Honestly it's probably too late for many adults who have succumbed to the psychological manipulation tactics of politicians and the media.
If we want to save this country we need to start teaching children and young adults to recognize the signs of manipulative behavior in school.
This will of course be strongly opposed by the media, politicians, and advertisers, all of which rely on these tactics to make a profit.
and by the parents. At this point teaching signs of manipulative behavior and logic 101 like recognizing fallacies would be considered liberal endoctrination by the cultists.
Exactly. An entire cadre of parents and grandparents literally concocted a culture war out of thin air based on educators trying to teach their school-aged offspring to be more respectful and tolerant, and all they had to do was find a useful three letter acronym that would fit into a bullseye on a Fox News chyron. There is no remaining rock under which they won't find liberal demons, unfortunately. Our last best hope is that through sheer cultural inertia and the widespread exposure of kids to people from different ethnicities, races, etc in online spaces, they'll start to naturally pick up on the idea of diversity of thought and incrementally shed their parents' hateful neuroses. It's already kind of happening, and I sure hope it continues.
Another interesting dynamic is that boomers grew up during a time when SCOTUS helped usher in civil rights, abortion, affirmative action, etc. Their weird drift to the right can also be seen as a reaction to the issues that the judicial and political systems forced them to engage with. Gen Z is growing up in an era with a Republican Party completely untethered from reality and a SCOTUS dominated by hard-right cartoons, and I can't help but think that over the next 10-15 years they'll harden their stances to some degree in opposition to those factors.
Our last best hope is that through sheer cultural inertia and the widespread exposure of kids to people from different ethnicities, races, etc in online spaces, they'll start to naturally pick up on the idea of diversity of thought and incrementally shed their parents' hateful neuroses.
One can only hope.
But we already live in a good portion of the beginning, yet anti-semitism and race hate/discrimination is very well spewed everywhere you can look.
Maybe it's the vocal minority but it's the one most read and heard and so will stay in focus.
Exactly. As I said above, they were (and probably still are) explicitly against the teaching of critical thinking, which of course should involve teaching things like how to recognize logical fallacies.
Also it creates this weird sort of weird feedback loop of idiocy which is really hard to break. By that I mean, you cut funding for things like schools and libraries, and that naturally leads to a generation that's less well educated than the one before, who will then vote for more dumb shit like cutting funding schools and libraries, which then makes the next generation even less well educated and so on.
Generational wealth includes more than financial assets I suppose.
“See this estate of total bullshit? Someday, my child, it’ll all be yours.”
And that in return will let the well educated rather stay in a regular job where more money can be made with a brain (STEM) than with their mouth (politics).
And when they are hired for their "professional" opinion and recommendation and recommend the inverse of wanted or expected, they will be ignored to hell and beyond or get their words twisted beyond any resemblance to it's original.
If you think STEM’s the only thing you need your brain for, maybe you’re not as smart as you think.
Otherwise, not wrong.
Best example of the top of my head.
Plenty of people in politics are very smart. Those people just tend to be on the policy side rather than the campaign side.
Which is exactly WHY republican politicians are trying to destroy libraries, school curriculum, etc. Uneducated people are easier to manipulate.
The Republican Party in Texas already have had opposition to critical thinking as a plank in their platform. I suspect it is no accident. Cannot have too many critical thinkers out there, that will make it very hard to recruit people into their ~~cult~~ "party".
And now you see why education gets less effective funding with each generation, and why gun hazard is apparently considered just part of being a teacher.
This is why I submit that Ronnie Raygun - at least until little d came along - was the worst President in recent history.
He made everything worse at the time, and laid the ground for even worse things to come. Also his administration was the most objectively criminal in history. Again, the aftermath of little d still remains to be seen as to how many of his people are indicted - even if after the fact.
The thing is, little d did not create what he waltzed into and took advantage of - he's a symptom, not the cause. Ronnie's wrecking crew got the ball really rolling, people like Newt kept it up, as well as Faux and hate radio and the likes of Lil Alex, up until little d announcing his "presidency".
