Overjoyed to be the smartest

I was cruising along on a chauvinistic high, savouring Honest Farang’s rosy vision of the glories of my native land. America: the haven of choice for insecure foreigners looking for a safe place to park their money. America, whose wise economic management will soon propel its currency to the giddy height of Bt45 to the dollar. America, which has survived the Depression, various wars (some of them self-inflicted) and a severe financial crisis.  America, that mighty land that always bounces back, stronger than ever.

Then came the showstopper. America, home of “the world’s smartest people”! Only then did I realise that I was deep in woo-woo land. The roseate vision burst, and the shards of shattered fantasy came fluttering down.

The discerning mind is compelled to inquire: If we Yankee devils are the world’s smartest people, how come we elected George W Bush as president, not once, but twice? How come we are now wallowing in an economic morass too deep to get out of? And how come we fight over everything from liberalism versus conservatism to gay marriage to abortion to gun laws?

Maybe I’m not smoking the right stuff. I ought to rejoice in being counted among the smartest people in the world. 

One of Them 

Bangkok