愚蠢是种流行病在女孩中蔓延

　　In this media-focused world, the things we see and hear in the movies, on TV, and on the radio influence us all. Some of these influences are benign or even beneficial to the forming minds of youth. But many others provide young people with questionable messages, for example, the MTV hits “Jersey Shore” and “My New BFF.” The stars of these shows do not commit technically immoral acts; they simply commit mindless ones. The lack of blatantly immoral behavior leads many viewers to conclude that the shows are harmless. We can recognize when behavior lacks common sense, however, the greater danger is that we have been conditioned by the media to view mindlessness as acceptable.

　　I am disgusted with TV programs and movies that promote mindless behavior. The stars of these shows demonstrate to young people—particularly girls—that it is attractive to be dumb . That idea feeds into other self-image issues that girls already experience, and I believe this is affecting the future of our nation. If we want to have any hope for our society, we must stop this epidemic of stupidity.

　　Mixed in with all the blatant messages that young people are gathering from the media is a subliminal implication that it is attractive to be dense—especially for young women. Paris Hilton has readily admitted that she is not familiar with common knowledge, including the function of the Walmart stores and the capital city of England. Despite these intellectual failings, Hilton—whose mindlessness has inspired the term “celebutard”—has been linked romantically to the rich and famous— models, musicians, actors, and businessmen—showing young women that desirable men find her vapidity attractive. These negative examples lead girls to imitate Hilton in order to gain male attention; this begins young—perhaps as early as grade school—and only escalates during the teen years.

　　By promoting the “stupid girl” image, the media prevents young women from avoiding issues of body image and acceptance. While it is true that many eating disorders are caused by depression or abuse , many begin with a yearning to be attractive and accepted. Some girls will try almost anything to gain boys' attention, including dumbing down, taking up a crash diet, or getting a spray tan.

　　Some people may view the “stupid girl” trend as a simple display of childishness. If this were the case, the idea of girls playing dumb would not alarm thinking people as it does. However, the immaturity of youth is not to blame; stupid girls are growing up to be stupid women and having children. What will these mothers teach the future leaders of our nation? Will they teach their daughters to always wear makeup and encourage their sons to pursue ditzy girls? If this cycle continues, our country will be run into the ground in a matter of a few generations!

　　在这个聚焦媒体的世界，我们在电影、电视上看到或在收音机中听到的各种讯息都在影响着我们。有些影响对青少年思维的形成没有危害，甚至有益。但很大一部分向年轻人传递的信息有待商榷，例如，MTV电视台的当红真人秀节目《泽西海岸》和《新密友》。这些节目中的明星们并不是刻意做一些不道德的行为，他们只是出于无心。正是因为这些不得体的行为并没有达到让人无法容忍的程度，所以很多观众认为这些节目无伤大雅。我们能意识到有些行为不合常理，但更大的危险是，受媒体影响，我们已经认为这种无意识的错误是可以接受的。

　　我讨厌那些宣扬无心的(愚蠢)行为的电视节目和电影。这些节目的主角向年轻人——尤其是女孩们——证实，愚蠢是种美。这种想法已经渗入到女孩一些关于自我认知的问题中，而且我相信这会影响到我们的国家。如果我们对这个社会还怀有希望，我们就必须停止这种愚蠢流行病的蔓延。

　　年轻人从各种媒体所收集到的讯息中掺杂着一种潜在的暗示：愚钝是一种魅力——尤其年轻女性来讲。帕丽斯•希尔顿曾公开承认，她不太懂得一些常识性的东西，包括沃尔玛超市是卖什么的，英国的首都在哪儿。即使拥有这些常识上的缺陷，希尔顿——她的愚昧造就了一个新词“豪门浪女”——已经被浪漫化地与“富有”、“出名”联系起来——模特、歌手、演员、商人——年轻女性看到的是男人眼中这种无知的魅力。这些负面的典范使很多女孩争先恐后模仿希尔顿，以求得到男士的青睐。这种风气很早就开始了——或许从小学开始——在青少年时愈演愈烈。

　　通过宣扬这种“蠢女”形象，媒体使年轻女性不得不面对自身身体形象以及自己是否受欢迎的问题。虽然很多饮食紊乱问题由抑郁或滥用药品而引起，但很多人最初是渴望变得有魅力、受欢迎。有些女孩不惜一切手段想得到男孩的青睐，包括弱智化、速效节食，或喷雾晒肤。

　　可能有些人认为“蠢女”趋势只是一种孩子气的表现方式，但如果是这样，这种愚蠢女孩的现象就不会引发人们的思考。我们不能批评青少年的不成熟。蠢女孩会长大成为蠢女人，蠢女人又要生出下一代。这些母亲会如何教育我们国家未来的主人?她们就教女儿如何化妆，怂恿儿子去追求无知的女孩?这样循环下去，我们的国家会在未来的几代人手中垮掉!

　　Vocabulary:

　　1. benign: 没有危害的，良性的。

　　2. Jersey Shore: 《泽西海岸》以新泽西海岸几位意大利裔年轻人为主角的真人秀节目，这群年轻人疯狂玩乐，彼此间嬉笑怒骂，甚至连冲突斗殴的言行举止都被记录下来，从2009年在MTV电视台开播后引来极大争议，剧中两位主角妮可尔•波利齐和迈克•索伦蒂诺也因此走红娱乐圈;My New BFF: 即Paris Hilton’s My New BFF，MTV推出的真人秀节目。让20名参赛者在同一屋檐下各展其能，努力成为帕丽斯•希尔顿的新密友。

　　3. blatantly: (强调糟糕)非常，极为，完全。

　　4. dumb: 愚蠢的，傻的。

　　5 subliminal: 潜意识的，下意识的;dense: 愚蠢的，愚钝的。

　　6 celebutard: 由celebrity(名人),‎ debutante(初次参加社交场合), and retard(智力迟钝)三个词合成，指有名但是无知的人;vapidity: 乏味，无趣。

　　7 escalate: 恶化，升级。

　　8 abuse: 滥用。

　　9 ditzy: 愚蠢的，头脑不清的。