not exactly

While debating circumcision with a friend (inspired by this post), he commented (unedited):

but i dont have the luxury of spendig time thinking about the religious or non religous reasons for body alteration

The luxury of spending time thinking. This, as I told him, brings up another interesting debate: if thought is a "luxury," and only the intelligent, prepared, organized, thoughtful individuals really make it in life, then isn't that just another way it's impossible for those in poverty to ever escape their current state?

No matter how ridiculous I thought his not-quite-sentence was, it gave me a moment to be a conspiracy theorist. There are plenty of reasons given for generational poverty, but maybe the truth is that thought (and therefore intelligence) really is a luxury afforded only to the rich who have more time for that kind of hobby.

Or maybe it's just another instance of a "stupid is the new smart" culture telling us that thought and knowledge are irrelevant. As another boy told me (again, unedited):

u think being smart matters?! this iz 2005!!