Aaron Spencer, a Republican who is accused of killing Michael Fosler, 67, defeated Lonoke County [Arkansas]Sheriff John Staley in the primary election, winning more than 53% of the vote, according to unofficial results posted by the Arkansas Secretary of State. Spencer, an Army veteran and farmer, is out on bond awaiting trial. His opponent, the incumbent sheriff whose deputies arrested Spencer in 2024, offered his congratulations saying that he “respected the voters’ decision.” I sure don’t! If the accused murderer is convicted, he can’t be the sheriff should he beat his Democratic opponent in November. [Pointer: JutGory]
Meanwhile, Vince Offer, generally known as the “ShamWow Guy” for his energetic infomercials, got less than 3% of the vote in Texas’ 31st congressional district GOP primary. He is indignant and suing, though, because Vince claims party officials illegally stripped “ShamWow Guy” from the ballot, leaving him represented by, you know, his name. That means that he concedes nobody knew who he was except for the commercials, and yet still believes that enough voters would have voted for “ShamWow Guy” to represent them in Washington based solely on the fact that he pitched the super-wiping cloth memorably on TV.
And you know what?
He may be right.
Ethics Alarms 
I think the overall appearance may be that average intelligence (read IQ) IS getting lower;
HOWEVER…
We really should at least consider that the average intelligence isn’t actually getting lower, but people are getting, or are indoctrinated to be, lazy. Instead of using intelligence, critical thinking, and logic to learn and make decisions, they’re just lazy and believe whatever biased narrative that fits their indoctrinated bias, and then they’re willing to climb on the bandwagon and go with the flow. This is what indoctrinated ignorant puppets do, why the hell would these indoctrinated drones rock the boat and suffer the wrath of the mob?
Really think about how lowering standards to the lowest common denominator in education systems from kindergarten through undergraduate college degrees does to the overall student population. Why should the really intelligent students work extra hard to get the top grades when they can be lazy, sluff off, party with their friends, get lower scores and still have high enough scores to be in the top of their graduating classes. Students are being taught (read indoctrinated) that excelling is pointless, being average is now considered above average, and an imbecile getting a wall full of participation trophies is damn near as good as a higher education degree. Even Ivy League colleges like Harvard and Yale have lowered standards.
The “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America” that’s taken place in the late 20th and early 21st century’s is really just intelligent people that have been indoctrinated to be…
LAZY!!!
Let’s face it folks, digging into the propaganda narratives to prove that they’re lies sometimes takes a lot of work and the end result is that really smart people will be attacked by rally stupid and gullible people. The gullible seem to think that the loudest voices are the smartest voices.
(Photo generated by Grok)
Lack of effort does not always reflect lack of intelligence.
“In 100 years We Have Gone From Teaching Latin And Greek In High School To Teaching Remedial English In College.” J. Sobran
Of course, to no one’s surprise, this is RACIST.
PWS
We really should at least consider that the average intelligence isn’t actually getting lower, but people are getting, or are indoctrinated to be, lazy. Instead of using intelligence, critical thinking, and logic to learn and make decisions, they’re just lazy and believe whatever biased narrative that fits their indoctrinated bias, and then they’re willing to climb on the bandwagon and go with the flow. This is what indoctrinated ignorant puppets do, why the hell would these indoctrinated drones rock the boat and suffer the wrath of the mob?
You must admit, Dearest Steve, that an eternity has passed since last was explored a tantalizing Rabbit Hole that this paragraph alludes to. I imagine that you must feel an extraordinary lightness of being, a sun-like clarity, at having worked through the miasma of indoctrination that (must?) surround us all.
I wonder what the classroom would look like that was established to see and challenge all indoctrination. What would they have on their list? And what intellectual method would they employ? Would they be allowed and encouraged to explore all dimensions of in-doctrination in every area of America? Would there be limits? Would there be “first principles” that are accepted like accepted propositions? (Inarguables)
There is an interesting set of 4 essays by Noam Chomsky called On Power and Ideology”. The title itself makes a statement: that Power (must necessarily?) have Ideology. And an ideology will be inculcated and as such this imply “indoctrination”.
Though this question is surely a Rabbit Hole I have a feeling it is like La Cueva de Aladín with exciting treasures down there in it.
Do you agree that all political power-concentrations necessitate an ideology (a set if commitments) that cannot be else than ideological?
Also: can a rabbit’s foot truly bring good luck and if so, why? What’s the magic there? 😉
I’ve so missed the piles presented by faux intellectuals.
I’ll let my fellow commenters choose which of these terms best describes Aliza’s tangent.
Trolling
Posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion, n, to draw attention to themself and for their own amusement.
Cranial Power Generation Potential
Cranial Power Generation Potential (CPGP) is a value that determines the wind power generating potential created from information blowing over the heads of people who have a pattern of presenting fine examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
To calculate the CPGP, first we use the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale and define a couple of values associated with the intelligence levels on that scale;
Now we can fabricate small windmills for stupid people to wear on their heads; with the amount of information blowing over the heads of these people we could power a small country or a major metropolitan area.
