Is Mediocrity the Norm in America?

“Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”

“Take pride in your work.”

“Be the best at whatever you do.”

“Black folks have to be twice as good to have a chance.”

While listening to lectures on YouTube on my way to work the other day, I heard Karen Hunter say that in today’s America, mediocrity is the norm. If you have Sirius XM, Karen Hunter has an awesome talk show from 3:00-6:00 PM on channel 126. Y’all should check it out. Karen Hunter is a person who knows how to get things done and is on the same cultural and intellectual journey that I am on. She is an award-winning journalist, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a best-selling author, a full-time college professor and has been named one of the 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America. She has created an international virtual platform called Knubia that is designed by people of Afrikan Ancestry for people of Afrikan Ancestry. I am a Knubian and recommend it highly. There is a nominal cost but it is well worth it. Of the dozens of programs, my favorites are the segments by Doctors Greg Carr and Mario Beatty of Howard University in Washington, D.C. There are segments on health and wellness, nutrition, education, Yoga, reading hieroglyphics, and dozens of other topics.

This is not a commercial for Knubia but I fully endorse and recommend it. It can actually take the place of Twitter and other non-Afrikan platforms.

That being said, back to the topic. That statement by Ms. Hunter struck me. and got me to thinking. Many of us have heard some variation of the quotations written at the beginning of this article. What is mediocrity? The Britannica dictionary defines mediocrity as “the quality of something that is not very good”. Being mediocre means satisfaction with not being excellent and doing just enough to get by.

So, how has America become mediocre? We know that Agnotology is being realized daily. Remember, Agnotology is a relatively new science that deals with the creation of ignorance.

In education, ignorant people are trying to influence what well trained and well-educated teachers teach. Despite the fact that most curriculums are evaluated by psychologists as well as educators, these people, most of whom have never read the books that they try to ban or studied the topics they want to ignore want to influence what children are taught.

In politics it is even worse. Many of our legislators are uninformed and profoundly ignorant themselves. They remind me of a joke that my mother used to tell me. She said that it is better to be believed to be a fool than to start talking and remove all doubt. Some people enjoy laughing at these congresspeople but I can’t. They scare me because they are so dangerous.

What is the combination of racism and ignorance called? Ignoracism? Rignorance? Racerance? Whatever it is called, it is dangerous and we are being increasingly confronted with it.

Being excellent surrounded by ignorance is a necessity for survival in today’s world. We still have to be at least twice as accomplished as non-Afrikan people but maybe that’s a good thing.

Food for thought.