Stupid is as stupid does
by Pete Cunningham
*As printed in the New College Window, 12/3/2002

Context:  Written in response to an article in the previous issue which called Americans “stupid”.

Chinese people smell.  Arabic people look funny.  Blacks are stupid.  If you haven’t already thrown out the paper due to the ridiculous amount of racism in the first three sentences, perhaps you can stand for one more piece of racist slander, all Americans are stupid.  The difference between the first three statements and the last is next to none.  All four are absurdly offensive statements against a group of people and have no business being a part of intelligent conversation.  Yet the comment about Americans being stupid is not only often discussed throughout campus, but printed in this very paper. 

Waseem El-Halabi (if that’s his real name) in the last edition of the window wrote an article about George Bush being, “A hero for the common idiot”.  In his article he slandered the 43^rd president based on what he has heard from very credible sources such as The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live.  This is a common and accepted fate of elected officials.  Being made fun of at every turn is a prerequisite to being president, prime minister, MP, or any other position where you’re under the glaring eye of the public.  It comes with the territory.  Waseem went on to say that the American people as a whole are ignorant and that Bush is a perfect representative of the American people because, and I quote, “he’s stupid”. 

Now there’s a statement that’s going to separate you from ignorance, declaring an entire nation stupid.  That’s not hypocritical, don’t you worry.  Forget the fact that there might be few hundred Americans at U of T that would take particular offense to this statement.  Ignore the reality that your statement in a different context would be a headline for the KKK’s weekly newsletter.  Forget all of this because hey, it’s just Americans, what do they care?

I hope you’re picking up on my sarcasm because, to quote the great David Spade, “I’m laying it on pretty thick.”  The statement made in the Window by Waseem was unacceptable and equally inappropriate.  At the risk sounding like my mother, I’ll stop telling you what the statement is and dive into what it is not, credible.  What are you basing this statement on?  Everyone has seen the episodes of the Jay Leno where he goes on the street and talks to people who appear to not know their ass from their elbows. We’ve all tuned into “Talking to Americans” episodes where the people quizzed are lucky to know how to spell Canada let alone who the current prime minister is. 

This stuff is funny, entertainment at its best.  One has to realize though that it is just that, entertainment.  The producers of these shows are not going to put the people who got every question right on T.V., where’s the humor in that?  Waseem I bet you were one of those kids who jumped off your roof with an umbrella because you saw Mary Poppins do it.  Apparently that summer in a leg cast didn’t teach you the lesson you were supposed to learn, don’t believe every thing you see on T.V.  As an extension of that lesson, how’s about you don’t turn everything you see on T.V. into a newspaper article (if you want to call it that).  You just might run the risk of sounding as ignorant as you claim Americans are, and in the process label yourself as a bigot.  But hey, you don’t have to listen to me.  I probably wrote this article right in between watching football games, drinking beer that has less alcohol than cough syrup, and bombing a third world country, right?  I mean I am just a stupid American.  What do I know?