I’ve so missed the piles presented by faux intellectuals.
Hmmmm. What should concern us more is faux phở!
Wait I have it:
The foe of my phở is faux!
I think a server freaked out and posted my comment 5 times!
That’s because it spammed that comment 142 times!
WOW! That server really freaked out!!!
Regarding the Aaron Spencer story, the man he’s charged with killing allegedly raped his daughter – https://dailycaller.com/2026/03/04/arkansas-man-daughters-rapist-sheriff-nomination/
While unconventional, it is an interesting platform to run for Sheriff on.
This reminds me of the Russian guy who found images of abuse of his daughter by his friend on that friend’s phone and then beat his “friend” to death with a shovel or some such. He was put on trial and convicted for encouraging his friend to commit suicide.
Personally, I think cutting (1) cutting off his big toes and thumbs to prevent running and wielding a weapon and (2) then cutting off his man parts off, turning them into a protein smoothie and forcing him to drink it while looking in a mirror would be appropriate.
“Take the Law into Your Own Hands!” “I’m Alex Pretti and I approved this message.”
Dang! Another keyboard heads for the trash. Thanks for that!
Given the number of incidents where criminals are just let out, it doesn’t take much to see it from the father’s perspective though.
That was the theme of “A Time to Kill,” the jury nullification novel and movie.
The only Grisham novel I actually liked, never saw the movie.
Similar to the Gary Plauche incident in 84 also.
Grisham has said that it was the only novel he passionately cared about, and that it only sold after “The Firm” was a best seller.
You could tell, the writing in “A time to kill” was much better than in later attempts, at least IMHO. The next couple read like they were hoping to be screenplays.
And they were!
In the Old Trstament Haman got a king to declare a law permitting a Jewish genocide. The solution was not to revoke a soveriegn decree, but to issue a counter decree that authorized the Jews to use any means necessary to defend themselves.
Having daughters(i have 2) changes the ethics balance. Any man who preys apon a minor should expect nothing less torture and death something like the John Wick effect.
Perhaps the unethical “take the law into your own hands” response could be remedied by codifying the permissibility of a father butchering the molester unless the perp surrender s into the living arms of the police.
Recently in my state, a police officer noticed a moving vehicle with a woman hanging out the window. She was yelling for help because she had been kidnapped. A high-speed chase ensued and the car was rammed off the road. When the woman was rescued, it turned out that she was the man’s ex-girlfriend. He had abducted her, abused her for several days, strangled her unconscious, etc. All he was charged with was fleeing from police and resisting arrest. It turns out that 2 years earlier, he had shot a man a couple times in a crowded shopping mall. He was convicted by a jury of 2 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The judge sentenced him to time served and he walked free from court after conviction. I can see people resonating with Spencer’s message.
We are teaching people later in life and this is a problem. Children learn very easily, adults…not as much. We are pushing foundational knowledge like math and reading until college now. It is much harder to learn then and the knowledge does not ‘take’ as well. Algebra learned in 8th grade is used much more fluently by 12th grade than algebra learned at 18 is at 22. Again, this is an intentional failure by our educational establishment.
A group of us seventh graders were given “Programmed Learning” books to learn algebra. This would have been in 1962 or 1963. The books came with a window-like frame you slid down the page as you solved successive problems. Funny thing was, we started and then we stopped. I don’t even remember any evaluation being done of the program. Then we all took algebra in ninth grade in a conventional setting.
The election in the Arkansas county may have been a communal decision to do something really stupid and futile; rural, small-town stuff.
Would make a good Faulkner short story.
Or it could be pushback against what rural, small-town people believe are the increasingly insane legal decisions in larger blue areas. They read about arsonists, rapists and killers being released on negligible to zero bond, serve extraordinarily lax sentences and are let loose upon society to prey on citizens again and again. They also read about people who are just trying to defend their persons, property or other people who are arrested, charged and sent to prison. Whether it’s a good thing or not to vote someone in who is facing charges for killing someone, this is probably a situation in which they believe they would do the same thing their newly-elected sheriff did if faced with the same circumstances.
This is interesting [from the linked article]: “Lonoke County, [is] a predominately suburban county in the Little Rock metropolitan area.”
I can’t speak for current elementary schools but they were teaching algebraic preparatory math to my son (who is 16 now) in first grade. He’s also a fluent reader and knows history and he knows more than I ever did at his age. Not everyone uses YouTube for just cat videos. My daughters were the same but it’s their interests they follow which isn’t algebra or classic literature. Just because the general public is jaded about our government doesn’t mean they haven’t learned. Let’s be honest. Most don’t vote in the primaries and fewer still understand the caucus process. Honestly, reading as a metric has been discussed since Henry Ford built his empire. Today more than ever before (and I’m an avid reader) you don’t have to be extremely literate to learn. There’s a lot of information available via audiobooks and documentaries. You can level up if you’re curious.
