Master commenter A M Golden had a stand-out week, with several COTD-worthy posts, including this one, and a Guest Post that arose out of yesterday’s Open Forum.
I am also grateful any time I’m given an excuse to re-post one of my favorite—and, sadly, most relevant—clips from the Ethics Alarms archive.
Here is A M’s Comment of the Day on “Is We Getting Dummer?” The Primaries This Week Tell Us “Yes”:
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“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 store manager 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 (commenter) Steve Witherspoon 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.
Ethics Alarms 
As always, I am honored. There was so much material I could have included and so much more on this subject that the comment could have made two entries.
Some time ago I started saying “Life is an IQ test…and it’s getting harder every year.”
Who said it? The internet won’t tell me. It’s not my own idea. It should be credited to the person who noted it. Who I cannot identify.
Thoughts in no particular order.
Mea Culpa
I have lived at addresses where I could not state the address. I could get there and let myself in with a key. This did not last long–but it happened. no need for further details.
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A similar situation: I have had a credit card where I didn’t know the 5 digit zip code associated with the card, because I couldn’t remember which of the several mailing addresses I was using was matched to the card.
Someone might not know the name of their bank because their bank changed names. Multiple times.
I’ve known foreigners who had their name spelled wrong on their USA identity documents. It may have happened to my mother’s oldest brothers, in fact. They were near-foreigners at that point, though born here. Their father’s English proficiency was poor.
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I have trouble remembering the name of our local land-line telephone company and ISP. “Rochester Telephone” makes too much sense–so it’s now “Frontier.” It’s been 30 years, but I was living out of state when it happened.
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If I get an email saying Amazon has billed my credit card for an iPhone shipped to Karachi Pakistan, it is not a notice that I have been defrauded. Rather, it is a phishing attempt that seeks to defraud me by getting me to click on a link and provide my info. The warning of fraud is usually itself a fraudulent attack, by phishing.
If I get a phone call from my grandson who is in jail, it’s not my grandson calling from jail. So many times he seemed to be calling from jail–until we dropped the landline.
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If I get a charitable solicitation that is marked “URGENT” it’s not a bill. Bills aren’t marked “URGENT,” they are marked “your statement.”
There are many documented cases in which the elderly have to have their checkbooks taken away by their children because they have trouble telling (1) what is a bill and (2) what is a charitable solicitation that could be confused with a bill.
While we are at it, if you have a magazine subscription there are predatory companies that have you renew your subscription through them at a *higher rate*. Is this still a thing? So you need to recognize that racket.
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We have a new federal holidays that didn’t previously exist (Juneteenth) and a few others that have alternate names (Columbus Day aka Indigenous People’s Day, for example).
It used to be the case, until AI came along, that when I asked “How many genders are there?) I was told 72.
Maybe this is just the standard effect of a changing world. I’m not so sure.
Now that I have finished my rant, “A M” is correct. We are getting dumber. but it’s not monotonic with respect to all variables. How to characterize it is a challenge.
Distraction is a big issue, as is laziness.
Additionally there is the endless series of lies or half-truths or bullsh*t spewed at us by the news, as Konstantin Kisin noted some years ago. If the following is paywalled, it’s posted in a few other places. I’ve likely shared it before.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/vaccines-konstantin-kisin
charles w abbott
rochester NY
P.S.: I considered deleting this post but I know Jack thinks we don’t have enough commenters. If this comment sucks, I’ve “taken one for the team.”
Charles: on the contrary, this is exactly the kind of comment I had hoped AM’s post would trigger.
In my case, I don’t think I’m getting “dummer,” I’ve just always been stupid about certain things. For example,
The last time I knew my personal phone # off the top of my head was when I lived in Arlington Mass, at 617-642-1815. I still don’t know my current cell phone number.
I don’t remember birthdays. I never learned by parents birthdays
My entire life, if you hand me something while I am focused on something else, I will not only lose it, I will deny that you handed it to me.
I spell “piece,” “receive” and “Michael” wrong before I fix it ever single time, and always have.
After I take something out of the oven, I always forget to turn the oven off.
No matter how important something is, a Red Sox game will always distract me.
I cannot make DropBox work for me.
No matter how much I need to, I cannot figure out how to make Ethics Alarms capable of getting me income without making it less valuable.
I’ve never been able to type, text correctly, scan a QR code, or use 99% of what’s on my smart phone.
I couldn’t avoid enabling my late wife’s alcoholism, or find a way to keep her happy.
I can’t do taxes.
I never figured out how to flirt, court a woman, or be the first one to try a kiss.
That’s just to start with! Reading the above, I realize that I’m pathetic. Where’s that wood-chipper?
Jack, I can do taxes. If I weren’t happily married, I would invite you out to dinner.