Hey folks do me a favor, quit saying that Americans are stupid...

[Melodybe]

Ok American confidence in the news media is at an all time low, America's confidence in the Bush is at an all time low. PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP!

You must realise that you help do Bushco's work for them when you talk about how stupid the American people are. They get away with the bad when everyone thinks that everyone else is too stupid to get it. The myth that Americans are stupid propogates their evil, so do me a big favor and stop helping them.

Sorry to rag on ya, but I HATE threads that talk about how dumb everyone is. I think that it is liberals just wanting to make themselves feel smarter than everyone else. Do you realise that Americans are working longer hours for less money than they have been in the last 30 years?

When you do nothing but wank on how stupid people are, you are helping Bush, you are helping them continue their evil.

STOP IT!!! Did you ever think that if you expect the worst out of people that is what you will get? People may be tired, but tired doesn't equal stupid or heartless.

It's late this thread is poorly phrased but instead of ragging on the "stupid" people how about you do something to wake them up. Printing up a 100 important articles and leaving them somewhere heavily populated is a good start or freeway blog, something, but for christ's sake why be part of the problem if you don't have to be?

[Pryderi]

1. Agreed. Only Freepers are stupid. :P

[bowens43]

2. They don't need woken up, they're not asleep.

They won't read the articles you want us to print up. They won't 'get' the freeway blog. They believe everything they are told by fox news and the idiot. They think that all 1.5 billion Muslims are rabid terrorists. They think that evolution is a liberal plot to destroy god. They think that abortion is murder. They think that Iraqis flew the planes on 911 (even after being shown that it isn't true).

"I don't want to be an American idiot"
GreenDay

[lvx35]

4. Those are the republican ideals

The the smart elite should rule over the uneducated masses. If you really believe it, switch parties...But be prepared to demonstrate you intelligence over teh masses by showing the money you've made off them!

[Syrinx]

3. way to go Melody!

Let's don't look down on the people we're trying to convince! Basic marketing!

:yourock:

[lvx35]

5. As Jefferson once said:

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government;... whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights." --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789. ME 7:253

The key parts here are "well-informed" "so far wrong as to attract their attention". This takes some considerable time with a corrupt media, but it will come to pass!

[Skittles]

6. when they care more about who wins American Idol

than how their president is being picked, it's no wonder it's taken this f***ing long for them to START waking up :puke:

[bluestateguy]

7. Only 51% are stupid

Maybe even a little less than that: I'm sure some of those Bush voters knew what they were getting and actually wanted it that way.

[DS1]

8. Like I said in the other thread - Which is it?

Are Americans stupid, or did Bush steal the election?

You can't have it both ways.

[RC]

12. Yes you can.

How many even now think it is sour grapes on the part of the "losers" when they complain of rigged elections and hacked electronic voting machines? There are lots of people around here that think bu$h&co is just politics as usual, "so get over it".

[wake.up.america]

13. Smart people do not support Bush.

I used to think it was matter of presenting the facts, but after you present the data and they still don't get it, what are they, smart?

[KittyWampus]

20. "Present Data"? Humans Aren't Computers & Analytical Thinking Is Less

than HALF of our thought patterns.

If you can't make your case effectively, it's not the audience who is STUPID.

[Skittles]

16. YES YOU CAN

bush inc connived enough to convince people of CRAP - think Swift Boat for example - only STUPID PEOPLE could possibly fall for such garbage - but sh** like that works. The republican way has always been to fling a lot of shit and hope enough of it sticks. When tactics like this work OVER AND OVER, there is something seriously wrong with the intellect of a great many of the voters

[DS1]

18. So the election wasn't rigged?

Exit polls, pre-election polls, and just about every other poll put Bush in a losing position. Then he won.

So, are the American people incredibly dumb, or was Kerry cheated out of the Presidency by electoral hi-jinks?

[Skittles]

27. I believe the election was rigged

but it takes a lot of stupid voters to pull that off - they still needed a sizeable portion of idiots supporting bush to pull it off

[xchrom]

9. it's about hate -- melodybe -- with the exception

of ''soccer mommies and daddies'' {and who knows what they are, except lot's of them voted for bush} the right wingers hate the left.

so no can do -- the culture war is on.
they are AFTER you -- or perhaps your not paying attention to what's happening in places like kansas with planned parenthood and the attorney general?

they are stupid -- stupid and vicious.
it's different now -- they really do want to hurt you.

you cannot be harsh enough in your own self defence -- nor vocal enough -- nor anything enough.
we'll be LUCKY to turn this ship back on a leftist course.

you live in a bad ass neighborhood now -- you cannot be too tough these days.

[lvx35]

10. Be tough toward the few, but most america is not against the left.

or even really the right...they don't care that much. Sitting around calling them stupid is definitly counter-productive, its completly giving into false claims that republicans represent "america", which they don't.

[moodforaday]

11. Here's an insightful article

Highly recommended, and it doesn't call anyone stupid :)

Are Stupid White Men Really Stupid?

(...)
Europeans see our countrymen’s behavior for what it is: naïve nationalism. They see us as falling victim to the same propaganda that has devastated them throughout recorded history. Today’s Americans – or half of us - are just the latest iteration of history’s fools. They wonder if we too will be its victims? Will we follow the disastrous path to fear-bred despotism that our country’s founders escaped? Have we already taken our first steps along that path?

We must wake up and regain our country from the criminals, fools, and traitors who’ve assumed it. We must regain it for human posterity. We must regain it for our children. Yet, instead, we are close to falling victim to the same exploitation that caused our ancestors to lose control of their destinies in decades and centuries past.

