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TechnoratiIt's the Stupidity, Stupid!
The elite, the most powerful, influential, and wealthy individuals among us, have essentially succeeded in creating the most important element in sustaining their perpetual control: eternally loyal, anti-thinking, slave-followers, fundamentally hostile to any kind of meaningful thought, perhaps as much as eighty percent of the world's population. For the purposes of keeping this article short enough for publication, my comments here are limited to Americans.
That half of you Americans are considering voting for a ticket whose VP candidate supports creationism, in this 2008, who opposes abortions even in the case of rape or incest, and who has literally boasted of her foreign experience primarily because Russia shares a border with her state, simply boggles the mind. Yes, let's forget Reason, forget common sense, forget science, forget critical thought which without progression, technology, modern civilization, wouldn't exist, and let's vote for a creationist! And a female one to boot! Your cant is beyond frightening. If Hockey Mom's values are that precious to your hearts, or if it's her gender that blows your whistle that much, why do you even bother, for example, going to the doctor when your kid is sick? Just go to church or a feminist group meeting instead! You stupid seventy million plus neurologically diseased Baptist Americans! Even God Himself would struggle to make you see! Didn't Jesus profess that truth is better than untruth? How is it that you care so little about wisdom, about truth, about humaneness, about the most meaningful values there can be in this life? Is it because you are simply awaiting, as your Holy Bible describes, the next one? Do us agnostics a favor and take the trip already!
These days in America, there are at present two candidates vying for the presidency. One has a long record of being an anti-regulator, a pro-trickle-down-economics-theory adherent, essentially privileging the elite over the slaves. Another, is a rare, seemingly honest and inspirational individual who promises to throw a bit more crumbs to the slaves, while not rocking the elite's boat too much. There were better, third choice candidates before, people of scrupulous honesty and integrity, who aroused the interest of the sincere, the thoughtful, who in-turn supported the likes of Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader. But now only two major candidates remain. Given the last eight miserable years, Barack Obama, the far lesser evil of the two candidates, would seem to be a shoo-in. But no. The race is neck and neck! You Americans, your stupidity knows no bounds.
As if the proven vote-rigging of 2000 in Florida and 2004 in Ohio, ala-Choicepoint, as if the sudden, disappearance of $2.3 trillion US Dollars from the Department of Defense budget, admitted by its head thug, Donald Rumsfeld, on September 10, 2001, as if the bloody and financial messes called Iraq and Afghanistan, as if the Bechtel, Haliburton no-bid-war-contracts, not to mention the as-yet-unprosecuted handling of Katrina, as if the aftermath of 9/11, for example, the reprehensible lack of healthcare for the worsening conditions of the post-9/11 workers/volunteers, some of whom have since died of respiratory diseases, or the similarly shameless lack of quality healthcare for returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, as if the purposeful alienation of our strongest world allies, as if that damn charade show they dare called "the 9/11 Commission," whose initial creation was fought against tooth and nail by the super-villain Bush/Cheney duo, as if the Patriot Acts I and II, as if Mama Bush's spectacularly insulting comment that the Katrina victims in the Superdome "had it better than ever, as I understand they are quite poor"; as if all of these events, occurring under Republican rule of both executive and legislative branches, were simply not enough to bear, the US now finds itself in arguably its greatest financial crisis, unarguably, a direct result of too little regulation, too little government oversight, particularly in the derivatives markets. You see, all of this freedom from regulation, from "bureaucrats," was made possible by the systematic and steady dismantling of hard-won FDR-created government regulations, pushed since the 60's, virtually exclusively by the GOP, the elite's Party.
Yet despite all of these facts and events, approximately half of US citizens nevertheless still show interest in voting for "Mr. deregulation," a staunch Party member of the boys that have been doing all that deregulating over the last four-plus decades, an absolute adherent of that Party's free market fundamentalism: the invisible, omnipotent hand of capitalism.
Well, it's time to call a spade a spade. Forgive me James Carville, but, it's not the economy, stupid. It's the stupidity, stupid!!
You hopeless Americans! It is you who are the problem! You, by virtue of your incorrigibility, are not worthy of being anything but slaves!
"King" Henry Paulson, our Treasury Secretary, is a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. That means he comes directly from the very crowd that created the current financial mess, the ever-greedy investment banks led by the elite, who now together demand, daily, from Congress, pushed on by Dubya, a speedy, yes speedy, blank check for perhaps over a trillion US Dollars which they will spend without real oversight! And yet, despite all of this, you stupid Americans are seriously thinking of voting for that guy who has his whole political life basically taken his orders from that same elite!
