advantage of people’s lack of Common Sense easier. How stupid are you? Really,  Common  Sense would dictate that if something is too good to be true, then it’s a scam. And it’s not like it’s hard to research these offers to make $6,348 a day working from home or  the Nigerian Oil Heir  needing your help. It literally involves clicking two, possibly, three buttons. Also, the head of the FBI generally does not have a Yahoo email address.

The problem is that we can’t even use Common Sense with the small stuff. What are we going to do about the big stuff like government, and business and science and technology.? How the hell do the Americans think they are going to go to Mars if they can’t figure out that texting and walking is a bad idea.

Just sayin’.