Vin Scully died three days ago. The outpouring of eulogies, particularly those on sport networks, are exalting his career and his life. And deservedly so. Uniformly, his colleagues recount his achievements as a broadcaster and his worthiness as a human being. Fortunately, he did live to hear the accolades heaped upon him at baseball’s Hall of Fame ceremonies in 1982. But your guess is, however grateful he was for the attention, he thought the plaudits were overblown. You see, Mr. Scully was anything but vainglorious, especially in the broadcast booth. And it was only there you knew him. It was there you were witness to his craft, the foundation of which was his knowledge of and respect for the English language. It was there you heard the voice. If ever a voice was called charismatic, it had to belong to Vin Scully. It was an educated, cultured, unpretentious voice aimed at the heartland. It was a voice that painted pictures. If you weren’t there at the ballpark, you could still “see” and “feel” the game. It was a voice of a reporter, a teacher, a storyteller, a friend — who revealed the person behind the player. It was a voice that shunned sportscaster hyperbole, shunned the limelight and directed attention to the game, not to himself. It was the voice of an American who bled Dodger blue and figuratively wept to see his country chase after socialism and to see professional athletes kneel during the National Anthem. He spoke out about both. You choose to believe that Scully’s America lives in the minds and hearts of Her people. You know them, perhaps prone to missteps, prone to manipulation, too often apathetic and silent. But they are the unknown Americans. Nobody sees them and nobody hears them. They build roads and bridges and sewers and power lines. They grow your food. They design and build power plants, homes and small businesses. They are first responders. They are the most generous people in the world. They sacrifice for their kids and protect their families. If need be, they give their lives in defense of liberty. They believe in God. They believe in America’s innate goodness. But you make a mistake in believing that the America you see portrayed on television is a window to these people or to anything resembling reality. You make the mistake of assuming that television reflects the opinions and attitudes of the great silent majority. Vincent Edward Scully would be the first to tell you that television is an illusion, a brainwashing mechanism — operated by a very few people. He would advise you not to let it get you down. He would tell you to play the game of life honestly — to believe in yourself and your country’s ideals. It was those ideals that sanctified the nobility of freedom. You can hear his gentle voice now, suggesting to you that America is worth your enduring affection.

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It doesn’t suffice to comment only once about the “dumbing down” of America. The sickness is so pervasive, some highbrow could spend a career delving into the psychological and sociological quagmire — then publish a magnum opus for those who want to wade through the mess. Better yet, Dinesh D’Sousa should make a 45 minute film. He could edit tons of live video footage that speaks for itself. He could, and likely should, warm up with something trivial, yet symbolic — take a look at a bloke named Trevor Noah hired by somebody to host something called The Daily Show. You guess you’re supposed to think Noah’s funny because he thinks he is, as he delivers his cocksure zingers behind a brilliantly white, jaw-breaking smile. Evidently, nonstop grinning is considered funny by somebody. Pounded by media critics, his bosses at Comedy Central say the only audience they care about is the millennial mob. The rest of you, they say, can pound sand. But everyone knows millennials are dumb and dumber. If that allegation is true, shouldn’t you assume Comedy Central is itself dumb? Nope, not at all. CC is slick. It has exactly what it wants — a dumb, loyal audience. And, likewise, CC advertisers also love millennials, for all the same reasons. That’s sad, and not a bit funny. And, by the way, if you haven’t guessed, neither is Noah. But now it’s time for Dinesh to get serious and segue directly into rapid fire interviews with millennials to cover all manner of issues, from climate change to racism to American history to free speech. This segment could be titled “dumbness on parade” and would confirm why Noah is still a TV host. Moving along quickly, Dinesh’s documentary would cover his pet subject — education. If U.S. education is floundering as the statistics show, classroom interviews with kids and teachers would tell a troubled tale — at all levels. Of course, union and school board officials would offer excuses worthy of crafty public servants. Turning up the heat, Dinesh definitely would investigate the unconstitutional Department of Education to learn why and how 4400 employees spend nearly $70 billion annually to LOWER U.S. education performance. Ah, meet quintessential dumbness. But look, Matilda, the joke’s on you; it’s your tax money. The remainder of D’Sousa’s film will have to leave behind the dumb angle, because there’s nothing dumb about the war on America. He would want to dive into Energy, Climate Change, Immigration, Healthcare, Foreign Policy, Economy and the World Economic Forum (WEF). He would confirm that just 18 months ago ago, America was energy independent, powering a modern industrial renaissance and lifting millions of households out of the poverty-stricken cellar. But, then, a new administration would come along with another agenda. Dinesh might record that agenda, as follows. With respect to Energy, shut it down as the lifeblood of the economy. Justify the decision by claiming that Climate Change is an existential threat to mankind. With respect to Immigration Policy, allow the influx of millions of illegals, distribute them across America and give them funds and citizen benefits, including a pathway to the voting booth. With respect to Healthcare, use Covid 19 as a bioweapon to shut down business and schools, mandate vaccines, mandate masks and deny life-saving early treatment remedies. With respect to Foreign Policy, abandon Afghanistan. Abandon American civilians. Abandon the latest military equipment and technology costing billions. Abandon the trust of Allies and validate America’s strategic weakness. With respect to the Economy, implement the unrestricted spending and printing of money by the Federal Government and incur larger and larger debt. Create record setting inflation and ruin the middle class while many of the rich get richer. With respect to the WEF, domestic and foreign issues are not separate issues, but serve a Single Agenda — a new world order that summons America to surrender its sovereignty to a globalist hierarchy. Call it what you want. WEF is not new. It’s another name for the oldest game in town. You don’t want to tell DD how to make his film, but he might consider asking Trevor Noah to be the host — and try like hell to be funny.

