*greets mighty Wallaroo*

ahoy me hearty!

i don't think thats quite fair, mate. though americans may be politcally uninformed, i don't thar be a direct correlation 'tween how up they be on the issues and how well they perform thar jobs, nor how hard/smart they work.

aye?

*bows*

- MeadHallPirate

Absolutely agreed. Be careful who you wave around as your support!

I just heard that 12% of NC conservatives (I didn't verify this) thought that Hawaii was not a state, or were not sure (I think it was 7% - No, 5% - Not Sure).

Yeah, I'll try and not use polls to support my arguments.

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That's because it serves a function, which is to frame her ignorance in juxtaposition to Obama and the Democrats so as to imply that the latter are truthful and trustworthy.

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Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?

--Hunter S. Thompson

As a rule, what we lack in awareness of events current and historical, we make up for in common sense, which naturally is under constant covert and overt bombardment by the media. Still not fast enough for our "Progressive" taskmasters of course.

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January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

Not stupid, just largely misinformed. Like most people on the planet.

Andrew

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“...corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have... .I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host.”

-- Derrick Jensen

2. Not well informed.

And not interested either.

In Europe, there is a general view that Americans are not that smart and as evidence they cite that Most Americans couldn't find Europe on a map. I counter this by informing them that there is no need to find it right now but if they start fighting each other again, not to worry, we'll find it soon enough.

Most Americans - like most people in most long term democracies - take their freedom for granted and don't value it.

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Great Quotes from Great Americans:

"With regard to the words 'general welfare', I have always regarded them as qualified by the details of the powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphisis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."James Madison, Father of the Constitution

Humans are no more stupid in America than they are around the world, they'res some very, very intellegent Americans out there and some very stupid ones, like most nationalities. Howver Americans do seem to be less well informed than most people, either because of some frankly terrible TV news shows or because of Americas insular nature. The education system over there dosn't help either.

Just an observation from outside.

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Number two. It's the only explanation.

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"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

Greetings and Felicitations,

I think you should have used ignorant instead of stupid. There are plenty of intelligent people who are willingly or unwillingly ignorant. It doesn't make them stupid.

Most people aren't interested in what I call big picture stuff. They are more concerned with their immediate situation than they are with the state of the world. We are social creatures but we are mostly small circle social creatures. We simply haven't evolved the capacity for being actually involved in large scale social concerns.

Another problem is that we have a limited capacity to deal with information overload. Western society is constantly at war with information. Once we reach a certain level of information coming in we start filtering stuff out. We get too much and we get it too fast and we start cutting out anything that isn't relevant to our current situation. If you get a chance watch a long video feed from some place such as Times Square and you can watch it in action. People walk with their heads down and don't pay attention to their surroundings because there is an excess of information coming in.

Here is something that most people like us don't realize. We are actually the freaks when it comes to society. The small percentage of the human population intelligent and aware enough to consider larger actions. You can learn this from history. The majority of humans are always small picture people while the creative and intelligent people (who actually do the innovation and creation that fuels human progress) are few. The fact that there are so many of us is simply a reflection of how many people there are now.

Always remember when looking at the actions, thoughts and motivations of society at large that -- you are actually the freaky minority.

Sincerely Yours,
C. David Neely

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It is prohibitively difficult to comment wryly on this development without lapsing into humor of questionable taste.

There is ample "stupid", widespread "ignorant" and massive apathy.

When you are luck to hit 50% of eligible voters actually voting ita a telling thing about the political process. People do see to realize the difference of late between DNC and GOP is slight and that they always lose, simply a question of how much.

Given that, its hard to blame them for focusing on their family and daily life.

It should also be a frightening thing to see that this summer they are stirring as regards the economy / proposed healthcare / cap-n-trade. People defnately do NOT like high unemployment because that directly impacts their families in an unmistakable way. prezbo looks very bad for having claimed to be capable of creating millions of jobs then actually having lost millions of them.

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Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand

* - i bolded this part meself

Hail courteous C. David Neely!

me friend, i agree with what ye scribed, 'specially the bolded part. just this mornin', i spent 4 hours consulting with various marketin' firms fer me second business that i been openin', and the rest 'o me day is packed till 7 PM with various urgent business matters...to be honest, i've not the time to spend pouring over our military matters in the middle east and afghanistan, the pros and cons 'o health care reform, trade issues, undocumented workers, etc, etc.

heck, i remember in one discussion, the information laden Norrin Radd asked me, a wee bit imperiously, how much i knew about non-consensual drug testin' administered by the US government and its agents. though i knew his question was a sincere one, part 'o me thought, "are you kidding me?".

i think it be much to ask most 'o us to aggressively turn our attentions to these matters once every two to four years, when it be time to pick our elected officials, which brings me to 'nother question...which i'll pose to you-

since (at least on USPOL), thar seems to be an agreement that most americans have no idear what they're talkin' about when it comes to the various policies and issues our government faces...and since we pick our elected officials to mind the store, why don't we just let those said officials do just that?

thar seems to be an agreement that all most 'o the american public has to offer is emotional chatter and static, aye? shouldn't the bulk 'o us just get the heck outta the way, pick our government representatives with care, and let'm do thar thing?

aye?

- MeadHallPirate

One more reason why complex societies inevitably collapse.

Andrew

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“...corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have... .I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host.”

-- Derrick Jensen

No.

The media is dumbed down so that the Oligarchs can assert control
24-7 of what the masses think and hear.

Sarah Palin takes a s---! Its news, get the camera.

What nationality are you yourself Meadhall, or is that a pirates secret?

I agree that it wouldnt have any effect on peoples effeciensy in their jobs, their rational thinking and fair play skills, their whole outlook on life, or their ability to take care of themselves and their family - weather or not they are politically, demografic, or geographically well informed.

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January the 20th 2009. The day I started to respect America!