The United States of Stupidity: We, the people, didn't used to be this dumb

[Carl]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3201845

kpete  (1000+ posts)         Thu Apr-24-08 02:31 PM
Original message
The United States of Stupidity: We, the people, didn't used to be this dumb   
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Edited on Thu Apr-24-08 02:32 PM by kpete
The United States of Stupidity: We, the people, didn't used to be this dumb
Culture | Media | Politics
by Alan Bisbort | April 24, 2008 - 11:41am

OK, I'm bitter. I lost my American flag lapel pin while I was rolling gutter balls at the bowling alley. And afterwards they were out of orange juice at the blue-collar diner where I go for my photo opps with "Cup of Joe" Lieberman. Also, I don't own any guns so I can't bitterly cling to them or vent my anger on the few remaining critters within driving distance of the one tank of gas I can afford for my Hummer. And my flag lapel pin ... honey, have you seen my flag lapel pin?! I can't go out in public without the flag lapel pin! That's like streaking!

Have you noticed we live in a stupid nation now? It's little wonder. We've had eight years of pure stupid in the White House. And during that time, we the people have been massaged by a stupid media, hectored by stupid hypocrites and stupid moralists, terrified by stupid extremists, pandered to by stupid politicians, lied to by military experts on the TV (see last Sunday's New York Times for details). It's the natural law of Stupid in/Stupid out. Welcome to the United States of Stupidity.

It used to be that just the so-called "Red States" (come to think of it, the Red-Blue thing was pretty stupid) were allergic to facts. But now it's all of us. We just sit here and take it all in, complain about gas prices when oil companies run the White House, wonder why the airlines are collapsing and there is no transportation alternative: It's the stupidity, stupid! While we were sidetracked by John Edwards' haircuts, the oil companies got Congress to destroy Amtrak for them — Bangladesh now has a more efficient passenger rail system than we do. While we sat transfixed by the magnificence of Angelina Jolie's lips and Britney Spears' shaven crotch, Croatia, Latvia and Albania moved ahead of the United States on the global Environmental Sustainability Index. While we munched freedom fries and stockpiled duct tape, our national treasury was looted. And so on.

We the people didn't used to be this dumb. Or maybe we're just stupefied by all the stupid. Maybe we would revolt, if we weren't so revolted. Or if we weren't all so exhausted, out of shape, and stressed out that the medical Web sites we consult — because we can't afford health insurance — advise against strenuous revolution.

more at:
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/14239

Let the hatred begin.....

driver8  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 02:34 PM
Response to Original message
1. Great article -- really hits the nail on the head. K and R! n/t

navarth  (690 posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
3. it's not so much that America is stupid...
   it's that we're ****ING stupid. I'm not running for office, so I can say that.

BrklynLib at work (768 posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
4. A couple of weeks ago Bill Maher said it-- The scariest thing is how many Americans are too
   damn stupid to realize how stupid the leadersip in the government is.
I could not agree more.
Some of the things I see and hear people say, simply scare the crap out of me!!!

Hydra (1000+ posts)         Thu Apr-24-08 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
11. America has been this stupid for years
   It's just that now, we don't have a way to excuse it. We don't have a monolithic "evil empire" to fight to excuse all of our abuses of the world.

The stupidest thing? We don't just let all of this s*** happen- WE CHEER IT ON!

Elspeth  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
12. It starts with the schooling. We have been dumbed down by our educational system
   Trace the dumbing down to the creation of the Department of Education

Uhmm...that was Carters doing.
Guess it worked with you.

kpete  (1000+ posts)         Thu Apr-24-08 02:51 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. I am a teacher   
   I see the obstacles every day

uphill battle folks, lots of work ahead, kp

Nice to know the ugliness the public payroll subsidizes.

Lydia Leftcoast  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 04:47 PM
Response to Reply #12
46. The dumbing down precedes the Dept. of Education
   by many years.

American popular culture has always disdained the intellectual, and far from being "educated," most Americans are "trained."

Yeah,America has never invented or innovated a darned thing in the world.

Go fuk yourself asshole.

warren pease  (1000+ posts)         Thu Apr-24-08 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
28. Started out dumb, or dummied down? Chickens and eggs...   
   Hard to tell if it's nature or nurture, but there are really alarming numbers of complete dysfunctional idiots running around masquerading as adult humans there days. I'm sure nature's involved, but growing up in the middle of epic levels of pure American stupidity can't help much either. Consider that...

... by the time Saturday morning cartoons, public K - 12 (mis)education, pop culture, peer group socialization, mass media propaganda, PR, advertising, higher education, hyper-consumerism, the awful world of corporate work and the curse of debt slavery imprisons them, Americans no longer know up from down unless they drop an anvil and see whether it breaks their toes or their skulls.

That's not only the end result of continuous exposure to the American dream machine; it's the intended outcome. When tens of millions of people live in a mythological netherworld of false promises, crushing social and financial obligations and unattainable expectations, they're going to be way too busy and self-absorbed to worry about the FCC's latest ruling to allow more media consolidation or the Iraqi civilian body count or the actual issues behind the candidates' smiles and waves.

I don't know if they're clueless because they're distracted, under-informed, undereducated, predisposed to meaningless idiocy -- or must plain dumb... It doesn't really matter anyway because the outcome is the same: a marginalized, disconnected, alienated and powerless citizenry that spends too much time waiting for instructions and almost no time thinking for themselves.

