RANT: The Culture of Stupidity

Today, a friend of mine posted a video on a forum I frequent. It showed a British man interviewing people on the street in America, asking them to name a question that started with a U, or what countries were in the Coalition of the Willing, etc. Obviously, it was a comedy piece, designed to make Americans look stupid. And, of course, in such a piece any person who actually did know the answers to these questions would have been edited out, but even so, many of these people were so very wrong that is was, well, laughable.

Reactions to the video were mixed... some expressed anger at the Brits for mocking us, and putting together such a salacious piece. Others solemnly noted that it was all to easy to make Americans look stupid. Still others merely hoped aloud that this video wasn't totally representative of the majority. For my part, I took this video at face value. Americans are foolish... but it's not entirely our fault. Those in power have spent a lot of time and effort making this the case.

Years of conditioning have created a society structured to keep it's citizens distracted and ignorant, so the powers that be can have free reign over our tax dollars. Worse, the promise of the media age, (free information for all), has been perverted by those with their own agenda. There are now two sides to every fact, a 'right' way and a 'left' way, if you will. One side calls Iraq a civil war, the other sectarian violence. Semantics are used to squash arguments, and obfuscate the real issues.
American politics now more closely resembles fascism that democracy. That sounds like a exaggeration, but it really isn't.
A handful of geographically challenged morons aside, Americans as a whole aren't stupid. Mostly we've been confused or distracted from the important issues of the day. Most Americans can't even find Iraq on a map, or tell you how their tax money is spent, but Paris Hilton enjoys a 75% facial identification rating. That's higher than Jesus from da Vinci's Last Supper.

It is my opinion that America, and the world at large, are at a crossroads. A new age of global communication is dawning, and with the coming of this age lies the potential for all people to know and understand one another in a way that physical distance, and boundaries political, geographical, and lingual all once made impossible. At the same time, there exist forces in this world desperate to hold on to the old ways, to maintain their hold on the power that has been given to them, or the power that they have stolen away. In this new age, we can one of two paths...
One is the path of distraction and ignorance, in which we allow the global corporations, so called 'news networks', and partisan obfuscation to manipulate and control our minds. Where the truth becomes largely a matter of what channel you're tuned in to, and where we enjoy 'freedom' in name only.
The second, and more difficult path, is that of education and enlightenment. Compulsory education aside, it is the duty of free thinking people to learn all they can about their world, especially as relates to the choices made by those they have placed in a position of authority. It behooves all the men of the Earth to learn all that they can, and to share all that they know. To spread fact as fact, regardless of how the truth may sting, and to keep opinion or speculation firmly in it's own realm and identified as such.

Our government does not want the latter. And why would they? Intelligent people question, analyze, and protest decisions made by their leaders. Far easier to lead a nation of fools, kept busy by reality television. It may be no coincidence, friends, that education in out country is in stark decline. But whether by design or by accident, the effect is the same... we are being made into a nation of docile fools, our children the first victims. And our government is at best unresponsive to this trend, and at worst, duplicitous in it's execution. When those in power no longer represent the interests or the will of the people, when the people have no true voice or recourse in selecting a new government, it is the duty of the people to change this government, by force if necessary.

"...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." - The Declaration of Independence

If you ask me, folks, it's half past time for a new revolution.

"The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson

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