Reagan was the literal actor hired to play president by a group of Machiavellian assholes, many of whom were also behind the scenes of both Bushes, Nixon, and lots of Republican Congress members. Not disagreeing that Reagan is where they really got traction on their dreams of power, but Reagan wasn't the architect.
Don’t let Ford off the hook, either—some of the worst culprits started in his cabinet.
Oh, definitely not. He was the J.R. "Bob" Dobbs image that they slapped on the advertising of all the BS they were selling under his image.
Because news cycles play to the lowest common denominator.
Sex, scandals, arrests. Those topics get eyeballs.
And in the case of Faux News, they take that to the extreme by blatantly ignoring anything good that Biden may be doing in favor of spewing the latest far-right lies.
Biden could announce tomorrow that he has a proven plan that will end world hunger forever and the majority of people will still just tune in to whatever crap is currently on TLC.
Biden could announce tomorrow that he has a proven plan that will end world hunger forever
I can't figure out what my uncle would say but I feel sure it would be something like:
"That's actually the Trump Plan he's talking about and it would absolutely do what he was saying about it,, but Biden's gonna put some sorta socialism spin on it and really mess us up. Ain't nothing to do with socialism that's ever done one thing to benefit the country. Oop! There's the time and I've got to get. Gotta hit the interstate and get by the bank to cash my social security check on my way to the VA."
News sank to being edutainment. The outrageous gets air time and eyes while actual news that can be used is boooorrriiinnnggg. Then, we have to have the obligatory awww and feel good story at the end.
A m e r I c a S t r o n g
There's a straight line from Reagan to Gingrich to W to Palin to Trump. The scary part is that the "dumbing" is far from over.
There's nothing like The Media, asking why The Media only reports on Trump's stupid tweets and not on Biden's successes.
Look in the mirror, assholes. You people in the Media are just as complicit, probably more so in fact, in having this become a reality as anyone else.
Our useless news media let's right wing politicians get one free-pass after another, while they hold Democrats to impossibly high standards.
So much this. It's pretty clear the corporate media won't save us.
Reagan was a symptom, not the cause of the disease. The press has always acted like Watergate was simultaneously a moment of pride and a moment of shame.
First I've heard this claim. Got any sources?
Boomers elected Reagan. Their first big showing in politics and that was their choice. They have been making terrible choices since.
The media wasn't what it was today. Reagan created it.
Don’t forget to include Nixon’s contribution to how the GOP conducts business. He laid the foundation and Reagan just amplified it
The so-called "greatest generation" voted much more heavily for Reagan than the Boomers did. Reagan didn't create the media. He played the media. It turned out the media likes getting played.
He created a Republican party that's publicly obsessed with identity and image, and privately sets all policy to help the rich.
Ronald Reagan was a actor, not at all a factor
Just an employee of the country's real masters.
Ronald Reagan was a actor, not at all a factor
Slap a symmetric, charismatic face on shit, and people will eat it up.
I'll leave you with these 4 words / I'm glad Reagan dead.
Amazing song
Stupidity and wealth are intrinsically intertwined with each other. Intelligence requires the ability to perceive and respond appropriately to nuance. Capital allows a person to disregard the nuances of reality in favor of a forced alternative. It hides problems and extends deadlines. There is a threshold at which the wealthy disconnect from reality and live entirely in their capital fueled delusions. At that point every decision becomes self-justified, and before the leadership can cope, they find themselves with an empty bag to pass off to some sucker before the bills come due. Capital blinds leadership and while it also motivates people, it only does so while it flows generously into the pockets of the working class. From their posts on the ground, the decay and ignorance is everywhere. The working class live in the heart of the corruption and strive every day to draw enough from the system to feed their families and pay their bills. The wealthy will hire middle management and public relations to string the employees along, but propaganda can never erase the daily reality of struggle. That's why they push for more police and military, because when bargaining breaks down the masks come off. Working for the ruling class was never optional. Every hierarchy is enforced by the violence of the stupid and cruel.
That was a really good read. Thank you
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