"A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking" -Jerry Seinfeld

I really have begun to question whether people actually think anymore, so I completely find this quote as truthful. Today, when everyone lives on the internet, plays video games all day long, and simply finds ways to shut themselves off it's nice to see the traditional bookstore making a revival. Hell, you can go to Barnes and Noble on a Saturday or Sunday and have absolutely no place to sit other than the floor because there is someone in every single chair or seat reading a book. That I find to be amazing, because it seems like books require far too much thinking for our generation to comprehend.

Maybe I'm just a bit too narcissistic but I really question whether or current generation is as smart as the ones in the past, with our iPhones and Xbox 360s making us oblivious to the world (I have an iPhone and an Xbox as well) but I really wish that people would step back for a bit and do something that requires thought, inspiration, or is maybe a bit challenging. It surprises me when I hear my friends tell me they enjoyed my editorial in the Daily because, honestly, I figured no one read anymore, and if they did, they read an article on WFAA that was the entire length of 5 sentences. Gee, this makes me sound pretentious.

But that's why I feel Jerry Seinfield's quote an extremely true snippet of our culture. People simply don't appear to think anymore; yet the continued relevance of the bookstore proves that-to a point-people actually do think, and maybe I'm wrong. But it sure doesn't seem like it. I get bewildering stares when I read in the Lyceum Lounge between Writing and Government. People drop their jaws and ask why when I tell them I'm dropping by Recycled Books (which by the way is the greatest book store of all time) or Barnes and Noble.

Yet, I have a pretty big point which proves the lack of thinking skills our generation has. Look at the radio and the music that is popular. In the past, you had The Who, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin all be majorly popular music acts. Everyone knows them. They all had extremely technical, emotionally-driven music that required a bit of thinking skills to fully enjoy. Even pop music had Michael Jackson, who was extremely talented, to prove that the public still had a bit of brains. The rock stars have now become bands like Nickelback who sing about how they have sex and memories over and over again to the exact same guitar riff, all this screamo junk which is pure nonsense, and in pop music, with the exception of Lady Gaga who actually is talented, you have people like Ke"$"ha (yes, it's spelled that way) singing about how the "party doesn't start until I walk in" or Taylor Swift, which needs no explanation. This is proof of how people simply don't think.

So, yes, the bookstore is one of the last remaining pieces of evidence that people are still smart, and still think. But what happens if that bookstore, a seeming last cradle of intelligence, goes away?