June 15, 2009, - 11:52 am
The Dumbing Down of America: Biggest BS Job Ever
By Debbie Schlussel
So, last night, I was briefly relaxing and watched “Million Dollar Password,” the revived game show on CBS, hosted by Regis Philbin. It’s among the few shows on TV I watch anymore, since there’s so much crap. (Shows I like include “Mad Men” and “Damages,” but I’m cable-free, so I catch up with DVDs.)
Philbin asked the contestants to tell what they do for a living and a little about themselves. One contestant, a guy, was brilliant. He was the youngest kid ever to graduate high school, college, and grad school, and he’s a professional poker player. I was rooting for this guy, especially when I heard Amber, the chick, describe her profession:
Well, Regis, I’m an education associate for a company that builds playgrounds. So, really, I’m a play worker.
Huh? What the heck is a “play worker”? It sounds like another word for hooker or call girl or sex worker. And why do you need an “education associate” for playgrounds? Playgrounds are supposed to be fun, not educational.
Gee, I wonder how she escaped a look by Stanley Bing.
Sorry, but with America closing plants by the tens of hundreds and producing almost no products on our own soil, and yet having jobs where people are “education associates” for playground companies and “play workers,” it’s no wonder, our economy is down the tubes.
Until and unless we produce things, instead of just consuming them, and produce real concrete jobs–instead of BS “play workers”–we will continue to sink.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, it figures: the brilliant poker player did not get to go on to play the game. He was beaten out by Amber, the play worker, who got much easier clues (gee, I’m sure there’s no affirmative action in play here, right?–that’s another column, which I’ve written in the past many times).
Take it easy Deb. I saw a couple of minutes of the show and the poker player had a bad partner. The first password was ‘day’ and the clue he was given was ‘week’ instead of ‘night’. He ended up only getting one password right that round.
And if a playground company wants to create a job called ‘education associate’ then a true-blue conservative like you shouldn’t have a problem with it.
Norman Blitzer on June 15, 2009 at 12:35 pm