A Lack of Original Thoughts
There’s a headline story on Yahoo! with a line below it that says “Whenever we say something witty, odds are we are quoting a movie.”
It’s depressing to think that is actually true. As a whole, are we incapable of original thoughts, witty or otherwise? I guess it just makes me sad to think that most clever and entertaining conversation occurs only because as a whole, everyone watches movies. I guess the collective mentality of everyone around us has weakened to the point that we can only quote the words of others. And those others are the few with the intelligence to go and write for Hollywood? So much for the best and brightest devoting themselves to scientific progress and intellectual advancement.
I do know several people who pepper their conversation with quotes from comedians or movies or celebrities. What’s really obnoxious is when they deliver thoes lines as if they were original; some brilliant thought of their own. They don’t even give credit to the source, or at least admit they are parroting someone else’s lines. Even more sad is that my kids are starting to do it. That must make it time to turn off the TV.
I guess that’s what the policy of rote memorization in public school will give us though. They teach us read this, remember it, spit it back out, then forget most of it. The world will accept you as long as you can recite back a line or two at the appropriate time.
