Take a Ride in My Mind, Baby.
JohnnyBax
Published
10/21/2010
What happens when you're not working and you've quit drinking a fifth of whiskey everyday? You start thinking about things... a lot. And it starts to hurt your brain. Probably because it's not used to actually being productive. It's just used to having it's ass kicked every night when it's soaked in sweet sweet booze.
The source of my current mind fuck began, ironically enough, from watching the opening scene of the movie Idiocracy while laying on my couch this morning. In case you've never seen the movie, which is kinda shitty actually, the plot is based around a guy with average intelligence who is frozen for 500 years. When he wakes up in the future, he finds that he is the smartest man in the world. How is this plausible? The opening three minute scene from the movie provides the sub text for the plot...
After watching this I chortled and thought about how hilarious yet unsettling the thought of "reverse evolution" was. It's just a silly idea and has no academic basis, and the whole concept is just comedic fodder dreamed up by Mike Judge for the purpose of his script. But then latter in the day, after flipping over to lay on the other side of the couch, I stumbled across a new movie in the On Demand section of my cable box: Freakonomics.
The movie is based on the popular book written by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner, which I read some years ago. Freakonomics is a mind fuck by itself, and makes you look at the world in different ways. Steven Levitt, an economist at the University of Chicago, has devoted his life's work to understanding the hidden reasons why things are the way they are, by looking at data to uncover incentives that one would not notice on a superficial level. In other words, he finds unusual causes and effects in everyday life that are not readily apparent to those not paying attention.
The part that got my attention was the link between the sharp nationwide decrease in crime in the early 1990's and Roe vs. Wade. That's right... legalizing abortion caused a dramatic drop in the crime rate 20 years later. Of course, the movie was just released and I can't find the clip from the actual documentary to post here (they devote about 20 minutes to this topic in the film) but I did find this clip summarizing the theory...
In the actual film they go much deeper into the data to support the theory, breaking down those percentages, showing how they were derived. They also cite another case where the opposite effect was achieved in Romania in the 1960's. Romania's dictator forced women to have more children to increase the population, and a generation later Romania's crime rates skyrocketed due to the large number of unwanted children who were now adults.
So... I'm not making a pro-choice or a pro-life argument. And neither is Mr. Levitt apparently. But my question, to all of you is.... What if he's right? I'm not saying he is or isn't... but what if legalized abortions inadvertently caused a significant reduction in the crime rate a generation later? Does this same effect work on other things.... like intelligence?
Now we're really faced with a moral dilemma. Yes, children are our future... but what responsibility and how involved should we be in shaping that future? Should we be involved to the extent that we are controlling who exists and who doesn't for the sake of a better, more Utopian society?
Oh wait... I think someone else has already thought of this...
The sad thing in all of this is it's not that fucking hard to take a pill... to get a shot... or put a rubber on your dick. That's why it is precisely the dumbest motherfuckers in this world who end up getting pregnant on accident. I'm sorry if that offends some of you with kids, and yes, legitimate accidental pregnancies do occur. You might very well be that 1% that it failed on... but by and large the rest of you fucked up, and you know it. And the worst thing about it is the ones out there who never own up to that mistake. And now it's your fault this grubby little five year old covered in dirt and shit is screaming in the middle of the shopping mall as you ignore him while you shop for junk food or slutty clothes or whatever it is your self-indulgent greedy ass wants. Poor little guy doesn't have a chance, and you're not just ruining his life, but everyone else's for bringing that unwanted brat into this world. Thanks.
If we want a better tomorrow, we have two options: Either we thin out the herd, or teach the herd the importance of responsibility. Option one just pisses people off, and option two remains perpetually impossible because it is more fashionable now than ever for people to be willfully ignorant (and proud of it!). Need proof of option 2? Two words: Christine O'Donnell.
Her platform...
Speaking of responsibility, I'll admit I'm no better than the whores who keep getting knocked up. I've been on a self-destructive path for a couple of years now. But maybe it's time to man up, stay off the coke, whiskey and fuck buddies (I wrap my stump before I hump). And try for once to be a better man.