If you cannot wake up from your own madness, you deserve every ounce of terrible, unrepresentative government you get! And in ten years, when the US' status resembles that of Argentina, no offense to Argentina, a third world nation marked by hyperinflation, an absent middle class, a tiny ruling elite, and a 99% population below or at the poverty line, perhaps, just perhaps, then, you will begin to critique your own stupidity, to think for yourselves, to shed the shackles of your slavery, and to concentrate more on the meaningful values of wisdom and truth related to your own lives, instead of trash-distractions like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Mrs. lipstick.
73 Comments so far
Show AllThat was an awesome rant!
How about this? Most Americans are uninformed, brainwashed AND stupid.
Yes but we have over 100 channels of tv.
The best example of the use of stupidity in American politics is the attempt to portray Obama as an "Intellectual Elitist"
EXCUSE ME!!!!!! I should NOT vote for someone smarter than me??????
I have a graduate degree and both of my parents had graduate degrees and I would be stupid not to want someone smarter than me as President of the most powerful. nation in history.
In my life I have visited 22 foreign countries and met many "common" people in those countries.
ONLY IN THE USA HAVE I MET PEOPLE WITH THE "JOE SIX PACK" MENTALITY WHO ARE ACTUALLY PROUD TO BE IGNORANT!!!!!!
But how can we lift people up if we keep thinking we're better than they are?
Yes it's elitism, and elitism is harmful. It's how the 1%, the real elites, rationalize their dominance.
Progressives can't keep acting as if they are missionaries among savages.
Basically you're telling people, "I'm smarter than you. Eat my shit!"
Should we go to war with these people? Am I wrong in finding something very hopeless, defeatist, and almost misanthropic about it all.
And I'm really sick of the term "Joe Six Pack." It's highly classist, insinuating that the rank and file are all alcoholics. It's also classist imo when people wave around college degrees and brag about all the places they've been to. Most people can't afford to get a PHD or travel the world. God, the elites profit from the debt people go into just trying to pull themselves up by going to school.
Doesn't the right get enough mileage by lambasting certain segments of the population? I.E. blacks, women, hispanics, gays, etc.
So why do we have to do it? Why do we have to attack the already vulnerable? It's certainly not bettering the human condition or even creating a consciousness.
Stop it. Everybody. It might make you feel good, but in the end it isn't helping.
Would I want someone smarter than me running the nation? Hell yes! Do I want someone running the country who feels that I am inferior to him/her. Hell no! And one plus I can put in Obama's column despite my qualms about him is that he at least tries to be inclusive and doesn't come off as elitist.
One other thing, if you don't have a conscience, a sense of real morality (not whether or not you think sex before marriage is bad) to go along with your brainpower, things at best will never improve.
Hitler was a smart guy too. Cheney's no dummy either. Bad people with big minds are scary.
You don't have to be supremely clever to see what's wrong with the world and how to fix it. Many if not all of our problems have pretty simple solutions.
give me a damn break already! it is not elitism to declare that 2+2=4, it is not elitism to say that americans are more consumerist than europeans, and it is not elitism to say that westerners have a higher standard of living than africans. to declare truth doesn't mean you are an elitist. it just means that you declare truth. you and other americans must get out of this stupid and useless tendancy of tying evrything to ego. ego-logic doesn't solve anything! the way u help them is by telling them the truth; and if u can't feel the compassion and sympathy in my essay for them, then u should consider yourself one of the slaves as well. how dare u compare this to hitler!!! you should be ashamed of yourself and spare other CD readers from your obvious inability to follow simple arguments!!!!
"give me a damn break already! it is not elitism to declare that 2+2=4, it is not elitism to say that americans are more consumerist than europeans, and it is not elitism to say that westerners have a higher standard of living than africans. to declare truth doesn't mean you are an elitist. it just means that you declare truth. you and other americans must get out of this stupid and useless tendancy of tying evrything to ego. ego-logic doesn't solve anything! the way u help them is by telling them the truth; and if u can't feel the compassion and sympathy in my essay for them, then u should consider yourself one of the slaves as well. how dare u compare this to hitler!!! you should be ashamed of yourself and spare other CD readers from your obvious inability to follow simple arguments!!!!"
Ego? I think it's egotistical to think that people in some countries are superior/inferior to others. I mean, hasn't that been one of many justifications for Empire?
Every nation and culture has its underbelly and its problems. People shouldn't throw stones.
I never compared you or anyone here to Hitler. My point was that just because someone is intelligent doesn't mean that they are moral. I'd rather have people of average intelligence who are moral and compassionate in power than people who are highly intelligent and lack morals and compassion.
