Tragic Stupidity

During a class of my cognitive psychology class I took in grad school, they told us of the concept called ___________________. We humans automatically "fill in" visual pieces to make an object whole. We are uncomfortable with faces missing parts, unfocused pictures, and fragments. We need to see things as completed and when we can't get that, we just complete the blanks for ourselves so our world can remain quite comfortable. People do that with chaos of the world around them that they don't understand. Unfortunately, most of the filler is stupidity with a heavy infusion of fear marinating through it.

A client I had in a relapse prevention group today say that someone shouldn't get a DUI if they were drinking drunk but never hit anyone or anything. "No harm, no foul", he said. WHAT? Another said that the state government is paid to keep people in prison. If that's true, the State of Michigan has totally found a way out of its 1.8 million dollar deficit! That one made me laugh but this one made angry: "Marijuana isn't a drug because it's weed that grows in the ground." Now I am all for decriminalization but I'm not stupid. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

When did being a blind, babbling, uneducated, moron become a fashion statement best worn sleeveless? We need to go back to making school relevant (again?) so kids will stay. Maybe we can get them to do something as radical as critical reading and analytical thinking? Then maybe they'd read a newspaper and learn it costs upwards of $32,000 a year per offender all while Michigan's prison population as of 2007 was 50,233-and that's just to take care of the inmates. Why the electric bill alone at a prison probably mimicks that of a small city.

The tragedy of the "fill in" movement is when you see it in African-Americans 'cuz usually it is sprinkled heavy with conspiracy theory and bizarre myths. This reaction in 1950 made sense. However, in 2009, you have more choices and can get different views through the Internet....oops, these are the very folk who either don't have a computer or the computer serves as another coat rack. And never mind, they'd get lost on the Rush Limbaugh website anyway.

Nothing like moral certainty!