I finished reading an article in the New York Times this morning and found myself declaring it “interesting.”
What the hell does that mean? What is interesting? What exactly do we mean when we say that a fact or a person or a movie or book is interesting? If someone tells me that they saw a motion picture and found it interesting I’m going to assume they thought it was merely okay. Please also keep all interesting books the hell away from me.
One thing we don’t mean is that this thing we’re describing was compelling then again we certainly don’t mean that was boring. Sometimes to say something was“interesting” is to be dismissive. But I suppose sometimes it is literally something that captured our interest if not our imagination. It can be damning with faint praise or noting that we were not put to sleep.
Ya know what’s interesting? That Saturn has 274 moons. I find that interesting. I also don’t believe I’ll be going around telling colleagues, friends, relatives or acquaintances about the number of moons Saturn has. I think it far more than interesting that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day and that that day was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (I’ll do the math for you, July 4, 1826).
Is is interesting or fascinating that Adolph Hitler liked Mickey Mouse cartoons? Depends, I guess on your…uh, interests?
Another word that doesn’t mean much is smart. He’s a smart guy. Big deal, so am I. Tell me something more…interesting, about him.
What do you mean if you say someone is smart? Smart how? Good at math? Knows current events? Has an advanced degree? Is good at their job? Most everyone save MAGA people are smart in one way or another. You meet a cardiologists you’re meeting a smart person. Right? Well, yeah, they can figure out what’s wrong with someone’s ticker and in most cases fix it. Gotta be smart to do that. But the last cardiologist I spoke to thought that as an ESL teacher I needed to be fluent in all the languages of the students I teach. Folks, that’s dumb. I knew a school administrator who when it came to understanding issues around education was -- as they say – smart as a whip. But that same person had no clue what was going on in national politics. This was not someone who you felt comfortable having the vote.
There are different kinds of intelligence – or ways to be smart. There are the general categories of book smart and street smart for example. There’s also emotional intelligence. Some people who are considered brilliant have no clue how to interact with their fellow human beings.
If you tell me that you’re child is smart I’m going to assume the kid gets good grades in school. Bravo. That’ll get the child to the next level of school and if they keep it up eventually on to college and maybe many degrees of various kinds. Way to go. But maybe they’ll be a drug addict, or sexual deviant, or sociopath. A lot of good smart does you if you’re in jail, or dead of an overdose or are divorced with no friends.
It's great to be smart at something, but it’s better not to be really dumb at important things. I’ve gotten away with being dumb at mechanical things all my life. I can screw in a little bulb but that’s the extent of my abilities with tools and the like. However if I were dumb about crossing streets I’d not be here today. (Can you be a smart or dumb street crosser? Spose so.) I’m not smart at math but I can slap sentences together. I know my U.S. History but can’t tell you much about Romania. We’re all like that.
I’ve made a lot of dumb mistakes in my life that would seem to reflect a stupid person. Then again things have turned out all right for me, ya know, as if I were smart.
When it comes down to it most people are smart and for that matter most people are interesting. So fucking what?
No comments:
Post a Comment