Comment on Why Are People Surprised When Trump Actually Follows Through?
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
I think the reality is that the vast majority of US citizens are abjectly fucking stupid who have no clear understanding how absolutely anything works or any understanding of how consequences follow actions. They literally cannot piece it together.
web.archive.org/…/7cd31079-21d1-42cf-8651-b67e933…
Nearing the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, seven in 10 Americans continue to believe that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had a role in the attacks, even though the Bush administration and congressional investigators say they have no evidence of this.
Sixty-nine percent of Americans said they thought it at least likely that Hussein was involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, according to the latest Washington Post poll. That impression, which exists despite the fact that the hijackers were mostly Saudi nationals acting for al Qaeda, is broadly shared by Democrats, Republicans and independents.
I’m just so fucking tired. It’s literally mentally fucking exhausting to be surrounded by this many fucking idiots for four decades. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills and yet I’m the one who has to go to therapy to fix myself while all these idiots get to just continue to be fucking idiots.
Increased blood lead level in children has been correlated with decreases in intelligence, nonverbal reasoning, short-term memory, attention, reading and arithmetic ability, fine motor skills, emotional regulation, and social engagement. … The effect of lead on children’s cognitive abilities takes place at very low levels.
High blood lead levels in adults are also associated with decreases in cognitive performance and with psychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
That explains the boomers and the older cohort of Gen X but it really doesn’t explain consistently dropping educational success in the past 20 years.
It could also be conditioning and culture. A lot of American culture seems to be centered on the ego, the satisfaction of the ego and then a very fast escalation to anger and violence if the ego is perceived to be threatened.
I don’t think it is realistic to wish it go away with the generation exposed to lead paint. And I doubt it is productive to make microplastics the new excuse.
the vast majority of US citizens are abjectly fucking stupid who have no clear understanding how absolutely anything works or any understanding of how consequences follow actions
This happens both equally with the maga batshit crazy voters, and the narcissistic “my vote is a pure and delicate flower”/“bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL” non-voters.
Which is of course exploited by bad-faith actors pushing these lazy idiots back down on the couch and stroking their hollow vanity, to not do what they already didn’t want to do - doing the homework instead of just getting their “facts” from twitter or tiktok or whatever, taking the time and effort to register and vote, if just once a year, or at the very least once every two years for the midterms.
These idiots want instant results, have not a shred of a clue as to what political inertia is; just as medieval as maga, they want a political messiah with a magic political wand.
The 2010 midterms proved that these fickle mediocre idiots did NOT have Obama’s back, and lazily initiated a cascade that drowned their own future, rewarded the fascists for their virulent hysterical opposition, and to this day remain mindlessly, narcissistically oblivious to the fact.
Their mediocre motto as a mediocre electoral block is “If at first you don’t succeed, give up.”
So much of the world has rightly lost all faith in the intelligence and decency of the average american. As in - they have none, distractedly and lovingly fondling their purity, then sniffing their fingers and picking their teeth with those nails.
Americans were never educated with emotional literacy.
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 week ago
As an American, I can confirm this.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 week ago
America isn’t the only place with stupid people.
And, Americans are some of the most heavily propagandized people in the world. it’s subtle, but it doesn’t have to be subtle for it to be effective. It just has to be pervasive.
Is there a problem with poor education? absolutely. Are stupid people voting for trump? absolutely.
This isn’t saying Americans aren’t stupid. we are.
This is a warning.
it can happen anywhere. And it will happen everywhere people believe it can’t happen.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
It isn’t just propaganda, though. Our education system has been being slowly dismantled since Reagan and was kicked into high gear with Bush’s No Child Left Behind where they would shut down schools with bad grades. This lead to a lot of grade inflation to make sure schools could actually keep their funding. It hasn’t even been law since 2015 but the effects still reverberate.
Yes, though, this can happen anywhere. It’s humans that are the problem, not Americans specifically.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I’m not saying it’s not a problem. I’m saying that stupid people exist everywhere, and yes, you’re right about education being intentionally dismantled to enable all the propaganda to take hold.
But that can happen literally everywhere. and like falling prey to scam artists (which is really what this is,) if you believe yourself immune, you’re the easiest mark.
lobut@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
It absolutely can happen anywhere and that’s the “The Wave” movie was about.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(1981_film)#%3A~%3….
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Somebody else dropped that elsewhere and it made me think of like a very dark version of the Dead Poets Society.
A, uh. Very dark version. Gonna have to watch it soon.
aturtlesdream@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Speaking as a Canadian, there is also some much arrogance and ignorance about things outside of your country that baffles my mind (not from all but from a large portion of the population). American exceptionalism and decades of really effective propaganda that has gotten increasingly more unhinged from reality and crumbling education system probably isn’t helping either. (I don’t mean that as an insult, every country has issues, and we were very good neighbors and allies until recently)
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 week ago
That superiority enables leaders to be assholes. It was an intentional effect of the propaganda, and is a standard part of the Asshole-Authoritatian™️ playbook!
But, eh, America is truly exceptional- in how fucked up it is.
rumba@lemmy.zip 6 days ago
That wasn’t the statement that was made.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 6 days ago
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Close enough, I imagine. See, for example, German elections where AFD took second, in a record-setting upset in Germany’s elections this week. (they came second only to the conservative party; the good news is that they’re unlikely to be part of a coalition because else in Germany hates nazis.)