Telling people that they are "stupid" and "slaves" isn't compassionate and displays contempt.
What? Do you insult women who are trapped in abusive relationships? How about the child who's afraid to tell on an abusive parent?
I'll be the first person to scold any American who rants about our nation being the greatest ever and all. I've been called anti-American too because of my criticism.
Oh I'm following your ridiculous hateful rant, not argument, just fine.
Our culture has lost the ability to think critically as defined by these thinkers . . .
“The critical habit of thought, if usual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the problems of life. People educated in it cannot be stampeded by stump orators. They are slow to believe. They can hold things as possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty and without pain. They can wait for evidence and weigh evidence, uninfluenced by the emphasis or confidence with which assertionas are made on one side or the other. They can resist appeals to their dearest prejudices and all kinds of cajolery. Education in the critical faculty of thought is the only education of which it can truly be said that it makes good citizens.” – William Graham Sumner, 1906
“Critical thinking is a desire to seek, the patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order, and hatred for every kind of imposture.” – Francis Bacon, 1605
If our society cultivated more critical thinkers (but that would mean we'd have to offer meaningful education), we wouldn't be in this nonsensical mess, not unlike "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
Stupid? Wrong words. Misinformed is more like it. Perhaps living in Korea, you have forgotten that in the U.S. 99% of all media is controlled by a handful of corporations. This "mainstream media" is financed so extravagantly and is so prevalent, that any dissenting voices are muted, ignored or silenced. The result is a population that relies on that same media for the information necessary to make sound choices. But news is selective, manipulative and very effective in directing the average viewer away from the true perpetrators.
No MSM outlet ever discusses universal healthcare or the fact that 50% of foreclosures are a result of illness (bankrupted by medical bills) or the trillions spent on an over-bloated military both at home and abroad. They can't! Sponsors would pull their advertisements in a flash thereby bankrupting any maverick network or newspaper that even attempted to support any ideology that is anathema to the corporate mandate.
Given the situation that the populace is denied access to real, unbiased information about everything from the wars abroad to the corruption on Wall Street and in Washington, it is amazing that even 2% of the population has figured it out and voted for Nader or some other real progressive.
there is much that is simply not true in your comments; but to be breif i'll just say it in a word: INTERNET!
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Eienstein
Stupid is exactly the right word for 80% of Americans. In the US 99% of all media is not controlled by a handful of corporations. There are thousands of magazines, small local newspapers, college radio stations, publicized lectures in town halls and college campuses. But the blindly stupid will not expose themselves to examine beliefs or facts that might challenge what they already believe.
Virtually anyone who has attended any large university and most colleges has been exposed to the fact that there are opinions, ideas, and facts that are not given or shared by the establishment media, and the establishment government. Yet, the majority turn their heads away at what they call those "leftist commie" rags like the Nation, Z, Progressive, Harpers, etc., a majority that is too damn stupid to read or listen to any but the ideas they brought to college.
Even those who are stupid enough to rely solely on establishment, "main stream", corporate media have been exposed by the corporate media that most, if not all presidents of the US have told lies such as "I did not have sex with that woman", and damn lies such as the Gulf of Tonkin lie, the "I am not a crook" lie by Nixon who was proven to be just that: a crook, the "Read my lips" lier Bush, and the slimy lying two-bit actor Republicans still fawn over, Reagan, who claimed he didn't know what Ollie and the boys were doing night after night in the basement of the house he lived in: the White House.
If you actually were from outer space, instead of spaced out, Space Cadet, you might be forgiven for not knowing or understanding these things, but the guy in Korea, like Albert and Michael and the likely less than 20% of the country's people do know these things because they weren't too stupid to question a government that has lied to them throughout history.
Americans are the stupidest people on the planet.
–Michael Moore
No question about it.
kudos 2 U advocate!
Space Cadet is on the right track. Thanks for that post.
I'd add that they aren't empowered either. We can be like the puppy that is put in a fenced yard. The puppy can't jump over the fence because it's too little, so therefore when the pup becomes a full grown adult dog, it thinks it can never jump over the fence, therefore it stops trying.
The people don't realize how much power they have. They're given two candidates. That's it. They're not excited about either of them, so they tune out.
Besides, do people realize how hard Americans work? They're killing themselves just to get by and provide.
Christ, how many Americans even have time to read a paper let alone the desire to read one?
They sedate themselves too with food, chemicals, and entertainment.
To be truthful I get frustrated with people also, but to just grind their faces in the concrete when the elites are doing it to them already...well, it rather sucks.
The people need help, not to be spat upon.
