How do we beat ignorance?

[BloodyWilliam]

I've run into conservatives of many stripes. Some are intensely ignorant but deeply convinced of their point of view. Some are actually very intelligent and well-spoken individuals who simply have different opinions than me. But neither group is an accurate representation of the majority of the nation, any more than we are.

I think the true body politic is an easy-discouraged, easily manipulated group that remains clueless on most issues because (let's face it) without interest, they feel too damn complicated.

I think too many people don't care about voting or where their vote goes because they don't think it affects them realistically. How can we pound home the fact that the difference between a democrat and a republican, a liberal and a conservative, a Dean and a Bush can be the difference between whether your child has a hot lunch at school or not, whether you can get day-care so you can work, whether you'll get financial aid to go to college, whether your roads, your police, your firefighters, your schools will get enough funding to do the best job they can do?

I honestly think there's a shadow war going on, a very subtle propaganda war that intentionally distracts the majority of potential voters with O.J., Kobe, Laci Peterson, and countless other dime-a-dozen stories of crime and violence that, if they weren't covered by every major news outlet, no one would care and it wouldn't affect them at all.

How can we break through this massive wall of ignorance and start teaching people that their vote doesn't just make a difference, it can make the difference between whether they eat or not, whether they can see a doctor or not, whether they can live happily or not?

As an individual with a great deal of respect for the truth and a diminishing respect for humanity, I'm starting to fear that we'll have to lie and deceive to get people on our side. The issues that matter are too complex for people who don't care about them in the first place. They'd rather watch tawdry stories about sex and murder from their (thanks for conservatives) tiny, tiny home and tiny, tiny television, without even realizing that things could be different.

Maybe to beat ignorance, we have to lie, or at least half-lie, or a least be somewhat disingenuous and intellectually dishonest.

George W. Bush is the reason you're unemployed.

George W. Bush is the reason your child's sick.

The Republican party cares more about rich executives than the people.

The Democratic party wants to eliminate all income and payroll taxes for the working and middle class (a stance I strongly support).

Under Democrats you had a job. Under Republicans you didn't. see a pattern?

Maybe we need to Willie Horton the hell out of these bastards. I mean, conservatives have managed to attack the estate tax because it's easy to use and frankly rather tasty to the people. It's a tax that ONLY affects the richest of the rich, that Democrats kept trying to increase the exemption so even more slightly-wealthy people don't have to pay estate taxes, but the conservatives have managed to turn it into the death tax that will kill your puppy and take away all of your daddy's money after he dies from working 60 hours a week at the factory.

How can we fight fire with fire?

Addition: I'm acutely aware of the run-on sentences in this post... please forgive.

[Upfront]

1. Great Post Bloody William

I feel the same way you do, and sometimes wonder if it is hope less. However, I think that Howard Dean and now General Clark have begun to lead the way. We must stand up and call them on there lies every day. Each one of us can write letters to the editor,and try to help the local Democratic party. It is the little things that count in the end. I ware my Dean pin every where I go, and you would be amazed at the response I have had. I never knock another Democrat, but do explain why I like Dean, and more inportant why Bush is screwing them. We have to do it one voter at a time, and never give up. My wife and I each have a Dean sticker on our car, and I have returned to my car and found people who were wanting to ask me about Dean. Unreal. This a strong Republican area, but they are starting to wake up. Our local paper just ran an editorial in which they refered to our nine candidates as the nine dwarves. I responded with a strong letter but it has not been ran yet, but they will run it. The editorial staff will regret there non-respect. I see things like this as the way we can win the hearts and minds of the uninformed. All politics turn out, in the end, to be local. Keep fighting.

[KCDem]

2. sound bytes.

Liked your post, BW, and I often have felt that same way myself. I'm a stay-at-home mom in suburban Houston... talk about being surrounded by people who have deluded themselves! I had women yelling at me that W was pro-choice and Gore was pro-life (in their words). Talk about misinformed and not giving a damn.

Yes, we need to fight fire with fire... something I think dems have been scared to do for awhile. It's either do that, or let this country sink so far into a hell-hole that only a revolution will pull it out.

[bobbieinok]

3. it is/has been a plot for the last X years

(I first read this discussed in the New York Review of Books and then a few other places.)

The argument went/goes something like this

...The radical right/the religious right/the Newt crew have worked for years to control the political discussion in the media so that it is focussed on more and more minute details with less and less discussion of issues that really affect the majority of voters.

...The planned for result is that the majority of people will get bored and turned off and conclude that politics and voting has nothing to do with them, their families, their lives.

...The result: fewer and fewer people vote; only the 'true believers' vote.

...And the far right/the religious right/the Newt crew win and create a US in their image.

[TrogL]

4. Something completely different

1. Run a populist campaign with a popular candidate. Dean, if he can keep himself under control, Clark if can show a bit more "fire in the belly", I don't know the others well enough to comment.

2. Spend a lot more time and money on the House and Senate candidates. We've got to win back both houses fast. A Dem president is useless if he doesn't have any progressive bills to sign.

[BloodyWilliam]

5. Hrm... accidental dupe, sorry.

I posted "Ignorance and deception" after this because the board gave me an error when I clicked post. guess it went thought. :-)

[haele]

6. By not quibbling and being sidetracked with strawmen...

And sticking to the facts as they are. Not as they could be, not as they should be, not as we wish they would be.

Stick to the facts. Keep asking those who are ignorant the questions about the facts of the topic on hand - "when?", "where?", "what?" "who?" "why?"...
"When did this happen?" "Where did you get this information?" "What do you think was the reason this happened?" "who do you think benefits from this happening?" "Why do you think they wanted to do this, put this out?"

And finally, "Why do you keep changing the subject? Are you afraid to discuss the facts?"

Willful Ignorance of reality is a social problem - in a way, it requires a twelve-step program of it's own to overcome - and like most social problems, it needs to be recognized by the person consumed with it before it can be addressed and the craving for the soft, warm, woolly, follow-the-voice-that-says-you'll-be-safe-and special thinking can be overcome and that person become an intelligent, informed member of society - no matter what their personal politics and attitudes might turn out to be.

I prefer to deal with an informed, realistic, honest asshole to a wishy-washy herd follower who's ethics and belief system twists in the wind - no matter how "nice" that follower may seem to be.
At least you know where the asshole is coming from and that you'll see the knife coming for you and be prepared for it, rather than getting stabbed in the back by someone you thought you could trust.

Best defense against ignorance - get the ignorant to think about the facts as they are, not as they were told the facts were. That's the only way to combat ignorance.

Haele