Today is “soapbox day”. A day I’ve dedicated to preaching on about things others might like to say but don’t. Today’s soapbox has to do with reading, a skill that seems to be slipping further by the wayside with each new reality show on television, and the infomercial, a great way to become “infomed”? What is the problem with people not being able to read in the year 2011? Are we going backward here? While I don’t think you can raise a person’s I.Q. much by teaching them how to read, you might be able to get them some lateral movement, plus, most of the intelligent people I know can read.
Someone once said we are what we eat but I rather think we are what we read. Still, we have folks out there who feel that the ability to read a road sign or menu comes second to being able to watch television and is really the only life skill we need, other than smoking or being able to drink ten beers without throwing up. Why else would someone put a five year old in front of a television for hours each day? I suppose they figure if they can pull up to a McDonalds, see a Big Mac and fries picture, cipher out what c-o-k-e looks like and maybe f-r-i-e-d p-i-e, why, they’re good to go! But think about the difficulty of say, going to Wal- Mart. Now the non-reader has to find a label that might say c-e-r-e-a-l or c-h-e-e-s-e, or maybe m-e-n’s w-e-a-r or l-o-u-n-g-e-r-i-e. Is that French? Well, I suppose it really wouldn’t matter if the person can’t read in the first place.
And what about reading the paper to find something to buy or check out an old friend’s obit? You might find them by their picture but what if the picture shows them thirty years ago sitting on the back of a truck at the local Krystal. Reading is important and the only way you would know it was them would be if you hadn’t seen them in thirty years. Yes, preaching to the choir here because you can read or you wouldn’t be reading this. You have to wonder what it says about my intelligence though. And speaking of television, are we really becoming more informed by watching infomercials? Or less “infomed” due to information that insults our intelligence?
Here’s one for you. “Can you boil an egg? Can you peel an egg? Can you dispose of the shell of an egg? Or has the effort become just too darn time consuming and energy consuming to allow you to really enjoy the experience? It sounds like you may need to consider purchasing the new Ripoff egg peeler, designed with the person like yourself, lazy, allergic to water and “uninfomed” in mind. Give me thirty minutes of your time and I will demonstrate how peeling an egg the old fashion grip and strip method can raise blood pressure and cause carpel tunnel syndrome. Let me show you the latest in egg peeling paraphernalia guaranteed to take the stress out of raising your cholesterol level. And after I’m finished we’ll crank up the old dishwasher, place the Ripoff in there and have fun searching for its pieces when the dry cycle completes.” Please…we can do better. The only way a person would need the Ripoff is…you guessed it…If they couldn’t read a recipe for boiling an egg in the first place! My guess is somebody out there is getting richer by the minute as I write this and an infomercial on washing celery and flossing one’s teeth can’t be far away.
Today is “soapbox day”. A day I’ve dedicated to preaching on about things others might like to say but don’t. Today’s soapbox has to do with reading, a skill that seems to be slipping further by the wayside with each new reality show on television, and the infomercial, a great way to become “infomed”? What is the problem with people not being able to read in the year 2011? Are we going backward here? While I don’t think you can raise a person’s I.Q. much by teaching them how to read, you might be able to get them some lateral movement, plus, most of the intelligent people I know can read. 
And what about reading the paper to find something to buy or check out an old friend’s obit? You might find them by their picture but what if the picture shows them thirty years ago sitting on the back of a truck at the local Krystal. Reading is important and the only way you would know it was them would be if you hadn’t seen them in thirty years. Yes, preaching to the choir here because you can read or you wouldn’t be reading this. You have to wonder what it says about my intelligence though. And speaking of television, are we really becoming more informed by watching infomercials? Or less “infomed” due to information that insults our intelligence?
Here’s one for you. “Can you boil an egg? Can you peel an egg? Can you dispose of the shell of an egg? Or has the effort become just too darn time consuming and energy consuming to allow you to really enjoy the experience? It sounds like you may need to consider purchasing the new Ripoff egg peeler, designed with the person like yourself, lazy, allergic to water and “uninfomed” in mind. Give me thirty minutes of your time and I will demonstrate how peeling an egg the old fashion grip and strip method can raise blood pressure and cause carpel tunnel syndrome. Let me show you the latest in egg peeling paraphernalia guaranteed to take the stress out of raising your cholesterol level. And after I’m finished we’ll crank up the old dishwasher, place the Ripoff in there and have fun searching for its pieces when the dry cycle completes.” Please…we can do better. The only way a person would need the Ripoff is…you guessed it…If they couldn’t read a recipe for boiling an egg in the first place! My guess is somebody out there is getting richer by the minute as I write this and an infomercial on washing celery and flossing one’s teeth can’t be far away.
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