An Epidemic of Silliness

 

 An Epidemic of Silliness

There seems to be an epidemic of silliness that permeates our culture, these days, especially among adults who should know better.

I think we all remember how it was when we behaved recklessly with our siblings or friends with abandon. Waving our arms, acting like animals seen at the zoo or read about in books. Running around in circles, squealing out loud for no reason. Making funny faces in the mirror. Playing Ding-Dong Ditch on an unsuspecting neighbor. Pranking each other, doing or saying something shocking just to see the astonished look on faces, then laughing with glee. Telephone pranks or placing plastic spiders or snakes under someone else's pillow. Telling stories (basically lying) about someone we didn’t like just to get a rise out of them or get under their skin—just because.

Irresponsible? Yes. Forgivable? Most of the time. We were children, after all. Kids who didn’t know any better; just letting off steam and tiring ourselves out. Our parents, or adult observers, never said much about this behavior other than, “Better let them get it out of their system now, so they’ll sleep well tonight.” Comments like these are the best illustration of dismissing juvenile behavior as silly. As long as the behavior wasn’t malicious or harmful, it was considered good old-fashioned fun.

You would think that, as adults, we’d grow out of playing silly games. I suppose we do, for the most part. But for others, “silly games,” using the essence of the phrase, never go away; they just get more sophisticated. For these people, juvenile, petty, immature, and high-schoolish behavior has turned into an art of humiliating without consequence. For instance, tattling on someone, creating an unnecessary scene, or harassing innocent everyday folks who are doing harmless, simple things, just to make their life a misery, is asinine. Worst of all, just like little Johnny blaming the broken lamp on his brother, accusing someone else of committing a crime they themselves have done. Believing that is just plain silly, but we do, and they eventually get away with the lie, for the most part. In Ayn Rand’s book The Fountainhead, there is a philosophical line she uses, not original to her, that says, ‘Evil can only be perpetuated when good people do nothing.’ I believe this is true.

Say what????

Yes. This post is about the other side of silliness or outright lying. Not the common anxiety of wondering if someone isn’t talking to you because you wore a particular dress; kind of silly. Or someone might get angry if you write in blue ink instead of black; kind of silly. The best one—not wanting to go to school, venture outside, or get a job because the worst might happen (they might not like you, or you might fail); kind of silly. These are easy to dismiss as sub-conscious fears and unsubstantiated angst. No, I’m speaking of the malicious doings to persuade or coerce others into thinking one thing when the opposite is true; kind of silly.

Lying outright and vehemently trying to convince someone of its truth is insane at best. For those who behave this way is tantamount to courting a level of sophistry that is outrageous. We try to laugh at idiot pronouncements but find ourselves caught up in determining the truth. Common sense doesn’t always help navigate the waters of truth when someone is yelling or pounding a table in an authoritative way to convince us otherwise. When these occurrences happen, for us to even say, “Don’t be so silly,” sounds foreign.

It shouldn’t! 

We should say, “Don't be silly,” out loud and long. Our instincts are golden. Having naughty innocent fun as a kid is different than applying this kind of conduct as a mature adult. As children, our brains are not fully developed, and we don’t completely understand the differences between right and wrong, or the consequences behaving badly can bring. As adults, we are supposed to be more responsible in acts, deeds, and words.

So, why don’t we say, “Don’t be silly,” more often when the need arises?

I wonder if it’s the age we live in. Gaslighting, brainwashing, and indoctrination are ploys that are used to get away with silly notions and ideas; a means of controlling groupthink that isn’t couched in fact. Have we been allowed to behave in such ways that consequences are now diluted to the point of asking, “Who cares?” For me, accepting a modern-day version of Tokyo Rose when social, video, and print media tells us something brazen and deceitful, all without any consequence, is borderline terrifying.

Free speech becomes a thing of the past when even sneezing the wrong way into your arm sleeve could cause you to be frog-marched through the street in shame. Criminal behavior should not be glorified. Of course not, but it seems to be, especially if you support a particular political narrative. 

A dangerous game of adolescence gone amuck? You tell me. 

Maybe as adults, we think it rude to point out the obvious. Perhaps we believe the behavior will pass with time. As an adult, we rarely think to say to another adult, “Behave,”; “Don’t act like that,”; “Stop being silly,”; “Mind your manners,” or “Don’t be rude,” and on it goes. Sure, occasions arise where this is said from time to time. But, how irresponsible of us to allow this behavior to continue when it destroys the very person or cause they want to elevate? More profoundly than anything else, it’s the reaction we give to destructive behavior that is itself, just plain silly. These days, I half expect to hear ‘neener, neener’ echoed through the halls of Congress.

As the saying goes, ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.’

Forgive the shameful clichés, but I ask, when did we turn the corner of not calling things out for what they really are? When did we turn the corner to believe our “lying eyes” instead of telling ourselves that what we actually see, hear, or read is the truth and really happening? When did we decide to not call spades, spades? Just when did we choose to turn a blind eye against silliness, immaturity, and making mountains out of molehills? When did we determine that others must appease our self-esteem instead of pointing out our bad behavior and treat it as insulting?

It used to be that we saw the emperor’s new clothes and called out the lie. To risk sounding sophomoric, the Wizard of Oz movie taught us to look behind the curtain and confront the lie. To see things as they are, not the false illusion. We used to call out lies. Not anymore. As stated earlier, we seem to want to believe the worst, even when the facts tell us otherwise. When children maliciously harm others, they are disciplined to understand the consequences of bad behavior. 

Sometimes, silliness is good and even playful fun. But dismissing silly, irresponsible adult behavior is very bad indeed.

~ DaMarie

  

Photo Courtesy of Margaret Weir