How do you fix stupid?

[KansasVoter]

Sorry, but either I am in a really pissy mood or the USA really is full of idiots.

Very few people even know what was in the health care bill.

Almost no one knows Obama lowered their taxes.

Most GOP idiots blame Obama for the bailout and ALL the deficit.

And I cannot get one GOP friend of mine to tell me what they want Obama to do except fix the economy. When I ask them what Obama could do that the GOP would not vote against they admit nothing.

And, in a real intelligent country, the people would be outraged that the GOP is voting against EVERYTHING. But in this country people don't spend 10 minutes thinking about anything but pop culture crap!

Apathy will destroy this country if it has not already.

And big business loves the American people and their easy to influence brains.

How depressing!

[kentuck]

1. Why am I here??

But to labor and to serve the corporation. Mine is not to question why. Mine is to do or die. Is that about the extent of it?

[Initech]

2. Right-wing talk radio and the Fux ministry of propaganda are the main sources of stupid.

[Enthusiast]

45. The Reich Wing

celebrates ignorance.

[red red red]

3. Very well stated...

As for how to fix stupid - There is no fix in my opinion - They do not want to be fixed - I think that the only thing that may help, is for us to harp on the 'good' things that have happened over and over and over again (use the Thugs playbook on this)and to gain a sense of humor (difficult as that may be) - laugh when they repeat some idiotic statement, then show them how they are wrong. It worked with my ex - although he stormed out the house slamming the door, then later called and apologized - I accepted his apology gracefully, but now he seems to have a bit more of an opened mind - just a bit, though! O8)

[BeFree]

15. No,no,no

That would be too hard to do, this peace through humility.

Liberals just don't carry those genes, dontchaknow?

************Velkum2 DU!!

Having found that when discussing politics, the more opened minded and humor filled the words are, conversations become much more rewarding.

[NJmaverick]

4. Sadly you can't fix stupid, but you can correct ignorance

maybe it's time the "professional left" gets back into the education business and out of the critic business.

[Fumesucker]

10. You ought to give that advice to Robert Gibbs..

It was his mouth being critical that started that particular kerfluffle..

And he is specifically in the education business, as in the imparting of information.

[NJmaverick]

11. That's an incorrect framing. The "professionals left" surrender of the national narrative to the r

right started with the President's election and was completed roughly six months ago. The right's lies have been going unchallenged and Gibbs only issued a wake up call.

[Fumesucker]

16. Gibbs is not in the business of imparting information?

If not then pray tell exactly what *is* his job?

Hippie punching?

[NJmaverick]

17. Does FAUX news often give Gibbs any airtime? Does the NY Post?

Wall Street Journal? For that matter does CNN? MSNBC, ABC and CBS give him much in the way of air time?

[Fumesucker]

18. I have no idea..

I don't watch any of those networks or read any of the papers.

Indeed, I pay no attention to the M$M at all.

[NJmaverick]

19. Many voters do and the "professional left" has abandoned all those outlets

to the rabid right. The American public is badly misinformed these days.

[Fumesucker]

22. Abandoned or been locked out?

I suspect the latter is a far more accurate statement of reality than the former.

Even NPR has swung hard right, I quit listening to them some time fairly early in the Bushie administration when I couldn't slide a rolling paper between their perspective on politics and that of Faux Nooz.

I do get to see the occasional bit of M$M when I'm at someone's home or in a public place that has a TV on, for every "leftist" there are usually at least two and probably more on the right and the "leftist" is seldom any more than a slightly left of center moderate while the rightists are someone like Newt Gingrich or Grover Norquist.

[NJmaverick]

24. When the media wants an issue debated they call the left and the right

with so many on the left no longer opposing the right, the right has been pretty much free to spread their lies unopposed.

[Fumesucker]

25. I disagree..

They call someone on the hard right and then they call a moderate centrist to defend the "left", which moderate centrists are not really interested in doing in the first place.

Think of the Lieberman/Ctheney debates in 2000, Lieberman spent more time agreeing with Ctheney than he did disagreeing.

[NJmaverick]

32. With the "professional left" joining the right in attacks on the President

it wouldn't be much of a debate if they didn't get someone to set the record straight and defend the President.

[Fumesucker]

33. Now you appear to be *defending* the M$M..

You really should make up your mind.

When the hard right and the moderate center disagree (sensibly of course), where does that leave the center of gravity of the debate?

[NJmaverick]

37. The professional left made it all that much easier to take down the Democratic President

here the right wing owned media could get people with supposed liberal credentials (lake FDL's Jane H) and bring a right winger together and for a 1/2 hour to an hour it was bashing of the President from both sides with no one interested in making sure the facts were correct.

[Fumesucker]

38. Eh, like I said, Lieberman and Ctheney agreed much more than they disagreed..

And I don't think even you could paint Lieberman as a "professional leftist".

You know full well that when the moderate center and the far right disagree then the debate is inevitably dragged to the right.

Do you have a problem with the national debate being constantly dragged to the right?

[walldude]

41. Man you are really reaching...

I love how the "professional left" is "joining" the right. What are you blind? Yes I am criticizing the president. But it has to do with shitty policy not some made up crap about birth certificates, Kenya, socialism, taking their guns or building a Mosque at ground zero.

The fact that you would lump people who are demanding equal rights for the GLBT community to people who are screaming about birth certificates and socialism tells me that you actually believe that the only people doing the right thing are the people who blindly support Obama without question.

It's foolish to dismiss what you and your ilk believe to be only a small percentage of Democrats, as "joining the right". The percentage is not as small as you want to believe. Maybe if you and the Administration reached out and joined the "professional left" on some of the more serious issues instead of making fun of people who are only demanding their rights as a human being, you might find more people willing to support your intentions.

