In a video clip I saw on Facebook the other day, an American reporter chose some random young people (they appeared to be in their early twenties) and asked them some basic general knowledge questions. 1. Who won the Civil War? 2. From whom did the USA win their Independence? Only one person knew the answer to the first question. Several said: the Confederacy. Many didn’t know that the Confederacy was the South. Some didn’t even know there was a Civil War. No one got the second question right. I watched the clip, shaking my head in despair. I knew this stuff back when I was in Primary School (Grade School), and I’m an Australian. Admittedly, reading “Gone with the Wind” when I was 11, helped fill in some of the Civil War details. Then the reporter asked who —- was (Fill in a name. I can’t remember what it was but it sounded a bit like “Snoopy”), Every single person answered, “Jersey Shore” (a reality TV show). They could also name Brad Pitt’s two wives. Obviously, this is the sort of stuff that is essential to know. It’s an ironic paradox that in this era of technology and the internet, where a world of knowledge is literally at a person’s fingertips, people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. I blame this in part on the media with its constant stream of so-called reality TV shows. I know why they do it: it’s much cheaper to run these things because you don’t have to pay the contestants, like you would if they were proper actors. But, oh my lord, they seem to continually scrape their ideas out of the bottom of the barrel: Married at First Sight; First Dates; Love Island; Dating Naked… I mean, is this really all that people are interested in now? Gossip and sleaze? Do we always have to pander to the lowest common denominator? We’ve got to get the young off their phones and back into the real world. I’m beginning to think the ancient cultures had a point when they were afraid cameras and other technical gadgets could steal their souls. We’re seeing it happen, right in front of us! We’ve got to get reading again, folks, and preferably real books; proper books, with grown-up words and an intriguing plot, which instruct, entertain and tantalise. We’ve got to relearn how to communicate with people in a civilized manner, preferably face-to-face. It’s another ironic paradox that the more PC we become, not wanting to offend anyone with anything, the more abusive and dismissive we become in our interactions with others. We’ve got to put our phones down and play with our kids or pets or both. We’ve got to remember what it really means to be human, before the machines take total control. So, stop reading this and go outside and look for butterflies.