Narrowing down the book idea

So while I am the expert at very few things but have a lot of opinions on other things I am limited in what I could fill a book about. I have a few ideas for some novels but I am no James Patterson (who must write in his sleep) leaving me to find something that I know a lot about, but that one does not necessarily have to have a degree in. the thing is that if I can come up with something that qualifies I am sure there are many others who can do the same. The trick is to come up with some level of authority or at least credibility on the topic I chose. And of course it has to be something that the Daily Show staff would find interesting enough to invite me on as a guest.

So here is the current idea that is gestating in my brain. "Why are we Stupid?"

First off, if you have not figured it out, I do believe I have some authority and credibility on this subject. I am not being self-deprecating here - let me explain.

I will argue that on the whole we are not actually stupid, but we often do stupid things. Whether it is as children, parents, customers, service providers, politicians, doctors, lawyers, student, teachers, and yes even rocket scientists - we all do stupid things. Things we do not think through, choice we make for short term gain, or choices we do not make in the hopes of long term gain.

It seems to me that with the multiple crises the world has gotten itself into these days (financial, housing, auto-industry, etc.) that there is no shortage of people doing stupid things. what is most interesting about those situations is the collective stupidity. But there is also the more common individual stupidity that we often get to see highlighted by politicians and celebrities. Whether is a gallivanting Governor or poorly parenting pop-star we all get to gape and judge at these ridiculous antics that stem from none other than stupid decisions.

And of course, the most common and least talked about is our own individual stupidity. We are more likely to talk about our successes from good decision making than our failures from stupid decisions we have made. But we all do them. We try to make the left turn before the on-coming car gets to close, we insult the waiter before our soup is served, we eat the cake even though we are trying to lose weight, we buy magazines from college kids that sell them door to door, we decide that "just this once" it'll be okay to go without the proper protection (not just that!).

We follow our friends, we under or over research an issue, we make assumptions about things we know nothing about - these are all the seeds that more often than not lead us into stupidity.

So there are no truly stupid people (gross generalization I will flip-flop on later) just people who do really stupid things. And that is all of us. Granted - some more than others, but definitely all of us.

So that's the idea/book flap/elevator pitch. I would love to hear your thoughts on the idea and, if you have some classic personal stupid story and want to get in a book either in name or alias (to protect you) I would love to hear it. Like I said I have some classics - like the time I voted to play tackle football on the beach that led to 12 weeks in a cast. Lots of time spent lying on my back pondering my stupidity on that one.

More to come....