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The Endless Wealth of Human Stupidity

They say that light is the only constant in the universe. I disagree. The continuity of how stupid our species can be is indisputable. I'd like to give some examples that illustrate my point.

Helmets. Why do helmets exist? They exist to keep our brains safe from traumatic injury. Do you know what else keeps our brains safe from traumatic injury? Not doing things that cause traumatic brain injury. We race motorcycles, play football, go mountain-biking, ski, snowboard, do construction work, and so many other things. All of these things require helmets because they've caused death by head-trauma. Only now, with the ongoing saga of NFL concussions, has anyone even considered the idea that - hey, maybe we shouldn't do these things that cause massive head trauma? Maybe helmets are a band-aid over the axe-wound that these things are causing?

Just me? OK, fine.

Watch any prime time TV show and you'll see a commercial for a medication. My favorite one starts with "tired of heartburn?" and then goes on to tell you what prescription will get rid of your heartburn so you can eat terrible food that makes you feel bad again. I might sound crazy for this, but maybe stop eating food that makes you feel bad. Do you really think that the medication is masking anything other than the discomfort? Your body reacts poorly to that food. Stop eating it. Adding more chemicals and synthetic medicines into your blood-stream is only adding to the problem. Don't be an idiot.

For me, I prefer to get the heartburn when I eat something that's 90% fat because I deserve to feel bad after making a bad choice regarding my health.

The bigger issue, of course, is a wider look at that last point. How many of you go to your doctor's office and ask for antibiotics or some other medicine when you have the cold or the flu? I know that some of you do, because I hear about it every day. Do some effing homework. All you're doing by demanding an antibiotic for a virus is increasing the odds of developing an immunity the next time you actually get a bacterial infection. You're contributing to the next super-bug. You're also pissing off your providers who are trying to explain to you that viruses don't react to antibiotics but you're too busy claiming that it worked last time. Wrong. Time worked. Your body fixed the problem, as it often does.

How many of you smoke? Statistically, more than 10%. None of you are ever allowed to complain about your health because any health problem you have is likely a result of poisoning yourself multiple times a day. If you eat fatty food, you can counteract some part of it by eating healthy the rest of the time and staying active. 5 mile jogs don't undo tar in your lungs. Your circulation goes bad, your breathing becomes labored, and about a million other things. It's not like there was a payoff to smoking either. You're just increasing *my* cost of healthcare by incurring a thousand times more bills than me.

If you want to play the biblical "humans are flawed" card, you're not worth the argument. If you want to say we're figuring it out, we're not. If you want to say we're smarter than all the other species, let me know when humans have been around for hundreds of millions of years and figured out how to survive despite ice ages, asteroid impacts, and rises and falls of other super-species. Probably won't happen either.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to the Veterans Post where I fit in with angry old men.

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