Don't believe everything you read online

Some of you may have seen an article making its way across the Internet recently, listing the 50 least educated places in every state.

Guess what? The “writer” of the piece has placed Hot Springs County, Wyoming at number 49, inferring there is only one place in the country dumber than us.

I put the word writer in quotes, because this kind of journalism is nothing more than someone sitting behind their computer, gathering bits of information from around the web, tossing it all together in a supposed story, and getting paid about $25 for every article they turn in.

In other words, a “get rich quick” scheme that lets you work from home, regardless of your actual knowledge.

The writer has not set a single foot in Hot Springs County.

The writer doesn’t know my friends and neighbors. The writer has taken statistics from a census report and made us look uneducated because only 19.5 percent of our 25-year olds hold a bachelor’s degree or higher – because 12.49 percent of our 25-year olds do not hold a high school diploma.

If the writer had actually taken the time to research properly, she would have discovered Hot Springs County is primarily an agricultural area, and the last time I checked, you don’t need a bachelor’s degree to till or harvest a field or successfully manage a cattle ranch.

I’ll bet she likes her corn though, and her hamburger or steak. I guess it just magically poofs its way to the grocery store since people cannot, by her summation, function without higher education.

She doesn’t know the smart folks who started their own businesses in town or the years spent by our mechanics learning their craft.

She doesn’t know about the geologists among us. She doesn’t know about the number of books written by local authors or the photographers, NASA scientists, engineers and other smart cookies that walk our quiet streets.

I live in a county where I am continually amazed at the plethora of knowledge available to me, just by talking to the guy behind me in line at the grocery store or by chatting with the lady next to me at the concert.

Kudos, Hot Springs County, for being the quiet intellectuals you are!