Ted Rall for August 09, 2007

Transcript:

Scientists now believe that mental obesity spreads like a virus from one friend to another. Laziness and incuriosity have been around for ages. This explains our intellectual flab epidemic. They call it "social contagion": the tendency of fatheads to influence others and to convey to others - perhaps subliminally - the message that dumbness is ok. We were surprised to find that mental obesity spread telephonically via long-distance friendships. Some political scientists disagree with the suggestion that mentally obese people are normalizing thickheadedness. Bookstores and newspapers are going out of business. People are too busy to intellectually exercise. So: should you dump your intellectually chubby friends? No! You're a positive influence on them! But it wouldn't hurt you to hang out with some loser dorks.