Ever see the movie Idiocracy? When you watch the video below, you might feel like we're there.
I'll freely admit that the video selects the dumbest people they can find and that they're obviously advocates of whatever issues they choose, but what scares the hell out of me is that people are this stupid at all, and they're loud. And other stupid people listen to them. I'm embarrassed that people from other countries can see this.
How is it that we're failing on education this much? I mean, if you compare any elected official in all of American history to Hitler or Nazis, what the fuck is wrong with you? Which part of anything is like slaughtering millions of people for their religious beliefs? People don't know what communism or fascism is. If they'd pick up a book they'd see that socialism is something we already participate in, and mostly to our benefit. That's not to say that it's perfect or always the right thing to do, but it's there.
I don't get what it is that people are scared of. They repeat what they hear on TV and make zero effort to understand anything. They don't even know what they're scared of. But I suppose that's the root of fear, right? What you don't know could hurt you. It goes back to my previous post about having all the information in front of you, but not taking advantage of it.
I've done my best to try and engage and understand issues of macroeconomics and health care and what not, and I don't always fully understand it. My feeling about the health care reform is that it doesn't exactly fix what I think are the most critical issues, and I wonder if the up front expense reduces the cost in the end. But I have this opinion because I've tried to understand it, not because some moron marched on Washington with a sign that doesn't even make sense.
Political "activism" these days has taken a bizarre turn. In the old days, you protested things that fall into some moral ideal, like an end to racism or war or violence, or heck, even abortion. Now you just apply an "-ism" to something you don't understand and look like a moron on the Internet. Say what you will about the alleged "evils" of government and big business and the financial industry, but it's the uneducated people on the so-called Main Street that scare the hell out of me.
Edit: Daily Show is back! With more crazy people...
One of your best posts ever ... while I don't alway agree with you, you really nailed it this time. Ignorance is creating fear and fear is causing irrational behaviors. Ironically, if one takes the time to study history, it is this very mindset that brought Hitler and the Nazis to power. The Lemming-like actions of the fringe are indeed scary and the their apparent unwillingness to engage in real dialogue and seek solutions seems to be spreading into the larger population. That is what scares me.