's funny, because I actually read that the other way around.
Though I do see a lot of bashing here. But most of the people doing the bashing have probably already stated their views on what the US should do in another thread, realized that it didn't make a difference then, and don't feel like restating them now because it's not any more likely to make a difference. If we are speaking in generalizations, it's a lot easier to state you opinion when you don't know it's meaningless than when it's already been illustrated as such.
At any rate, I feel like this focus on stupidity is rather silly and what's expected of a bunch of internet forum nerds. The majority of a population is not going to be above-average in any one area. So if you expect everyone to be smart, you're going to be plain wrong, because by definition the majority will be less-than-smart. So if we assume that the majority of people on HLP are, indeed, smart in the area of research and science, of course any culture by Those Other People is going to seem "stupid".
Plus, add to the fact that the people doing R&D aren't going to be spending long hours every day to produce the next episode of the OC, or running around taking photographs of Paris Hilton. Just a thought.
So I don't think it's necessarily that American culture celebrates stupidity as it is that American culture is much more widely known than anybody else's culture. The best and brightest of other people's culture rises to the top, while the crap largely remains hidden...it's kind of like judging your family vs judging your friend, because you know a lot more about your family than your friend, you can come up with a lot more crap than your friend who gets to control what you see.
And for instance, I know some Japanese anime that is pretty good, but occasionally I hear about these Japanese game shows and see them and it seems rather...dumb. But that's not the sort of thing that people who are interested in Japanese culture will celebrate. At least, not the people I've hung around with.