You're spitting on me too, my parents, my neighbors, etc. I make a lot of enemies speaking my mind, putting my job in peril, arguing with people, trying to get them to see the big picture and who the real bad guys are. I'm Middle America. Anyone who isn't in the 1% is Middle America.
Oh wait, I'm partly of Polish descent. That means I'm stupid anyway. Bill Hamer seems to think so. Nevermind.
Crap, too late to go sit on a barstool.
Eh, I'd just get in a fight anyhow.
Then get up off of your collective lazy asses and do something! All that exists in this world is work?! If you think it's acceptable to be a corporate controlled automaton, then great, be one. If democracy is not important enough to look under the rug, then I guess the stupid Americans deserve to be thrown under the bus.
I really doubt it's a matter of being too busy to invovle oneself in the democratic process, Americans are simply too stupid to even know where to look for the truth; too stupid to believe that there are alternative sources for information. Blame the MSM if you'd like, but the sad fact of the matter is is that the average American is, as the author pointed out, dummer than a bag of hammers.
spaghetti_monster,
thanks for speaking the truth.
So if Americans are stupid, what do we do? Just keep telling them they are stupid? Do we just keep insulting them? It all just seems so smug. And that's part of the problem with the left. They come off as smug and don't know how to engage the people.
How can you help the people if you have nothing but contempt for them?
i do not have contempt for them, just the way they think; and to change that they have to be willing partners, otherwise it is futile.
Well, if you keep alienating the public, the majority if whom support socialist ideas, not to mention were against the bailout, they aren't going to trust you. Therefore this article is useless aside from those immersed in the subculture of the left.
The main thread running through the history of this country has been one of elites beating up on the rank and file?
This essay is akin to scolding your child for not standing up to a bully.
I mean why attack the victims?
Did Bill Cosby help the black community by excoriating them wholesale?
I guess it's too much fun flipping Middle America the finger since it makes ya feel so special. And chances are, they won't be reading anyway.
Can't be havin', like, any poseurs in our scene 'n' stuff y'know?
"I love these articles that paint Palin as a religious nut case ... when Obama is just as much of one."
I'm not seeing Obama as a nut case, but then again in these circles, anyone with an ounce of spirituality is seen as a nutcase, So...ok then.
Wanna know why the race is neck and neck imo?
The differences between the two major parties are kinda shallow. The debates imo really shined the light on that.
"This will be the thread where the anti-Obamites line up.
Watch for them to repeat (yet again) the republican talking points:
Obama/McCain the same
Lesser evilism
Dem/Repub the same - duopoly - both serve corporate masters
Obama has been bought off by X who donated X to his campaign/ Obama a sellout
Obama a warmonger
Vote doesn't count/Don't vote
Vote 3rd party
------------------------------------------------------------------
Did I miss any?
Come to think of it, this could be a drinking game."
Well it's pretty much true. I hate to say that.
I hope Obama beats McCain too. I don't expect Nader to win. But somebody's gotta call Obama on his BS too, or else we won't get a whole lot of change. 3rd party candidates do just that.
victims stop being victims when they decide to do so. and now is the time for the slaves to wake up already and take their country back! and something else, my friend, you shouldn't disagree with someone just for the sake of disagreement, especially when the target message of your attack is sincere. otherwise you just end up embarassing yourself.
You know, I've spent so much time researching the issues and putting up links with facts on each of those points - just to have the exact same issue raised again by the same individuals - that I've gotten tired of going into lengthy debates.
Still, as a drinking game, I think I'm gonna take your repost of the anti-Obama/Dem talking points as, let me see, 7 shots.
May as well take the aspirin now. :-)
Seems to me when Europe was ridding itself of undesirables, Australia got the criminals and we got the prigs, prudes and Puritans. Australia got the better deal and we got screwed.
"Given the last eight miserable years, Barack Obama, the far lesser evil of the two candidates, would seem to be a shoo-in."
Saying it doesn't make it so.
You won't bother to argue WHY he is the far lesser evil, because you lack the necessary evidence to do so.
Although, between him and McCain, I'll certainly agree that he is the smarter, more articulate, and more charismatic neo-conservative candidate.
"You won't bother to argue WHY he is the far lesser evil, because you lack the necessary evidence to do so."
first of all, r u aware of the appx. 800 word limit for CD submissions? perhaps not. it is exceedingly difficult to write on a topic like this in around 800 words so i had to bery careful with my comments.
here r some answers for u:
1) since Carter, it has been the Democratic party that has been shown to be the most fiscally repsonsible of the two.
2) have you no compassion for your fellow americans who will more certainly be left out in the cold under a republican administration i.e. returning war veterans?
