One of the worst things about this time in the birth of a new generational thesis is the way some advocates come to fear the people.
I will admit up-front that I am very much in favor of the Democratic ticket. All of it. I believe Republicans have gone completely ga-ga, not only in how they are governing but in how they are campaigning.
With that out of the way let’s go dump on some liberals.
I will take as my example Tristero over at Hullaballoo (although the criticism can apply to anyone there, even Digby, as well as way too many HuffPo and Daily Kos posters).
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
By any reality-based standard, this election should be a rout [UPDATE; and it
isn’t, on any level]. The Republicans fielded a buffoon and a sociopath
while Democrats chose genuine leaders. Racism explains a lot of it. Media bias
explains a lot of it. But it is also the case that Democrats are hellbent on
avoiding mentioning anything that could possibly be thought "unclean" when the
Republicans have demonstrated that no sewer is so foul they won’t stoop to
disgorge its stinking mess into the public discourse.
Notice what is at work here. Not only does he dehumanize all Republican leaders, but claims they’re going to get away with it. And the only reason for that must be that most people are sheep, that they’re stupid, that they are easily led by their fears, that they won’t stand up for themselves.
To which I say bullshit.
Part of the problem lies in the last 10 years, the years in which the Internet Thesis of Consensus has been gestating.
Republicans got away
with impeaching the Clenis (although not with the electorate), they
came close enough to win in 2000 and 2004, and they actually did win by
exploiting fear in 2002.
But why? Not because people are stupid. Because Americans had been conditioned by 40 years of history to buy what they were selling.
It is very hard for people to change their political assumptions.
This happens only on the margins, even in the best of times. Hubert
Humphrey, Herbert Hoover, William J. Bryan and Stephen A. Douglas all
got 40% of the vote in elections that transformed this country (the
Nixon coalition, the New Deal coalition, the Progressive Coalition, the
Union). Despite everything that was happening around them, a
significant minority of Americans refused to accept new ideas.
Many became dedicated to defeating them. (The Lost Cause.) Liberal Democrats of long
standing can all be counted among that number.
This year’s election could be even closer, because people live longer than they ever did before. This means there are millions of people, like John McCain, who still remember the lessons of the last upheaval (that of the 60s) and are still guided by them. There really weren’t that many New Dealers left by 1968, very few Rough Riders in 1932, and even fewer Grand Army of the Republic veterans in 1896. But there are still millions of Nixon voters out there, and you can get their knees to jerk today just as Nixon did.
Point is, these people are no longer a majority. Far from it. Most of today’s voters were born after 1950, that is, they weren’t voters in 1968. It is true that too many of today’s decision-makers remain guided by that time, in the media especially, but one purpose of this year’s upheaval is to blow those people out, and if people aren’t stupid, we will.
Which brings me to my most important point.
Most people are not stupid. Some people are stupid. Some people are bigoted. But the majority are not. If you believe most people are stupid you better stop supporting democracy (small d) and start supporting some other form of government, maybe a monarchy chosen by the heads of the Ivy League colleges, or a modified electoral system in which only those with advanced college degrees and ACLU cards get to vote.
We are entering a new era. The assumptions of the past era have been proven false. Yes, many people still follow them, just as there were lots of Jacksonian Democrats around in 1860. But their time is passing. Anyone else, anyone with a Clue or a pulse, who is doing any serious thinking in 2008, is far, far more likely to embrace the future than the past.
So stop assuming the worst. Stop hating on your own side. Get to work, hammer the opposition, and believe in democracy. It is on trial, as it has been on trial before. And maybe it can be destroyed by cynicism, by greed, by bigotry, and by appeals to hate.
But that’s not the way to bet.
Let me see if I understand. Most people aren’t stupid. Only they are suffering from some kind of temporary, media and time in history induced condition that makes them behave as IF they are stupid.
Do I have that right?
Let me see if I understand. Most people aren’t stupid. Only they are suffering from some kind of temporary, media and time in history induced condition that makes them behave as IF they are stupid.
Do I have that right?
I think most people are stupid, but so what? There isn’t much correlation between being smart and doing what’s right for yourself. If anything, intelligent people tend to be more self-destructive. The main difference between smart people and stupid people when it comes to decision making is that smart people ponder before going out and doing stuff that they know they shouldn’t, while stupid people just go out and do stuff without caring whether it is a good idea. There is a good line in a System of a Down song that has the lyrics, “stupid people do stupid things, while smart people outsmart each other and themselves, and themselves!” So, I don’t buy this idea that democracy needs smart people to work. If anything, the best thing might be to disallow smart people from participating (ie get rid of all the speech writers, campaign managers, and analysts).
I think most people are stupid, but so what? There isn’t much correlation between being smart and doing what’s right for yourself. If anything, intelligent people tend to be more self-destructive. The main difference between smart people and stupid people when it comes to decision making is that smart people ponder before going out and doing stuff that they know they shouldn’t, while stupid people just go out and do stuff without caring whether it is a good idea. There is a good line in a System of a Down song that has the lyrics, “stupid people do stupid things, while smart people outsmart each other and themselves, and themselves!” So, I don’t buy this idea that democracy needs smart people to work. If anything, the best thing might be to disallow smart people from participating (ie get rid of all the speech writers, campaign managers, and analysts).
