ON DUMBING IT DOWN.
Dumbing down
refers to the act of intentionally reducing one’s intellectual capacity in
order to appeal to people with lower or limited intelligence. My first encounter with the expression was while
listening to a message by Dr Cindy Trimm. She used such elaborate vocabulary
and scientific analogies, which, though I understood, I was wondering (as I
listened) if other listeners would understand.
She then made a profound statement. She said, ‘I will not insult you by dumbing
down because you have the capacity to understand me’. That statement gave me a paradigm shift.
You know how you
hear about something and suddenly it seems that is all you hear about? Well that was what happened to me with this
expression. Turns out that the ‘act’ of dumbing down is a cause for concern in
many spheres of life including education and career development.
According to Dr
Cindy Trimm, ‘We have learnt the art of dumbing down, we have learned the art
of blending in, we have learnt the art of giving away pieces of ourselves, so
that people don’t feel as if we are full of pride’. THIS IS A MISTAKE…
People dumb down
mainly because they do not want others to think they are proud. I however share
the opinion that, if you are confident and people think you are proud, they are
insecure and that is their problem. NEVER LET PEOPLE MIXED UP YOUR CONFIDENCE
IN WHO YOU ARE IN THEIR INSECURITIES.
Dumbing down is
an attack on our intelligence and undermines who God has created us to be. I used to think that I have to dumb it down so
that I can ‘become all things to all people’, but really, Jesus taught
otherwise. Jesus, while on earth spoke in parables so much so that His
disciples always went back to him for clarification on what he meant. In fact He said in Mark 4:11 that only those
who are in the kingdom (the intelligent) had the capacity to understand His
parables.
Throughout the Book of
Revelations, Jesus repeatedly said, ‘He that has an ear let him hear’. I believe he was not referring to the
physical ears, but is rather implying that if you are able to understand, then
understand. Jesus did not dumb down the
message in Revelations!!!!!!
If Jesus, who
came to save the whole world, did not dumb down, why should I?
