I’ve come across this video a number of places now, most recently at Sis’. It annoyed me the first time I watched it out of curiousity, but I ignored it. But it keeps coming up, so now I want to say a couple words on the great philosophical musings of the guy who played a stoner on that show about the 70’s:
He makes three points (starting at about 2 mins in). The first and third points are unoriginal but good, opportunity comes from hard work and build your own life, but everybody is ignoring those two. The one point everybody is focusing on is # 2:
The sexiest thing in the world is being really smart, thoughtful, and generous. Everything else is crap, I promise you. It’s just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less, so don’t buy it!”
The first objection is that it is simply not true.
Intelligence is not sexy. If being smart was sexy, awkward nerds would would get the hot girls, engineers would be rolling in poon, Stephen Hawking would dominate People’s Sexiest Men, and porn videos would be indistinguishable from Khan’s Academy. We all know how true that is. (Protip: It’s not). Likewise, being thoughtful and generous are not sexy. Saying otherwise is just deluding the gullible.
Just because something is good, does not mean it is sexy.
But the bigger problem is not the untrue conflation of intelligence and sexiness, that’s the type of relatively minor white lie which our society so does love.
The bigger problem is that to the punked stoner sexiness is the goal of intelligence. The axiom of point #2 is a basic assumption shared by stoner dude, his screaming, teenage fans, and everybody throwing this video around is that sexiness is the the primary goal one should aspire to.
Intelligence is not lauded because it advances civilization. It is not lauded for the glory of God, or even the glory of man. It is not lauded for the good it may bring others. It is not lauded as tool for finding and acquiring virtue.
No we should not be virtuous for virtue’s sake or the greater good. We should not expand our capabilities for the betterment of man. No, you should be intelligent because it will engorge Jimmy’s dick and will make Janey tingle.
Welcome to the new hedonism, where aspiring to be a sex object is inspirational.
“The sexiest thing in the world is being really smart, thoughtful, and generous. Everything else is crap, I promise you. It’s just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less, so don’t buy it!”
Says the former model turned actor.
Sure, he got all of those breaks, jobs and wet–pantied fans because of his keen intellect and sharp wit.
Go back to sleep, America; merit still rules the day.
[Cue ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey along with flawlessly timed red, white and blue fireworks.]
Ahem.
To be fair to him, he worked hard at making the most of other opportunities.
But, let’s be honest:
More than half of those doors would’ve never been presented to him – let alone opened for him – were it not simply for the winning genetic lottery ticket with which he was born.
The issue is Kutcher has experience outside that of the common man, for a ridiculously high status model/actor, being thoughtful and generous loses you no points.
In fact he may need to show some vulnerability in order for nonfamous girls to think they have a chance with him. This thoughtful/generous crap may actually be what has worked for him, but the advice actually only applies to like 1% of the population.
Of course, I hope most people recognize that taking advice from a guy who married a woman 20 years older than him is retarded.
I thought Kutcher was discovered by a couple of gay dudes who took him to LA and got him modeling jobs. I guess he made the most of it, although it could be argued that staring in Two and a Half Men negates any altruistic speaches or awards ever given to anyone in their entire lifetime – as well as that person’s childrens children.
I’d rather have wisdom than intelligence.
I saw a study once that showed the more educated your partner is, the happier you are. More intelligence showed more happiness too. so if you bag a phd your better than just an M.A
I think the reason all this red pill/blue pill stuff is so confusing is because we all have two sides. There’s this horrible side to women that wants men to treat them horribly and apathetically, to just use us for pleasure. That works wonderfully to create fear, excitement and attraction. The sexiest times in my marriage have been the scariest, craziest, most awful times.
But there’s this whole other part of me that wants a safe, kind, generous man who thinks I’m worth something. And sometimes when I feel safe, I’m more likely to take him for granted or get bored. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good. The best things in this life are hard; eating healthy is hard, working hard is boring, living a disciplined life is hard. But we don’t choose these things for momentary pleasures, we choose them because there is a promise of life in them. We choose life and not death because that is where Christ draws us and as Christians we are able to deny our sin nature and really live.
We choose to sacrifice (be generous and thoughtful) with our loved ones, not because it is sexy but because it is good; trusting that sexy will come eventually. A different, more whole, pure sexy instead of a reaction to our basest natures that destroys us. That is intelligence.
Actually, I think high intelligence is one of the sexiest things. Wait, no, the sexiest. I “fall in love” with a man’s mind, but total social ineptness is not a turn on. There’s a specific type, and it does wonders for me. (They do exist!) Basically, nerdiness ≠ intelligence.
@ A♠: You could say that about anything. Good looks, intelligence, foresight, even work ethic are all regulated by biology. Winning the genetic lottery is an amazing thing. (Also, if it weren’t for ctrl+c, your name would be exceedingly annoying).
@ laidnyc: I think that’s the big point: he had everything and still married well below his value. Not a man I’d take relationship advice from.
@ Austin: I have no idea how he got discovered and never cared.
@ Earl: Yup, there are already too many intelligent fools.
@ Jakob: A degree does not necessarily mean more intelligence. Although, I would assume marriages where people have high future-time orientation, strongly correlated with intelligence, would be a lot happier.
@ Sis: Women are so hard to please. Do you think being cruel at some times (say fertile periods) and kind most of the rest of the time would be best? Also, I think you are confusing intelligence and wisdom. The former is being able to calculate what is best; The latter is choosing what is based.
@ CA: Ah… High intelligence and not socially inept. It is a rarity. You women are definitely not easy to please.