I’m stupid yay!!!! hahaha *runs and bumps in to a wall* owwwie.. hehehehe
I’m stupid yay!!!! hahaha *runs and bumps in to a wall* owwwie.. hehehehe
I think there are a lot of stupid people and also a lot of highly intelligent people. But the matter-of-the-fact is that most highly intelligent people like myself are unhappy because they are to busy pointing out the screwups, flaws, unjustifications, and incompetences in our society and in our country that makes them unhappy rather than living happily in our somewhat decent/ loving/ chaotic world. It is not entirely there fault a lot of highly intelligent people are not born with intellectualism. They develope it, and I think its mixture of things that makes someone highly intelligent.
One reason is an individual has to have a thirst for knowledge, reading, and enjoying what genre or subject he embraces. Second of all social experiences, negative or positive, can make a highly intelligent person either a success driven inspirational microcasm in our society or a self-destructive evil manipulative genuis. So social experiences play an important role in an individuals life.
As for stupid people or the weak organisms in our society, we can just call them ignorant for right now have more of a blissful time being ignorant because they are so unaware, so insensitive, so uncareless, and so self-indulged in trying to make their lives happy that no-matter-what an intelligent person has to offer they either won’t care, take offense, or criticize and hate the highly intelligent and diminish them as negative figures in their lives. I know its true because anytime I spoke about something profound, controversial, or important thats what I received by my classmates, peers, and aquiantainces.
But anyway I also notice there are a lot of idiotic people who have Associate Degrees, Batchelor Degrees, and maybe Masters Degrees who are at the top of their game because they were individuals of privlidge. They had everything handed to them because there parents were wealthy, or they knew somebody, or because they were never faced with bad social conflicts or traumatizing experiences. Everything for these people was Cookies `N Cream however you want to put it. But thats my opinion. The lawyers, some doctors, the dentists, the teachers, the politicians are privilidged people I notice who have very few good qualities in their profession, if they are ignorant. I live in Miami, Florida and I live in the city where a lot of doctors have false degrees, teachers have false degrees, lawyers are incompetent and committ purgery, and where politicians are liars, thieves, and the most corrupt. And I lose my faith in humanity when I have authority figures like teachers, lawyers, politicians, and doctors lying to me or are not fully aware or capable of handling their jobs. Especially if their is money laundring or sex scandals involved.
These are people who have a personal delusion of grandeuer or bizarre fantasies of conquering the world. And they have jobs that supposedly accomodates them for their position that allows them to be prominent successful people when all they are are destructive people or half-witts with titles.
I think there are a lot of stupid people and also a lot of highly intelligent people. But the matter-of-the-fact is that most highly intelligent people like myself are unhappy because they are to busy pointing out the screwups, flaws, unjustifications, and incompetences in our society and in our country that makes them unhappy rather than living happily in our somewhat decent/ loving/ chaotic world. It is not entirely there fault a lot of highly intelligent people are not born with intellectualism. They develope it, and I think its mixture of things that makes someone highly intelligent.
One reason is an individual has to have a thirst for knowledge, reading, and enjoying what genre or subject he embraces. Second of all social experiences, negative or positive, can make a highly intelligent person either a success driven inspirational microcasm in our society or a self-destructive evil manipulative genuis. So social experiences play an important role in an individuals life.
As for stupid people or the weak organisms in our society, we can just call them ignorant for right now have more of a blissful time being ignorant because they are so unaware, so insensitive, so uncareless, and so self-indulged in trying to make their lives happy that no-matter-what an intelligent person has to offer they either won’t care, take offense, or criticize and hate the highly intelligent and diminish them as negative figures in their lives. I know its true because anytime I spoke about something profound, controversial, or important thats what I received by my classmates, peers, and aquiantainces.
But anyway I also notice there are a lot of idiotic people who have Associate Degrees, Batchelor Degrees, and maybe Masters Degrees who are at the top of their game because they were individuals of privlidge. They had everything handed to them because there parents were wealthy, or they knew somebody, or because they were never faced with bad social conflicts or traumatizing experiences. Everything for these people was Cookies `N Cream however you want to put it. But thats my opinion. The lawyers, some doctors, the dentists, the teachers, the politicians are privilidged people I notice who have very few good qualities in their profession, if they are ignorant. I live in Miami, Florida and I live in the city where a lot of doctors have false degrees, teachers have false degrees, lawyers are incompetent and committ purgery, and where politicians are liars, thieves, and the most corrupt. And I lose my faith in humanity when I have authority figures like teachers, lawyers, politicians, and doctors lying to me or are not fully aware or capable of handling their jobs. Especially if their is money laundring or sex scandals involved.
These are people who have a personal delusion of grandeuer or bizarre fantasies of conquering the world. And they have jobs that supposedly accomodates them for their position that allows them to be prominent successful people when all they are are destructive people or half-witts with titles.