What Being Smart Is: A Parody of What A Girl Is by Dove Cameron, Christina Grimmie, and Baby Kaely

This parody is dedicated to anyone fed up with numbers, standards, and tests.

I don't need a perfect ten
To be perfect as I am,
So fie on your numbers!
Just look past the numbers.

And these pointless Scantron tests,
Fail to reflect my very best.
And why does it matter?
Graphs alone have no power.

So over all the assessments around,
I am fed up with numerical shrouds.

Don't you know what being smart is?
Despite results, you're worth it.
Who cares about a test score?
They can't determine how you perform.

I'll step up now
And shout it loud.
I'll show what being smart is

These tests just skim the surface
To show what being smart is

This is just a skin.
Numbers just mean certain things.
I'm done wasting my time.
There's much more to my mind.

So over all the assessments around,
I am fed up with numerical shrouds.

Don't you know what being smart is?
Despite results, you're worth it.
Who cares about a test score?
They can't determine how you perform.

I'll step up now
And shout it loud.
I'll show what being smart is

These tests just skim the surface
To show what being smart is.

You are more than what the numbers say,
I swear.
Go beat the odds and just put yourself
Out there.

It's pretty clear that there's more to us than grid lines.
Improvement's taking over, standing like a high rise.
And if you ever doubt the things that I can do,
Sit back and we will show ya.
It'd be really nice to know ya.
No doubt we're a force undeniable
Get together and your ideas will fall down on ya.
I got a feeling that we're there for ya,
Sit back and let us show ya.
'Cause improvement's taking over.

I don't need a perfect ten
To be perfect as I am,
So fie on your numbers!
Just look past the numbers.
Don't you know what being smart is?
Despite results, you're worth it.
Who cares about a test score?
They can't determine how you perform.

I'll step up now
And shout it loud.
I'll show what being smart is

These tests just skim the surface
To show what being smart is.

All About those Brains

Meghan Trainor’s “All About that Bass” is all about body love, but what about mind love? Are not minds am important part of our identities too?

Because you know I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains,

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

Yeah, it’s pretty clear. I’m not all normal,

But I’ve been trying, trying, like what you asked for.

‘Cause I’ve got persistence and have what it takes

 To stay strong in school and find my place.

I see those bubble tests working those numbered scores.

We know we’re more than that.

Come on now, are those facts?

If you don’t conform to standards,

Just raise them up,

‘Cause every mind that thinks is worth it,

From the bottom to the top.

Yeah, GPA is just a number like age and size.

I say, great thinkers will never just fit a mold or type.

You know I won’t be a test-acing 5.0 fantasy,

 So if that’s what your standards are, wait ‘till you see me.

Because you know I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains,

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains

‘Bout those brains, not systems.

I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

I’m bringing learning back!

Go ahead and tell all those conformists that

No, I’m just kidding.

Failure, you fear that,

But I’m here to tell you

Every mind that thinks is worth it

From the bottom to the top.

Yeah, GPA is just a number like age and size.

I say, great thinkers will never just fit a mold or type.

You know I won’t be a test-acing 5.0 fantasy,

 So if that’s what your standards are, wait ‘till you see me.

Because you know I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains,

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

Because you know I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains,

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

Because you know I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains,

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

I’m all about those brains,

‘Bout those brains

Not systems.

Hate Comments (Trigger Warning: Extreme Ableism)

You may have heard about this girl with Down syndrome covering “All of Me” by John Legend. After hearing her and scrolling through some negative comments, I commented about how we should give her credit for putting forth the effort that comes with performing a song. Having uploaded videos myself, I have also dealt with my fair share of haters. My most recent hater left two comments, one being “You bampot” and the other being “You’re dirt”. The user who left these comments is SteadfastFactNotionMaker and, after looking at his/her channel, found him/her to be part of a YouTube hate network. This person even subscribed to a channel called QuinPaperwasp, whose tagline (General Trigger Warning) is as follows:

  

For those who cannot read the image, I will transcribe it with the original punctuation:

i embitter, afflict, stress, and rigorously attach and hurt autistic people, suicidal people, and others i want to. thus, i wreck their pathetic lives and i derive a lot of joy from their suffering and struggling.

There is a line between expressing your opinions and verbally abusing others at their expense. The latter part of the tagline reminds me of the cruel dictators I studied in my history classes, which leads me to think that they fear a lack of power and influence like an autocrat would. Thus, they resort to belittling others for their pleasure. They erect walls of malice to conceal their vulnerability and, yet, in real life, they may be lonely, alienated, lacking in confidence, or experiencing hate themselves and lashing out at others via the Internet to cope with it.

I’m not much of a laissez faire type, so I wanted to draw attention to this issue. I see it, not just on YouTube (though that's the place I most see it), but on other regions of the Internet such as blogs. This is not just about censorship or language policing, but about the value and respect of mankind as a whole.