And to prove that stupidity runs the show, here's a few axioms that orthodox Americans have to believe to remain in good standing with the rest of their doctrinaire imbecile peers:

Taxes on the rich are killing our competitiveness. They hate us for our freedoms. This is the land of equal opportunity for all. Free trade is an economic godsend. Guns don't kill people. The US is a Christian country, founded on biblical principles. The criminal justice system protects the powerless from the powerful. TV news tells the truth. America always acts internationally out of benign motives. Gay marriage is destroying the family. The war on terror is making us safer. The bible is the literal word of god. The policeman is our friend. The liberal media is poisoning this country with secular humanist lies. Brown people are disposable. Global climate change is a leftist fantasy. Evolution is just another creation myth. Socialized medicine is evil. Capitalism lifts all boats. The rich are rich because they're morally and intellectually superior.

So by the time all that's settled and the proper belief systems are firmly installed and operational, I don't think there's much room left between their ears for anything that won't fit on a bumper sticker or t-shirt. Sound about right, or have I misunderestimated the sheer idiocy of modern America?


wp

Leave and find your socialist Utopia elsewhere then.

Oh,wait...I forgot,it has been a miserable failure everywhere and there is no better place in the world then America.
That is why you stay and prove yourself a worthless hypocrite who is nothing but a pompous bag of wind with no value.

maxsolomon (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 04:22 PM
Response to Original message
43. No, we've alwasy been this dumb.
   Willfully ignorant & anti-intellectual. Thinkin' is hard work.

Everybody (1000+ posts)       Thu Apr-24-08 05:58 PM
Response to Original message
47. A nation created by conceited fools ...
   is a bitter surprise to those who allow themselves to be duped.

zorahopkins (458 posts)         Thu Apr-24-08 06:16 PM
Response to Original message
49. Excuse Me!
   Excuse me, but the American People have indeed been incredibly stupid -- or "dumb" in years past.

The American people rejected -- TWICE!! -- Adlai E. Stevenson, and instead voted for Dwight Eisnehower.

The American people rejected Hubert Humphrey and voted for Richard Nixon!!

The American people rejected George McGovern and instead voted for Richard Nixon (McGovern only carried DC and Massachusetts.)

The American people rejected Jimmy Carter and voted instead for Ronald Reagan.

The American people rejected Walter Mondale and voted instead for Ronald Reagan (even after four years of Reaganism!!!)

The American people rejected Michael Dukakis and instead voted for George BushI.

The American people allowed the Supreme Court to install George Bush II.

The American people ........

Don't tell me that stupidity and dumbness are a NEW phenomenon for Americans.

 
Gee,since you back nothing but losers wonder who the stupid one really is.

[Chris_]

navarth  (690 posts)        Thu Apr-24-08 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
3. it's not so much that America is stupid...
   it's that we're ****ING stupid. I'm not running for office, so I can say that.

I agree, considering how many of you believe in socialism/communism.

Taxes on the rich are killing our competitiveness. They hate us for our freedoms. This is the land of equal opportunity for all. Free trade is an economic godsend. Guns don't kill people. The US is a Christian country, founded on biblical principles. The liberal media is poisoning this country with secular humanist lies.

 
And how is any of that not true?

Socialized medicine is evil.

Just wait until you have it.

Brown people are disposable.

You were the slavery party, not us.

[jukin]

I agree since the leftists have made public education propaganda the overall intelligence of America has gone down hill.  Not even counting the less than 60% graduation rate of most systems.  Now apply that to medicine and you have socialized medicine under the donks.

[Rebel]

"The United States of Stupidity: We, the people, didn't used to be this dumb"


You're right. We didn't use to be this leftist/socialist. Is there a correlation? I think so.

Great observation, Captain Obvious. 

[Crazy Horse]

Holy shit......................the Kaput primitive is a teacher...........

kpete  (1000+ posts)         Thu Apr-24-08 02:51 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. I am a teacher   
   I see the obstacles every day

uphill battle folks, lots of work ahead, kp

God I feel sorry for it's students...........

[Chris_]

If I lived in a place, be it a town, state or country, that I absolutely hated, I would leave and go elsewhere. It's just that simple. Granted, a lack of money may delay my departure, but it would not STOP my departure as I would work extra hours and cut back on spending to put money into my "escape fund". I think most sane people would do the same. This brings us to the DUmmiess...

The DUmmies constantly display an absolute hate for the USA, yet they are still here. Sure, they talk big talk about leaving, but how many of the 5000 or so members of the DUmmious Assious species have actually left the country? This leads me to believe one or more of the following is going on:

1. DUmmies actually realize that the USA is the best country in the world and are lying about hating it. We've always said that DUmmies are liars.
2. DUmmies are too busy sucking from the government teat to leave. We've always said that DUmmies are freeloaders.
3. DUmmies are too lazy to leave. We've always said that DUmmies are lazy.
4. DUmmies are too stupid to leave. We've always said that DUmmies are idiots.
5. DUmmies simply love to hate. We've always said that they enjoy being hate-filled individuals

Of course, I'm sure that many DUmmies would claim that they are staying to "change things", but everyone with common sense knows that when it comes to having the power to "change things" DUmmies have an impotence that Viagra can't cure. I suppose that means that the DUmmies who believe this really have some sort of mental imbalance.

It looks like we've been correct about the DUmmies all along.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Well, we try to keep the stupid corralled in the Democrat Party, we're sorry if some of it sneaked out, got drunk and made a scene.

 

[TheSarge]

If the DUmmies are so smart...and the rest of us are so  stupid...why are they out there running the country?

Why are they sitting in their basements...bitter and mad at the world cursing the the land that gives them the right to be what they are.


Oh wait...