3) i want a peaceful end, as i think most people do, to the stalemates in the middle east and north korea. i am 100% sure that an obama administration will bring this about. obama is very close to dick lugar, a republican, who still was very supportive of the clinton effort to make peace in north korea. maybe your memory has forgotten that madeline allbright was once in pyongyang, before W torpedoed the whole process, which now, laughably he is tring to salvage.
4) all amricans deserve a RIGHT to quality health care, meaning universal healthcare. it's funny how all the countries that have "socialized medicine" are not falling apart the way u right wingers always seem to predict would happen if the US ever had such a system.
5) now i'm tired of writing. don't u have sense enough to figure these things out on your own. if not, u should read more.
here r some answers for u:
"1) since Carter, it has been the Democratic party that has been shown to be the most fiscally repsonsible of the two."
Ok. They might be more responsible or less irresponsible. They still aren't the best bet.
"2) have you no compassion for your fellow americans who will more certainly be left out in the cold under a republican administration i.e. returning war veterans?"
Haven't the Dems left a lot of people out in the cold too? Clinton wasn't exactly sensitive to workers and the poor either.
"3) i want a peaceful end, as i think most people do, to the stalemates in the middle east and north korea. i am 100% sure that an obama administration will bring this about. obama is very close to dick lugar, a republican, who still was very supportive of the clinton effort to make peace in north korea. maybe your memory has forgotten that madeline allbright was once in pyongyang, before W torpedoed the whole process, which now, laughably he is tring to salvage."
Then why does Obama want to keep troops in Iraq and not leave immediately? Why is he so pro-Israel? Why is he egging on Iran and Pakistan? I don't sense that Obama wants to end empire anymore than McCain does. He just wants a kinder, gentler version.
"4) all amricans deserve a RIGHT to quality health care, meaning universal healthcare. it's funny how all the countries that have "socialized medicine" are not falling apart the way u right wingers always seem to predict would happen if the US ever had such a system."
Of course. I want universal single payer healthcare also. But Obama only talks of making health care "more affordable" not free. That's not enough for me.
"5) now i'm tired of writing. don't u have sense enough to figure these things out on your own. if not, u should read more."
I think your anger is very misguided. If I'm going to hate people, I prefer to set my sights on leaders, not the people they lead.
if u read my article carefully you'd see that i'm not a wholehearted obama fan. and also please do not write comments to be unless they are fundamental and substantial, for example it's the leaders and the slaves at the same time that deserve criticism. please learn to think wholly and fundamentally.
atheist, I have to strongly disagree with your evaluation. A candidate like Obama has to appear somewhat religious in order to get votes. Maybe he is a believer, maybe not. That one preacher friend of his is clearly over the top, as far as the mainstream is concerned. That is immaterial. People like Palin are "True Believers", in every sense. That alone should scare the hell out of ANY voter, irrespective of personal beliefs.
I love these articles that paint Palin as a religious nut case ... when Obama is just as much of one.
That is simply absurd.
Well, she does abuse religion like most bible thumpers. I'm not so sure Obama is a bible thumper unlike Palin. Correct me if I am mistaken though.
someone else also takes care of me by determining my eligibility to vote, selecting my computerized voting machine vendor and the vendor of the software that runs on it, evaluating and certifying the integrity and security and confidentiality of the entire voting system, and tabulating and publishing the results, and by casting electoral votes to save me from my own wrong-headed vote, even if accidentally counted correctly...sure saves me alot of thinking!
Thumper...I believe one of the signs of intelligence is the willingness to test one's thinking via experimentation and observation with an openness to revision if results warrant...when one relies upon undeveloped repetition, shifting argument, elevated emphasis, cloying\vicious coercion, or blind faith to support one's thinking, that is not it...in some cases, this behavior may be due to a lack of critical thinking skills...in others, however, it may be used spuriously to distract from and conceal what might not bear closer scrutiny...one can sound uneducated when one is desperate for material in which to clothe dishonesty...a population not trained in thinking critically can be led down many a winding or bloody road...precedent also presents problems...you may be asking offspring to confront parental viewpoints with discretion, and that may be seen as offensively divisive by both...
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear...what if the student is never ready?
http://www.criticalthinking.org/
Thanks for the link. I will use it. I enjoy learning fallacies. The training for the mind is reward by itself.
The future looks like ........... Guatemala
The strange people on the right believe that they are as correct on matters as we on the left believe that we are correct concerning situations at hand. Who is really correct? I have always thought that the right are slow when confronted with the need to use critical thought and perhaps are less educated as well. Does anyone know of any study on the level of education of the right compared to the left?
This will be the thread where the anti-Obamites line up.