Because after all, what we do in our lives echos in eternity... whether we like it or not.
The source of my current mind fuck began, ironically enough, from watching the opening scene of the movie Idiocracy while laying on my couch this morning. In case you've never seen the movie, which is kinda shitty actually, the plot is based around a guy with average intelligence who is frozen for 500 years. When he wakes up in the future, he finds that he is the smartest man in the world. How is this plausible? The opening three minute scene from the movie provides the sub text for the plot...
After watching this I chortled and thought about how hilarious yet unsettling the thought of "reverse evolution" was. It's just a silly idea and has no academic basis, and the whole concept is just comedic fodder dreamed up by Mike Judge for the purpose of his script. But then latter in the day, after flipping over to lay on the other side of the couch, I stumbled across a new movie in the On Demand section of my cable box: Freakonomics.
The movie is based on the popular book written by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner, which I read some years ago. Freakonomics is a mind fuck by itself, and makes you look at the world in different ways. Steven Levitt, an economist at the University of Chicago, has devoted his life's work to understanding the hidden reasons why things are the way they are, by looking at data to uncover incentives that one would not notice on a superficial level. In other words, he finds unusual causes and effects in everyday life that are not readily apparent to those not paying attention.
The part that got my attention was the link between the sharp nationwide decrease in crime in the early 1990's and Roe vs. Wade. That's right... legalizing abortion caused a dramatic drop in the crime rate 20 years later. Of course, the movie was just released and I can't find the clip from the actual documentary to post here (they devote about 20 minutes to this topic in the film) but I did find this clip summarizing the theory...
In the actual film they go much deeper into the data to support the theory, breaking down those percentages, showing how they were derived. They also cite another case where the opposite effect was achieved in Romania in the 1960's. Romania's dictator forced women to have more children to increase the population, and a generation later Romania's crime rates skyrocketed due to the large number of unwanted children who were now adults.
So... I'm not making a pro-choice or a pro-life argument. And neither is Mr. Levitt apparently. But my question, to all of you is.... What if he's right? I'm not saying he is or isn't... but what if legalized abortions inadvertently caused a significant reduction in the crime rate a generation later? Does this same effect work on other things.... like intelligence?
Now we're really faced with a moral dilemma. Yes, children are our future... but what responsibility and how involved should we be in shaping that future? Should we be involved to the extent that we are controlling who exists and who doesn't for the sake of a better, more Utopian society?
Oh wait... I think someone else has already thought of this...
The sad thing in all of this is it's not that fucking hard to take a pill... to get a shot... or put a rubber on your dick. That's why it is precisely the dumbest motherfuckers in this world who end up getting pregnant on accident. I'm sorry if that offends some of you with kids, and yes, legitimate accidental pregnancies do occur. You might very well be that 1% that it failed on... but by and large the rest of you fucked up, and you know it. And the worst thing about it is the ones out there who never own up to that mistake. And now it's your fault this grubby little five year old covered in dirt and shit is screaming in the middle of the shopping mall as you ignore him while you shop for junk food or slutty clothes or whatever it is your self-indulgent greedy ass wants. Poor little guy doesn't have a chance, and you're not just ruining his life, but everyone else's for bringing that unwanted brat into this world. Thanks.
If we want a better tomorrow, we have two options: Either we thin out the herd, or teach the herd the importance of responsibility. Option one just pisses people off, and option two remains perpetually impossible because it is more fashionable now than ever for people to be willfully ignorant (and proud of it!). Need proof of option 2? Two words: Christine O'Donnell.
Her platform...
Speaking of responsibility, I'll admit I'm no better than the whores who keep getting knocked up. I've been on a self-destructive path for a couple of years now. But maybe it's time to man up, stay off the coke, whiskey and fuck buddies (I wrap my stump before I hump). And try for once to be a better man.
Because after all, what we do in our lives echos in eternity... whether we like it or not.
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