Is society becoming more stupid

My dad had a similar story. He a three other engineers shared an office in Malta fitted with an old fashioned metal-bladed ceiling fan. They got to discussing if it was dangerous or not. The famously clever senior man was convinced it was safe. Stood on his desk and proved he was completely wrong by mangling a finger so badly it had to be amputated...

Can someone tell me how many drug ‘users’ there are these days, compared to a few decades ago? That alone might tell us something. How long did it take to educate people that smoking cigarettes was likely affecting their health? Let’s leave out all those already addicted before the dangers were not known - as many of them are simply ‘lost causes’.

Yes, there are some smart youngsters out there, but there is a large minority that are not so smart. And don’t try telling me that ‘doing drugs’ is clever.

With all the scams going on out there, why do people still get conned? Likely living longer and dementure is catching out more of us!

Soap manufactures climbed on the band wagon back in the 50/60s and now we have a plethora of ‘soap’ operas taking up useful space on the goggle box. Some out there even think that ‘reality programmes’ reflect reality.... whatever next!

The thought that there is too much protection from risk isn't new. A quote from a novel by Dick Francis written in 1967:

"Psycology is the death of courage . . . .It is now not considered sensible to take physical risks unless you can't avoid them. Ye gods, there's no quicker way to ruin a nation than to teach its young men it's foolish to take risks. Or worse than foolish they would have you believe."

Russell

ndiy, have you read Sherlock Holmes, 19th century Opium dens. Early 20th century, the fashionable smoked herbal cigaretts--marijuana, only in later years to become illeagal. Now the drugs of choice are synthetic, and far worse.

Ian S C

Yes, some. But I rely on facts, not fiction, for statistics.

Even then, we know there are lies, damn lies and statistics.