It’s not a surprising when you’re waiting at the grocery store’s check-out line and you see multiple newspapers and magazines publishing the same routine headline of America’s privileged blonde heiress involved in a scandalous and stupid incident.
The more ridiculous the act, the more publicity she gets. This is the generation that makes it acceptable — and even the norm — to act out of stupidity.
America considers its first dumb blonde as none other than Marilyn Monroe. She allured men with her voluptuous figure and witty catchphrases, photographed in questionable poses while holding Dostoyevsky or Proust. Men awed by her beauty would be able to ground themselves again by mocking her intelligence, despite the fact that Monroe read diligently, married an intellectual man and now even has a collection of poetry published.
Women knew it was cool to be smart back then. It mattered to have a mind of one’s own and an educated opinion that would not fall flat. New generations outdo the preceding — and the present generation has the idea that it’s cool to be smart has faded into its own materialistic pool of pretentious thoughts and mindless chitchat.
The television show “Modern Family” recently portrayed this in an episode. The older sister taught her younger sister that completing homework was not cool.
It doesn’t just occur in the normal American household, but in the homes of politicians like Sarah Palin, too.
Who can forget the many hilarious Palin moments? The ones where she was caught looking at the notes written on her hand for a speech, or when she was caught making up words that don’t even exist in the English language.
We live in Palin’s America — and frankly, that is the antithesis of cool. It’s not cool to be a politician and not be able to correctly source court cases or historical events, and it’s definitely not cool to be given power and then create new English words.
In the long run, no one likes to be remembered as stupid. Maybe Paris Hilton doesn’t mind because at the end the only thing that matters is the love of Tinker Bell, her Chihuahua, but Monroe never intended to be remembered as an object.
It’s time we make being smart cool again. To not let others bring us down as individuals and realize if we made an honest mistake, it’s OK; it doesn’t mean we are stupid. It’s time to realize what it means to be an ideal human being and an intelligent woman.
Margarita Campos is a sophomore creative writing major and may be reached at [email protected].
