[thechat] surfacing

[Luther, Ron]

Sabrina Dent noted:

>>Someone needs to haul these people out of Podunk, Iowa and shove 
>>them into the light of cultural literacy.

Yes!  Big +1! ... Uh, you *did* mean that 'cultural literacy lamp' 
attached to the front end of a speeding Intercity 125 ... didn't 
you?  Oooooo! ... I'd like that!    ;-)


>>I come from a nation of morons, I swear to God. 

I'll be kind and place some of the blame on 'expectations' ... 
we've all seen the studies where 'borderline' kids are placed in 
an environment with elevated expectations ... and their grades and 
behavior significantly improve, right? ... Well ... in the US we 
'spect' folks to act as if they've just taken a double dose of 
their dumb-ass pills ... and they generally do their level best 
to meet our expectations!

I remember walking a portion of the 13c wall surrounding the city of 
York. (It was quite a few years ago - but it was big fun!). One of 
the things that particularly impressed me, however, was the complete 
absence of guardrails ... unless, of couse, the wall was crossing a 
street. I loved the 'message' that sent ... "We don't give a &%&%*-ing 
damn if you're stupid enough to fall off the blinking wall ... however 
... *do* be so kind as to not inconvenience local traffic!"

'Expecting' people to behave as responsible adults?  Amazing! That had 
to be one of the most 'foreign' things I have come across in my limited 
travels ... I found that remarkably refreshing.


RonL.