Watch for them to repeat (yet again) the republican talking points:
Obama/McCain the same
Lesser evilism
Dem/Repub the same - duopoly - both serve corporate masters
Obama has been bought off by X who donated X to his campaign/ Obama a sellout
Obama a warmonger
Vote doesn't count/Don't vote
Vote 3rd party
------------------------------------------------------------------
Did I miss any?
Come to think of it, this could be a drinking game.
I'm not stupid, I just don't need to think so much...someone else takes care of me...changes my diapers, brings me water and grows\slaughters\prepares my food, dresses me, fills my mind with images and statements, educates me and frames my thinking and controls my very vocabulary for me to only include the topics and choices they approve, hands me prepared traditions minus their illuminating history, builds my house, puts out fires in my vicinity, pays me to work and subjectively hires\reviews\fires me, selects the products from which I am allowed to make my purchasing choices, entertains me with sexually attractive women while telling me to practice monogamy, doctors me with only the incredibly expensive and marginally effective medications they have created to save me from the seductively effective and freely available natural ones, pays for my doctoring only when they absolutely are able to find no way to avoid oding so, polices my neighborhood and rescues my family, speaks on my behalf in a court of law because I'm too ignorant to defend myself, runs my country, collects my share of our common expenses and decides how best to spend it, guides me into their religious beliefs and does their best to keep me there, regulates my movements and actions for my own good using the appropriate amounts of force\restriction, protects me from myself and others, helps me understand that I don't know enough to have an opinion and that any opinions I do have must be corrected to align with theirs, builds terrible weapons and fights horrific wars on my behalf by lying to my son about the situation to fan his patriotic emotions into the blind allegiance of a new recruit thanks to knowing far better than he or I ever could if and when this sacrifice is necessary, buries me and mine once dead...
All I need to do is buy stuff, consume it or throw it away, and buy more stuff...oh, yeah, and watch tv, drink beer and drive my car everywhere...
How hard is that?
plato stated that the second worst form of government is democracy :)
Or as a bumper sticker has said ... "Democraacy is to true freedom as gang rape is to lovemaking."
Good one dubet.
The root of the problem could lie in that someone else runs our government for us because we think we are too stupid to run it ourselves through direct democracy. We certainly couldn't do a worse job.
Yeah, really, i think the founders were a pretty privileged and elite bunch themselves, and not especially inclined to place faith in the intelligence or competence of we, the people. Guess they were scared of direct democracy, eh? Remember Jefferson's 20-year rule and we're waaaaay overdue.
well said
the wold is going to be left with no other option than to wipe this cancer off the face of the earth
the only thing that might mitigate is if the mexicans take their stolen land back, hell they are the majority in many places right now
the could do it democratically
the us is a hateful and fucked up country
cheers, b
We need a movement for a constitutional amendment to allow for secession. Then the states with large Mexican-American populations could secede and others could begin to secede around the nation. To use Bush's vernacular, this sucker could break up!
Don't forget that the majority of Americans are made stupid by the same system that has them enslaved. If it wasn't for the internet, I would still be drinking the cool-aid given out by FOX, CBS, ABC, and NBC. Lord knows my public education did little to make me aware of government and corporate abuses. Americans are not so much stupid as they are naive. The media control is at the heart of the problem in my opinion.
I'm just as frustrated as you Solomon and I enjoyed your article because my wife and I find ourselves saying the same almost every night. I disagree that we all deserve our fate though. You can never underestimate or downplay the full scope of the elite's "plan" to keep us under control. The New Deal really pissed them off and they have been working very hard to ensure something like it never happens again. The problem they will always have though is that part of the elite group (neocons) will get too greedy and cause some of us to wake up.
I would encourage all Commondreams readers to focus on media reform because the only way to stop them is by winning the information war.
www.freepress.net
www.ae911truth.org
red_pill,
my matrix friend, u r absolutely right. and out all the issues that i think r most important, media reform is by far at the top of the list. but you know, u and I, for example, did it on our own, with the help of the internet of course. so there is still something to be said for deserved bad government being linked to mental laziness.
Sioux Rose
CLASS ACT: Or you could turn it THE GREAT TURNING, which happens to correspond with a transtion as per the AGES mankind passes through.
THOMAS MORE: Your selective reality really defines the delusions your sign is known for. The troops deserve our support, Vietnam was a justifable war, there is very little racism in the U.S., and anyone who mentions the stupidity of the population (the portion fed on Fox "news," sports AS religion, and/or religions of hatred and divisiveness which are plentiful in this land of the hardly brave) hates America. Keep wearing your blinders, in your next life, you'll be a horse.