[NJmaverick]

42. You failed to address my points

first as much as you might believe otherwise, Gibbs doesn't read your posts and wasn't talking about you. Secondly it's not just the criticism that's the problem. In fact far more damaging than the criticism is the failure of the professional left to acknowledge all the good. Pointing out differences is reasonable, pretending the President is all bad is not.

[Enthusiast]

48. Nice post, Dude. nt

[Enthusiast]

47. You are absolutely correct.

The M$M usually has someone like Harold Ford Jr. representing the left. On NPR they have Juan Williams representing the left. This constitutes basic media unfairness. The liberal voice is seldom heard. When the liberal voice is heard is it restricted to less critical issues.

[MilesColtrane]

27. Spinning facts to manipulate opinion and advance the President's agenda

It's been that way since the 60s.

This wouldn't bother me if the President's agenda is also the People's agenda.

But, that also hasn't been seen in a long time.

[NJmaverick]

28. That would b a gross distortion of my position

Correcting the lies of the right is not "manipulation". Making sure the facts are can not be properly be characterized as "advancing the President's agenda". What we have is the left surrendering the arena of public discussion to the right wing truth manipulators.

[MilesColtrane]

29. Sure, correcting misinformation is part of what Gibbs does.

But, he also spins unfavorable facts favorably or dismisses them.

It's part of his job. Both Republican and Democratic administrations do it.

If you don't believe that, you are fooling yourself.

(Besides, I was responding to the woodchuck guy anyway.)

[NJmaverick]

31. Gibbs can't do the job alone and that's where the problem lies

[Dr.Phool]

39. I realize you learned a new word, "Professional Left".

Don't you think you're overdoing it? You're sounding like a trained parrot.

[NJmaverick]

43. Let me know when you have a point that's relevant to the topic

[red red red]

40. I applaud that Maverick...

You are so right - Thats the answer! - Thanks

[T Wolf]

5. Stupid cannot and will not be fixed. It must be eliminated. nt

[mmonk]

6. Only collapse and revelation will kill it.

There's nothing we can do about it without real political power.

[Turbineguy]

7. We have to wait

for them to die and hopefully they won't breed too much in the meantime.

[handmade34]

8. the USA really is filled with idiots n/t

[hobbit709]

13. Idiocracy is a documentary

[izquierdista]

9. Education

Used to be a time when to get ahead, you needed to be educated. Dumb people took measures to disguise how ignorant they were, following the maxim "better to close your mouth and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt". Nowadays, not so much. The stupid now feel their opinion is just as valuable as the educated person's -- just ask Sarah Palin.

Privatizing education, raising the cost of it, substituting testing for education, these all work to keep the public from being thoughtful, well-informed and capable of critical thinking. And it all works out for the best, because whichever policy it is that wins the day is the one that has the most advertising dollars behind it.

[unpossibles]

12. well, the tricky part is they (the right) built in a defense against fixing it

For the past couple of decades roughly, Limbaugh and FOX and the like have been lambasting education, experts, and other sources of education. They have made the educated and the "elite" into a bad thing. This makes their audience not only distrust sources of information (look at the global warming or evolution "debates" for instance), but less likely to listen to those sources, thus will fiercely refuse to get any smarter. Hell, I've met quite a few of them who are PROUD to be uneducated, as it makes them more of a "real man" sort of crap.

[Enthusiast]

49. Again, they celebrate ignorance.

It is to their advantage.

[Donnachaidh]

14. shut down Fox News and all it's affiliates

And any journalist that gives airtime to Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin should be publicly horse-whipped.

[vanbean]

21. Or at least bring back the Fairness Doctrine.

[Enthusiast]

50. The reason they did away

with a Fairness Doctrine is now very clear.

[Javaman]

20. Want to take a step in fixing stupid? get rid of fox news. nt

[old mark]

23. How do you fix stupid?

Sadly, you don't.
And they breed and vote a lot, too.


mark

[MilesColtrane]

26. "I am in a really pissy mood or the USA really is full of idiots."

Probably a little of both

Most people are incurious and easily manipulated.

Can't find the stats now, but most people don't watch broadcast news, read a paper, or read news based web sites.

[Roland99]

30. Ask Ron White

"You can't fix stupid."

[GeorgeGist]

34. Obama doesn't know that ...

Republicans are stupid.

[GeorgeGist]

35. Obama doesn't know that ...

Republicans are stupid.

[Earth_First]

36. Cancel Season XVI of Big Brother, Season V of America's Got Talent, Season XXX of Wipeout

:shrug:

[Enthusiast]

44. The population has been systematically

dummied down so they can be taken advantage of.

[Fla_Democrat]

46. Ya can't, but I got a macro for it.

MACRO 29 "StupidPriest" Spell_Nature_Polymorph_Cow
/p I can cure disease, dispel magic, heal the injured, shield the aggro'd and negate DoT's (with Renew). I can even raise the dead. The one thing I cant do...
/p I can't fix stupid.
END

MACRO 36 "DruidStupid" Spell_ChargeNegative
/p I can abolish poison, remove curses, heal the injured, negate DoT's with Rejuvenation, I can even raise the dead in battle. The one thing I can't do....
/p I can't fix stupid
END
:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[SidDithers]

51. You don't. You ridicule it...nt

Sid

[activa8tr]

52. I agree 100% with the OP... very depressing, but we cannot give up

the people that voted for Obama are NOT going to vote for a Palin type, if they know the facts.

We just have to make sure they get information and get out to the polls.