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Quite a long time ago, you thought you coined the phrase “dumbing down America.” Talk about a dumb thought. Actually, the expression has been cited for decades. You and no other living person can lay claim to it. Apparently, a screenplay writer invented the term in 1933. Most likely he was male. Most likely, he was a white, racist, misogynist male bigot. He presumably said something like, “People, we need to dumb down this script; it’s got to appeal to a lot of low IQ’s out there.” Nearly a century later, the movie industry still dishes out rubbish that aims at an 8th-grade-level audience. But as a dumb-it-down expert, Hollywood plays second fiddle to TV advertising. These hucksters ostensibly are some of America’s most gifted communicators who work feverishly to lower an already embarrassing low bar. You shouldn’t really belittle them, though, should you, Matilda? You should climb down from your high horse. Movie makers and advertisers produce garbage because research proves that’s what buyers want. Nobody forces people to see garbage or hear garbage. In fact, you must conclude that the Dumbing Down of America is what the people desire. It’s a choice, after all. For instance, Americans have decided that English grammar is irrelevant. College professors, CEO’s, celebrities — and just about everybody else — think valley girl Uptalk is cool. Think of it. They can actually hear themselves talk, hear how it sounds. Especially the TV talkers themselves. And the execs who hire them. And the technicians who record them. It’s a choice. America’s education ranks somewhere around 45th among nations. Your average college graduates couldn’t pass a 1912 8th grade final exam. For that matter, lacking a suitable vocabulary, they couldn’t begin to write an essay without Google, an iPhone and spell-check. Meanwhile, down the street at grammar school, kids are fast-tracked to learn the value of gender “fluidity,” LGBTQ concepts and critical race theory, while being taught that American history is a racist myth. And the parents of these guinea pig sponges? They shrug their apathetic shoulders. It’s a choice. Not to be left behind on the road to oblivion, the music industry makes a good case to be named “Dumb-It-Down” Champion. The industry’s devotion to ineptitude was epitomized by the ’22 Super Bowl halftime show, an exercise in vulgarity attempting to impersonate talent; and an exercise in noise attempting to impersonate music. Ironically, out of step somewhat with rap trash, advertisers still rely mostly on classical music and songs from every decade of the 20th century. Thankfully, for them, dumbness is an affliction, but not without a survival instinct. It’s a choice. You want to blame America’s socio/political/economic upheaval on Her cultural vanishing act. Too bad it’s not that simple. It is true that culture plays a role. But a more ominous specter than dumbness hovers over your precious Republic. It has a name. It is ever present. It walks on two legs. It bears false witness. It plunders. It commits murder. It is not dumb. Evil. In the hands of the individual, Evil inflicts pain and suffering on groups of people. In the hands of government, Evil commits genocide on humanity itself. You don’t need to cite the hundreds of examples to prove it. Autocratic governments, the root of all Evil on a mass scale, always subjugate, plunder, incarcerate and liquidate. America’s Founders knew it. They risked everything to put Evil in a cage called The Constitution. Ever since, Evil has been seducing jailers to cut it some slack, to listen to a new song that a discontented people will love. Now millions of America’s dummies are singing that song — only it’s not a new song. Evil lied. In fact, it’s the song that took down Rome and gave the world Caligula, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Vlad III, and Mao. And now Joe Biden. Speaking of whom, he’s asking you to dance to that song, borrowed from his pals — it’s called the Left Wing Shuffle. It’s a choice.

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