A Return to Basics

I remember when I first started playing with blogging, a few years ago. The Stupid Sheet was originally going to be a blog about the seemingly never-ending supply of stupid things that go on in this country. I didn't want to use a political spin, because, let's face it, if we got started writing about all the stupidity that goes on in politics, we could never keep up.

An old blog of mine, long gone, was a catalogue of Stupid. There are people out there who are always ready to keep the supply of idiocy flowing along daily, and it was really more for amusement than for any kind of social commentary. It was more about trends, than individual cases of stupidity, and a lot of it was self-deprecating, because I didn't mind admitting that I'd been caught up in a few moments of Stupid. I love pondering motivation, you know, the "what were they thinking?" sort of process. I remember one Gem, a local guy with a Volkswagon Beetle that he'd completely covered with bumper stickers; front to back this car was plastered with them, but it wasn't neatly done. It looked like a joke; stickers were just whacked on there to the point where you couldn't even tell where one ended and the next one began. You couldn't even call it art. But see, what I wondered was, "What is this guy thinking? Does he think it's cool? Is he making some sort of statement?" See there comes that one moment, where a person makes an active decision to do something like this, based on one rationale. Think of the idiot who comes out onto the street wearing something completely outrageous. There's one of two things going on there, usually: 1. They're going for laughs 2. They're sadly misguided, and actually think they look good. And they wear it with arrogance and flair. #1 is silliness, #2 is Stupid, see?

I miss those days, happily picking just the right stories to share. The criteria were very restrictive, as I didn't want to become another Weird News of The World type of site. A guy who microwaves a cat isn't Stupid, he's deranged. And picking on people who are mentally challenged isn't Stupid, it's mean. I didn't get off on the Sideshow that took place with the American Idol auditions this year. It was staged, it was mean-spirited, and it was intended to prey on people who weren't aware enough to immediately realize that they were being set up for humiliation.

So, see? It was hard work! Finding those rare stories that tightly fit the bill. I try not to make people mad with my opinions, rather I'm trying to share at least a chuckle. Politics are often stupid, but rarely Stupid. Although, the US Legislature trying to jam this Immigration Amnesty nonsense down our throats, well that actually fits both description. It's stupid, because they think it's a viable plan, it's Stupid because they arrogantly think we're just going to take it lying down. See?

So, without too much more ado, I'd like to give the Basics a try.