overgrow- While I appreciate your eloquence in addressing the subject of the decline of human intelligence, I think you're making way too many generalizations, based on buzz language by media outlets, open and unfounded statements, and just being vague in general. To the contrary, I don't believe human intelligence is on the decline; simply basing your argument off reality television, government propaganda, and completely unfounded statistics (conspicuous consumption? 90% That's hardly statistically measurable) and assuming most of the youth/young adult population follow what their parents have followed.

From personal observation, your logic is unsound... With each passing generation, scientific and technological discovery is exploding at an exponential rate; more kids are attending colleges- I know college does not necessarily make one smart, but the actively pursuing education is definitely a good indicator. I understand this is just a single example, but when I went to high school, the token "nerds" didn't just earn good grades, but many people in the more popular crowd actually did better on exams. Vast majority of the cliquish girls not only made it through college very well, but are attending pharm school, law school, med school... Many of the bitter and inherently intelligent people from high school are living in crappy apartments, working two jobs, trudging their way through life filled with misplaced resentment. They should be the ones in college, but they spent more energy on cynicism than studying.

You can't determine someone's intelligence by their social behavior, what they watch on TV, what their consumption habits are... It's backwards thinking. What really confused me was your phrase:

Oh, and let's not forget 90% of the population's addiction to conspicuous consumption of useless status symbols.
I'm not sure what you mean by this... By status symbols, do you imply fast cars, boats, nice houses? If so, then the 90% figure and the term addiction would render it a kind of moot point... If 90% of people purchase things which incite their status, then the term status symbol would become invalid. What is inherently wrong with buying quality if you indeed have worked hard enough for the money?

My mom worked 16 hour shifts as a nurse opposite of my dad, who worked 12 hour shifts as a coal powerplant operator to raise all six of us into healthy, functioning, and intelligent adults. Through these times, my parents learned a hell of a lot about savings and financial methods, so we've always had a comfortable home and the occasional vacation. My mom also pursued education like a fiend while working full time, accumulating four Masters and two bachelors degrees. She also watches Survivor and American Idol. My parents have 100% absolutely perfect credit. Based on your above presumption, is it morally wrong for my mom to own a Miata, or my dad to own a boat?

As far as your suggested trend in IQ, bhouncy, it wouldn't surprise me. However, traditional IQ tests, much like SATs/ACTs are generally falling out of favor in the sense that the tests are too objective, and don't show the actual spectrum of intelligence; Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences has come into favor the past decade, as it determines and measures what KIND of intelligence you predominately posses.

General knowledge, grammatical savvy, aesthetic appreciation...all these seem to be on the severe decline.
I'm assuming these are all personal, local observations? How can you determine another person's general knowledge and aesthetic appreciation objectively? You can't. Simply because you don't observe people going to art shows, museums, lectures, etc. doesn't mean they have a lack of "general knowledge and aesthetic appreciation," both of which are extremely vague terms.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. GRAMMAR. DOES. NOT. INDICATE. INTELLIGENCE. As a former English major, as well as someone who appreciates grammar, syntax, punctuation, etc. I can attest that lack of grammar, especially on the internet, does NOT determine the intelligence of the person. There are scads of people on this site, as well as people I talk with on AIM who don't use punctuation, capital letters, and (gasp!) end their sentences with prepositions. That does NOT make them less intelligent in any way, shape, or form.

I guess the point I'm trying to convey is that you can't make accurate broad generalizations about society. People can have advanced degrees and still be idiots, or they can be intelligent, thoughtful, and eat McDonald's and shop at Wal Mart. Humans are, like it or not, each highly individual beings that you cannot accurately judge without knowing more subjective material. Preconceived notions about a person usually turn out to be false- I've had it happen to me often, and it will continue to happen. People surprise me all the time.