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TL;DR for Americans: American citizens are the biggest idiots on the fucking planet.
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. Kind of related to how often correlation and causation are confused by these bumbling fucking buffoons I'm surrounded by.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170519174502/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/09/06/hussein-link-to-911-lingers-in-many-minds/7cd31079-21d1-42cf-8651-b67e93350fde/
I'm just so fucking tired. It's literally mentally fucking exhausting to be surrounded by this many fucking idiots for four decades. It's literally bad for my mental health and I can't escape it. 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 blithely continue to be fucking idiots.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida
Fucking eat shit Crystal Minton you fucking travesty of a human being.
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.
As an American, I can confirm this.
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.
edit: to add, it's really only a relatively large handful of americans that are shocked by this. Most of the people being surprised wanted to hurt people- and are really just being surprised he's also hurting them. they thought they were "special" and that "he loved them" or something. stupidity and bigotry go hand in hand. Others knew it would maybe make things worse, but it was some how "worth it". Others are in a christian fundamentalist cult and convinced to vote that way because some asshole preacher told them they'd go to hell if they didn't. Others- the rich fucks- all want this to happen.
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. The dismantling of education and a propagandized populace can happen anywhere. Pretty sure the same shit is on display in Russia we just don't hear about it as much.
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.
Perhaps I wasn't clear in my response. I do agree it can happen anywhere.
It absolutely can happen anywhere and that's the "The Wave" movie was about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(1981_film)#%3A%7E%3Atext=The+Wave+is+a+made%2Cas+an+ABC+Afterschool+Special.
Somebody else dropped that elsewhere and the trailer for 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.
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)
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning#By_organ_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
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.
Maybe microplastics?
Also, I'm not sure statistics on aggression actually say much about education levels or understanding of propaganda techniques and so on.
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.
Edit: As I saved, it came to mind how difficult it must be hearing all your life that you live in the greatest country ever, having national flags and the anthem and pledges of allegiance drilled into your being from a child. And then life is hard and society is fucked up and you're supposedly living in the best country in the world so how could you be in this miserable life? I think that might explain people being on the edge all the time and worn down from the stress and the guilt of not being successful and also how easily nonsense like somebody driving past you becomes a threat to the ego.
Americans were never educated with emotional literacy.