Unwanted Commentary

I make no grand claims to great intelligence although I do, at times, consider myself more astute than your atypical large forest dwelling mammalian omnivore. And in general, like most of us, I consider everyone around me to be nothing short of simple minded, drooling cretins, at least on some sort of metaphysical level. In reality, I think, by and large, I tend to give people more credit than they deserve. I do hold to the belief that, while we all may not be rocket scientist or smarmy-coffee drinking pseudo-intellectuals, we all have great knowledge and wisdom, though sometimes it's in our own special way; perhaps not instantly recognizable by the casual observer…perhaps.

What has set me off on this tirade is a quote by Val Kilmer that I happened upon while reading through Quick in ye olde reading room.

"They're smarter. They read books."
– Val Kilmer, who's in London starring onstage in the The Postman Always Rings Twice, when asked how British audiences compare to American ones.

So, yes, there it is. I can't really express myself properly as to the level of annoyance I feel when I see these types of things. It wearies my soul to no end that actors, ACTORS for god-sakes, make these kinds of asinine comments. I'm sorry, but the fact that you can pretend that you are someone else really, really well does not instantly make you a master of socio-economic demographics, nor does it mean your smart. Indeed, I was reminded of the following quote from…(you get extra points if you guess the movie):
.
Otto: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes they do, Otto, they just don't understand.

While I have no data that the average theater attending Briton is any more intelligent than the average American theater patron I will contest that, in and of itself, to simply "read books" does not mean one is smarter. I know plenty of people, whom I would classify as of average intelligence, who read constantly. I know a lot of really smart dumb people; I work with a lot of them. I see people reading all the time. So fuck you Val, and remember you are an American and please stop making stupid comments, because the media quotes you. Please stick to playing make-believe. Leave stupid comments to people like me.