Americans were not born stupid. They were made that way.
sure. u r right. but we still have to adress the issue. and i think there is a bit more to be said for genes than u think.
Thank You Solomon. Your 100 per cent right. I ve been saying for along time that American Voters are Stupid. I can't understand except for the very rich and powerful why they want McCain/Palin. Some men who are voting republican are saying well Sarah Palin - shes attractive, She's from Alaska, anyone from Alaska should be good. Oh Obama wants to rasise taxes. Yes they do, but look how many years we have had tax cuts and funded a war (a mismanaged one at that). Many voters who have the most to lose will vote for McCain like they did for Bush, and many of These people also hold college degrees. Go figure. That's why so many stupid people will vote for McCain/Palin and "God Forbid" they get elected. I m 53 and oh my golden years wont be so golden.
gnk,
your comments r quite astute. on the issue of college degrees and intelligence, i think in many cases they have nothing to do with each other. "education means to teach students how to think, rather than what to think." that is the answer to your "go figure."
thanks for your comments and interest. i will try my best to make sure that you and my parents years still have the glimmering possibility of gold.
Thomas More,
Why do you get so offended? After all Bush/Cheney have been in office for 8 years and now McCain/Palin have a good chance of winning this election. If that doesn't prove to you that most Americans are stupid, then I don't know what will.
So many of you are too arrogant, and any time somebody points one of your flaws, the best response you can comeback with is: unpatriotic, anti-american! Come back with a better argument.
And I believe the author is not american-hater, he is a stupidity-hater. That most americans fall under this definition is not his fault.
He lives in the more conservative regions in TX where he's more likely to be influenced into thinking that Palin is somehow "clean". Surely, his wife would know better than that. Myself a Texas though I live in El Paso where it's not as conservative, I can understand the brainwashed mood of the masses in the state. Voting for Mccain/Palin simply because Palin is a woman has become a disease almost as much as voting for Obama/Biden simply because he's a Democrat and Obama's Afro-American.
Steady, Hakim. You have to think of American stupidity like the story of Sodom & Gomorrah. In the bible story, S&G could be spared if even one honest person were found.
While it's absolutely true we've become the world's most aggressively dull-witted lynch mob, there still live among us at least a few rational souls. You know they're still here. They write articles for Commondreams.
In spite of decades of brainwashing, the oligarchy just hasn't managed to kill the truth. Even when only a little bit of it is available, it tends to spread. Since we've been spared thus far, the best plan is not to despair, but to make that bit of truth a bit more available.
Consider the "American-hater" blog troll above. Certainly a prime specimen proving your point. But he's reading Commondreams articles, isn't he? Take that as a harbinger of hope.
demosthenes,
u r indeed right and your point is well taken. i think we r basically the same in our opinions; it is just that my energy, especially when im angry or sad, tends to flow in the negative direction. perhaps it is because i am too greedy; maybe i want too much. i really appreciate ur criticism, although when you think about what must be done it is just so damn daunting.
anyway, thanks for your comments, my optimistic friend.
Well said!
thnx~
At least Palin is CONSISTENT in her religious beliefs ! She "understands" (in that deluded god-believing manner) that if *GOD* didn't want that girl to get pregnant *HE* would have stopped the conception, so *GOD* apparently wants that girl to get pregnant and have that baby. All life is *SACRED* you know.
What I'm wondering is: why didn't *GOD* just prevent that girl from being raped or molested in the first place ??? Obviously *GOD* wanted that to happen too. (And now 9/11 comes to mind. Don't get me started.)
The people who should be ashamed of themselves are the vast majority of you god believers who are pathetically hypocritical, you claim you believe in this big daddy in the sky, and yet your everyday behavior exhibits total lack of belief. You do whatever the hell you want and invoke belief when it's convenient. If you REALLY thought there was a god you'd be on your best behavior 24x7.
And another thing ... not everyone who chooses McCain/Palin is actually voting FOR these two people. In some cases it's going to be a vote AGAINST Obama/Biden.
true, but you dont get out of a hole by digging deeper. it would be better off for the country if such people just stayed home - especially those disgustingly ideological Democrat females who want to vote the other way just to see a female in power. such people are also one of the reasons the US is in decline.
I have "good" news for you about Palin. It has been confirmed by a campaigner from Mccain silently that Mccain plans to hand the keys to Palin two weeks after inauguration should he win since his medical condition is actually troubling him even more. Trust me, vote Mccain/Palin and she'll be there for you in February and on Valentine's Day 2009. Have a nice 12 years.