That said, you’re right people are getting dumber. I think it’s because they lack curiosity. The public school system happily choked that out of the kids. Followed by parents who never give their kids time to simply be without some schedule of sports, dance, scouts, etc.
Wait. YouTube offers videos that not Rush or cat related? Huh. Who knew?
jvb
Is We Getting Dumber?
There is some evidence for that. Beyond statistical proofs that we are failing to properly educate generations of students in basic skills, there is a sort of – shall I write it? – malaise about being responsible adults in this country. I don’t know where it came from. Maybe it’s our high standard of living that emboldens it. Maybe is a misapplication of American individualism that has turned into the oft-unethical slogan, “My way or the highway”. It may, in fact, be a broader misapplication of the also oft-unethical slogan, “The customer is always right”. Because, in fact, the customer is not always right.
It is a rationalization that encourages a form of classism (customers consider themselves socially, educationally, financially above the ones who are tasked with serving them), incentivizes unethical behavior, such as fraud, theft, demands for special treatment and, occasionally, results in horrific behavior like sexual harassment, assault and/or battery.
We have started to commoditize large aspects of our lives. Whatever you may say about poorly-educated, biased teachers, there are plenty of good teachers out there who cannot run their classrooms because the administration acts like the manager of a store who allows customers to abuse the employees under some misguided notion that this is how to run a successful business. The teachers who can teach, but are expected to look past misbehavior and abuse, while still doing their jobs eventually leave and what are left are the ones who can’t and won’t teach. That’s what happens in a poorly-run business such as the one I described above. Eventually, you have only the employees who don’t care about their jobs.
Some reasons for this lack of maturity and growth include what Steve pointed out above – laziness. We have large swathes of the population who can’t be bothered to do very basic things. They are manchilds and womanchilds, prioritizing their shallow wants over their very real responsibilities. Expecting them to pick up a broom and sweep the floor rather than playing four hours of video games per night is tantamount to crushing their souls. Expecting them to be fiscally aware, to save, to monitor spending, means they can’t spoil themselves with destination weddings and pricey vacations.
I am also going to add distraction to the list. Prior to mobile phones, we had to memorize important telephone numbers. Now, there are people who cannot even provide their own numbers without looking them up. The internet and the capabilities of the internet have made brain muscles weak. It has also contributed to the collapse of the work ethic and civility in general. Restaurants routinely have to put up with people on their phones while ordering in person which often leads to miscommunication and to the aforementioned abuse of staff when the order is wrong. Increasing numbers of restaurants will not serve customers until the phone is put down.
I work at a nationally-known company. I have connections in our customer service department and have listened to calls from customers whose inability to concentrate or provide the most basic information would shock you. I’m not talking about people for whom English is a second language. I’m talking about run-of-the-mill Americans who, for reasons incomprehensible:
and the number of callers with whom the following conversation is endlessly repeated staggers the mind:
Representative: “I’m going to give you the customer service telephone number. Please let me know when you’re ready.
Caller: “I’m ready.”
Representative: “1-800…”
Caller: “Hold on! Hold on!”
Assuming the representative does not have to repeat the telephone number three or four times, after the number is given…
Caller: “What number is this to again?”
Do you want to know why call center employees don’t give out their last names? Customers are now finding phone numbers and addresses online and contacting representatives directly at home, after working hours. Some will even show up on the doorstep and scream at the representative who, not being at work, has no access to the information.
I realize that this is mere anecdotal evidence. I also realize that it is a mere sampling which may or may not demonstrate anything. However, I have listened to conversations like these for a long time and they do tend to mirror much of what we are seeing in public discourse now. Inattentiveness, impulsiveness, entitlement and, as Steve mentioned, laziness.
Wow! Excellent thoughts and anecdotes. Thanks for sharing that.
Thank you.
There’s so much I left out. Like the medical professional who called, asked the representative to hold and, instead of putting the call on hold or even muting, just put the phone down and had an entire conversation about a patient, including: the patient’s name, the condition, the nature of the relationship with family, the social worker’s name and telephone #. The representative could not get his attention to have the conversation out of earshot. All of the customer service line’s call are recorded. It picked up every bit of that very HIPAA-regulated conversation.
You all truly have no idea what customer service representatives hear when you are not giving them your full attention. My company’s department has heard private conversations of all kinds, arguments, eating, flushing…
Yikes. I can see why the Sirius/XM rep I talked to yesterday want to jump through the phone and strangle me. Man, root canal procedures seem less painful than talking to customer service representatives.
jvb
This makes me so sad. At the same time, I truly hope these examples are the fringes of the bell curve instead of the middle. My daughter echoes your comments. She told me a few weeks ago “You just have to assume everyone is stupid and doesn’t know anything.” It’s a bit cynical for someone in their 20’s, but I couldn’t argue with it.
Indeed. Assume they are stupid but do not, under any circumstances, allow yourself to convey that you think they are stupid. Lazy, entitled, impulsive, inattentive people have shockingly thin skin.
Comment of the Day. It’s going up now.