I was born and raised on a Council estate, sorry, Social Housing development (Arse!). I did not excel at school and neither did I attend a University or College. I do, however, have a great respect for Academia. "Knowledge is Power" said Sir Francis Bacon (I am positive that you cannot get to Kevin Bacon from him in 7 steps) and this is something that has always stuck in my head and, is probably, the main reason for my utter hatred of "Dumbing Down". That constant need to dilute everything until it is almost transparent, until it bears no resemblance to it's original form. Whether it is the Tabloids or Hollywood (Dumbing up?), it just sucks the very essence out of it's subject matter. I am no "Straight A"student, but, I do, in the words of that other famous English philosopher, Jarvis Cocker, have "a thirst for Knowledge". So, it was with a deep sigh of resignation that I read the following headline in Wednesday's Times; "Violent end for the celebrity chimp who savaged handler in drug-fuelled rampage" WTF? I realise that it is no longer a Broadsheet in size, but, did they carry out the same reduction in the hack's brain capacity? Maybe, they did it for a bet or the guest editor was from Viz magazine? If this is the future of serious Journalism, then, we are, to put it in Council Estate parlance - "Fucked".
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