The dumbest generation. Gee, thanks.
Posted on May 16th, 2008 – 10:19 AMBy Kara McGuire
I am now 31 and thank goodness! According to a new book released yesterday called “The Dumbest Generation,” by Mark Bauerlein, you should not trust anyone under 30 because they got stoopid using the Internet. Bauerlein is an English professor at Emory University who has also lamented the death of literature readers as a researcher for the NEA.
I haven’t gotten my hands on the book yet, but come, now. I know he wants to sell books (and I may even pick up a copy and READ it since at at my age I am only on the cusp of being dumb), but where does he get off calling millions of people a “bad word,” as my kids would say?
I came across the book and its thesis at the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtor’s blog: The Skinny.
5 Responses to "The dumbest generation. Gee, thanks."
Sunday’s Strib Arts section had a nice review about a contrasting book, “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky, about the massive collaborative power of the internet. So take that, Bauerlein! (I’m almost 33 but take exception to any blanket assumption/label like that - even if it IS to sell books.)
While the “English teacher’s son” part of me also laments the proliferation of bad spelling and grammar out there, another part of me says that needlessly focusing on it is counterproductive to creativity. If someone has a great idea, I don’t really care if they spell it “definately” in an IM or an e-mail. Now, if they’re trying to transfer me some money from a Nigerian bank account, that’s another story….
Ah yes, the generation so smart they can do a book review without bothering to read it 
BTW Mike, I love your comment “I… take exception to ANY blanket assumption/label”
This is hardly a book review…but when I get my hands on it and read it, I’ll let you know…
Enough Wealth, didn’t anyone ever teach you that adding a “wink face” to a snarky comment doesn’t make it any less obnoxious? And, two in one comment… wow.
Julie, you labelled my creative writing “snarky” and “obnoxious” without even adding a smiley! I’m devastated ;(
AND you made an indirect insult regarding how my parents raised me… triple wow. ROTFL
