Decline in IQ of overall population...

I usually get on FFN 2 -3 times a day to keep up with current events and what not. Today I've only gotten on once (which happens to be at this moment) and it seems that the current posts that are circulating are a little more "whacker/wannabe-ish". Is it just me or are others getting this vibe too?

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on November 3, 2010 at 10:36pm

Matt;

When you say "overall population", is this what you were referring to?

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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on November 4, 2010 at 1:00pm

What color is yor helmet? How old is your fire truck? These are important issues. It is not neccisarily the questions, it is the spelling, grammar and sentence structure.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Oomkes on November 4, 2010 at 1:50pm

Shouldn't really speak for my time here as a newbie, but I would say yes, without a doubt, the IQ of the overall population is definitely proving Darwin to be mistaken.

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Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on November 4, 2010 at 2:56pm

There is a movie called "Idiocracy" about a man and woman that are frozen for 3000 years. when they wake up the world is nothing but idiots. The reason for this is that all of the intellegent career driven people either didn't have kids or only had one or two; while the morons of society are having a bunch of kids. In essence, we bred intellegence out of the human race.

It really is a stupid movie, but it makes you think.

TCSS

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on November 4, 2010 at 3:18pm

I agree that the level of posts in FFN has lately dropped in terms of quality and intelligence (but it is cyclic). How many times can we discuss colors of helmets, gear, trucks, lights, who makes the better apparatus, gloves, sirens, ad infinitum ad nauseum. But then, there are a lot of people who will (and do) keep posting the same type of nonsense (apparently to gain "points", which may be important to their self esteem). As has been pointed out by the WC, this is a "social networking site", all are welcome (what does THAT remind you of?) and more and more is becoming like twittermyfacespace. And don't get me going on some of the blogs; cerebral diarrhea.

I won't presume to say that outside of FFN the IQ is dropping but one would be hard pressed to make such an argument based on so many horribly mangled, ill thought out, rambling and incoherent posts and replies.

Someone didn't like what I consider to be top issues facing responders, but if you were to read them carefully, I think some (at least) would agree with me. To wit:
Functionally illiterate people,
Conspiracy theorists,
Flaming idiots.
Do away with the above and the Fire Service stands a chance, inside and outside.

Can you really argue with me on that? Or are "funding, volunteers, staffing, leadership, et al" the only acceptable answers? If someone refuses to pay a $75 subscription fee for fire protection and then his house burns down because of it, is he not a flaming idiot? What about the people that think that firefighters are lazy, overpaid, underworked? Could they, even just a little, be considered conspiracy theorists? And do we really need to discuss functionally illiterate people? And how the fire service is willingly lowering its standards to accommodate them? Or FFN for that matter.

It comes down to one thing; Education. It's free, it's everywhere, it's mandatory and it's in your (and our) best interest. And finally, for everyone that uses Internet Explorer: SPELL CHECKERS ARE FREE, DOWNLOAD THEM AND USE THEM. You'll look a lot better, make more sense and won't keep pissing people off because it looks like a chicken was dancing on your keyboard.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Oomkes on November 4, 2010 at 3:23pm

lol

Jack, not sure about IE, but Firefox even underlines with a squiggly red line words that it thinks are misspelled, so there really is no excuse.

Good post.

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on November 4, 2010 at 3:32pm

Mark;

I reli hevily on farfix 2 korekt ma speling.

Wade:

There was a science fiction story published in 1951 called "The Marching Morons" from which (I believe) "Idiocracy" was taken. This link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons has more information. Not all that far from the (potential) truth. Look at all of the "reality" shows, 'Professional Wrestling" and others of that ilk. It's not so hard to believe.

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Permalink Reply by Bekks on November 4, 2010 at 4:03pm

I admit that I make the occasional spelling or gramatical gaff... should I spell-check? Sure. Do I? Not on here...
I like to challenge myself to not have to rely on spell-check. Sometimes I stumble. But I do get better.

I would have to agree with the IQ drop... I find myself saying more and more:
"Common sense isn't so common anymore."

As for the whackers and wannabe types... yah...ONE properly catagorized "Show us your fire truck (colour)" thread is interesting to have around.
I like to see flashy fire trucks as much as the next guy or gal.
Come on... your "inner whacker" is calling you.
You know you like to look once in a while, your current rig won't get jellous.
But a new one every month or so?
Seriously?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Oomkes on November 4, 2010 at 6:30pm

I admit that I make the occasional spelling or gramatical gaff... should I spell-check? Sure. Do I? Not on here...
I like to challenge myself to not have to rely on spell-check. Sometimes I stumble. But I do get better.

It's gaffe, not gaff.

Use ur frikkin speeel chek. lol

That's not what most (I think) of us are referring to when talking about grammatical errors and typos. It's the text speak garbage and lack of capitalized letters and punctuation to start and end sentences or something that gives one a headache trying to decipher exactly what someone is saying.

BTW, my engine is better than your engine.