That's a pretty outrageous conspiracy theory. Why would McCain want Palin to be President ? He only picked her so that HE could win. Too bad he and his advisors didn't understand that the Hillary supporters liked Hillary because she's extremely intelligent and highly experienced. They apparently thought we liked Hillary simply because she's a woman.
It ain't conspiracy theory. We're talking about a Mccain campaigner in my local area admitting something. Just relax. Palin will be there for you. If Mccain loses this year, most likely, then the GOP will definitely see to it that Palin gets a 4 year training so that they can position her for 2012 and then she'll be the nominee against incumbent President Obama.
As for Hillary, the media hyped her up starting in 2000 when Al Gore was forced to concede to Bush thanks to scotus. Besides, by now most Hillary supporters are moving on. The corporate media is just paying people bribes to say crap like "I was a Hillary voter but I'm voting for Mccain because of Palin." The same media would have torpedoed Hillary. Besides, there are plenty of women voters in the polls pretending to vote for Mccain because of Palin on the ticket but will likely change their mind on election night. If you want to call that a conspiracy theory, you'd better do the same on the media misusing race against Obama and inventing the so-called "Bradley effect" term.
Dear Solomon:
It pains us as well. How can if possibly be that millions of Americans vote for the very men who most take advantage of them? How can it be that they don't understand who is keeping them down?
AAAAGH! Help us, someone! Deliver us from this plague!
JaneM
i hear u. but let's try to do it ourselves. i think it's very true that one doesn't know what one is really capable of until they try desperately to do something. we need more desperation and then we can be excellent.
Could anyone use more cliches than this guy? Just another pathetic American hater. He is certainly where he belongs.
and where do u belong my friend? also, don't dare define what u r not aware of. im not an "America Hater," but an america lover; and it is because of this i crticize america u unthinking hillbilly. to borrow from Nietzsche, "I only criticize what I love."
"and where do u belong my friend? also, don't dare define what u r not aware of. im not an "America Hater," but an america lover; and it is because of this i crticize america u unthinking hillbilly. to borrow from Nietzsche, "I only criticize what I love."
Wow, how compassionate you are. How is it "love" to insult people?
"Unthinking hillbilly?"
Really.
Are all the people blindly calling Kim Jong Ill "Dear Leader" stupid and enslaved too? I mean, even people in America are mostly against Dubbya now. It's hard to find anyone who'd call Bush "dear leader."
thegreatrockyhill,
i told you once already and im not going to repeat it. you are obviously too thick in the head to understand what i said before: stop linking everything to ego!!!! crtiicism, you idiot, like competition, just make us stronger. do parents hit their kids because they want to "insult" them? you are a perfect exapmle of the ideologically-circumscribed americans that make it so difficult for them to see truth. from, now on, i will not respond to u unless u have something meaningful to say!
meegukzarathustra-I'm no longer going to respond to you either as you're just too angry to have a dialogue with. You're the one who's not listening nor are you saying anything meaningful (when you are, you're not saying anything new) and you're definitely being insulting and coming off as a petulant child quite frankly. Change will never come from berating the public. If anything it causes them to regress or withdraw. People need to be engaged not punched in the gut.
The American left needs to be a Big Tent, not a private little club/subculture of smug, self-righteous people. Progressives are not "special" since we are in the majority. The polls show that most Americans want an end to empire and support socialist reform. But they aren't being engaged, are at times being alienated (this thread is a shining example), and aren't given truly viable alternatives.
Great, you've shot the messenger. Now what about the message?
opps...I was never very good at math
that was 52 years ago !
"America this is serious"
Is it posible for an empire to die of stupiditiy ?
Wow...The election becomes more surrrrrrrrreal all the time.
I want to cast my vote for Obama (maybe he will catch Osama and make him an official martyr forevvvvver and evvvvver) and forget dull political rhetoric for at least a day or two and simply observer the mayhem. Both parties are hideous big money machines, yet I think hope or fear the Demos have slightly more intelligent candidates less prone to doing something really totally and amazingly stupid. Butt...haven't they been promising national health care since the 40's so that we can catch up with the rest of the developed world ??
Or in other words, according to the immortal Saint Ginsberg:
America (written fourty two years ago)
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/onlinepoems.htm
excerpt:
"America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.
America two dollars and twentyseven cents January
17, 1956.
I can't stand my own mind.
America when will we end the human war?
Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.
I don't feel good don't bother me.
I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind.
America when will you be angelic?
When will you take off your clothes?
When will you look at yourself through the grave?
When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?
America why are your libraries full of tears?
America when will you send your eggs to India?
I'm sick of your insane demands."
12/20/2012 – 30:45-101:20
Hahahaha, great rant! And so true
thnx~