The vast majority of Americans are honorable people. But Americans are people who’ve been lied to by those in positions of trust for so long and so often that they’ve lost their ability or their desire to recognize the truth. Our countrymen and women won’t be brought back to rationality through anger. Only reason can accomplish that. And now, perhaps as no time before, as their leaders scramble and plot to save their own worthless skins, and do so with no thought of what their actions have done to the greatest country the world has ever known, perhaps, just perhaps, reasonable Americans are ready to put their pride behind them and literally, literally listen to reason.

I despise the hypocritical traitors of the corporate press, right-wing media, fundamentalist pulpit, and what today passes itself off for the Republican party as much as anyone can. My words have made that apparent. But we cannot let our anger become our enemy’s weapon. For to do that would be to follow our European predecessors to ruin. If they are more aware than we, it is because they learned a very hard lesson from a very stern master: history.
(...)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9573.htm

[SammyWinstonJack]

36. Thanks for the link.

Great read!

[marions ghost]

38. good article--thanx

:thumbsup: ~ the writer makes a lot of good points....ie:

"It should be evident that stupidity alone would not account for this widespread illogic..."

[Mnemosyne]

14. I agree completely Melodybe that

if you expect the worst in others it's what you will probably get.
It's not stupidity so much as it is "learned" ignorance and a desire to avoid the truth. No one wants to admit that they were deceived by someone they trusted, it's just too devastating to some people.
I'm trying hard to do my share of helping them "wake up".
Thanks!
V:hug: :toast:

[liberalitch]

15. prove us wrong......

face it, we live amongst idiots.....
so they're "waking up"....... eh, TOO LATE!

As a nation we are becoming increasingly illiterate and materialistic..... at a time when the rest of the world is becoming less so

[radwriter0555]

17. If you're not stupid, then turn off your teevee and radio and READ.

Anyone who relies on the teevee, be it CNN or any OTHER 'news' will indeed be an idiot.

Anyone who thinks they can get truth and genuine, accurate information from an entertainer on a boob tube deserves to be called stupid. No apologies here, but look at what the apathy and ignorance have DONE to the USA..

Bush is the president, thanks to idiots who can't be bothered to think for themselves.

[marions ghost]

44. TV and radio COULD

be good mediums for receiving information...in the right hands. We currently have virtually no independent networks that attract a wide audience--but we will have more someday I believe, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Right now reading online or books IS the way to go for solid information. But don't forget how we also now view video clips and pictures online and watch documentaries. Michael Moore reached a LOT of people with F-911. Not reading a lot does not necessarily mean not-thinking. Theres a lot of potential in words AND pix--better use of the audio-visual mediums IS coming...

[cry baby]

19. You are right. Some are stupid, but most are just plain lazy.

They believe whatever they are told by the corporate media because they just are too lazy to go do a little research to find out the truth. They are too busy with their lives, children, TV, shopping. Too busy to find the truth, and the repukes are very, very good at framing and spinning. Even the corporate media is lazy, most aren't doing any investigative work anymore. A lazy media feeding a comfortable, lazy mass of couch potatoes.

I am waiting to see where the boiling point is with this country...is it DSM? Or Traitor-Gate? I'm waiting to see how far this maladministration can go until someone besides us gets mad!

[KittyWampus]

21. Frankly, I Think DU'ers Who Play Violent Video Games & Watch The Sopranos

are kind of stupid.

They post here ad naseum railing about the baseless violence being perpetrated by BFEE and how they operate like the Cosa Nostra....

but they don't get the hypocracy of their own actions.

[Ladyhawk]

30. Playing a video game doesn't hurt anyone.

Your argument is a non-sequitor and by the way, it's "H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y."

Also, the video game flame wars are so last week.

[Spider Jerusalem]

41. Big difference between art/entertainment and real life.

That's a painfully and STAGGERINGLY idiotic comment. I really hope that was a joke.

[Brewman_Jax]

22. Most Bush* voters

voted for him "because he's a down-to-earth guy/I could have a beer with/He's a moral man." They wouldn't vote for Gore or Kerry "because he's boring/I don't trust him/Too much brains, he wouldn't actually do anything." :eyes:

I think that answers your question.

[seabeyond]

23. expect the worst out of people that is what you will get?

everyone i have talked to have been able to follow my "big" words. i like that you say this. why i posted i refuse to treat people stupid. am not going to lower expectation, i may just get it. bush has fed into the dumb. i refuse, and i demand, bright

but good point on the work too. firstly there are people just not interested. but more, i see people that feel they ought to know, they are just exhausted. and i look at their life, they are

third, like my father, he thinks he is informed. he tries to stay informed. but he goes to newspapers and fox.......that only comforts him in continuing to support bush

[OneBlueSky]

24. have you ever watched Leno's "JayWalking" segments? . . .

a good percentage of the population couldn't understand those 100 important articles . . . I recall one young woman that Jay interviewed . . . I'm paraphrasing . . .

Jay: "So you're a college student . . . what are you studying?"

Woman: "Elementary education; I'm going to be a teacher."

Jay: "That's great. Now, can you tell me which countries border the United States."

Woman: "Um . . . the only one I know for sure is England."

[SmokingJacket]

25. Limbaugh is GREAT at making people feel smart.

I think it's the secret to his success. He gives people little nugget-sized talking points they can use in arguments with liberals. Of course, they're LIES and distortions.

But I've seen the look of delight on the face of a dittohead when the oh-so-smart liberal is suddenly silenced by some outrageous, ultimately-nonsensical statement.

Wish I had some clue about how we can use this to our benefit...

[ladjf]

26. The American people have been subjected to the most

massive and professional barrage of mind control techniques in history. It was inevitable that they would succumb to it. In a word, they have been misled.

[etherealtruth]

28. Well, I'm not sure how to explain this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1974648

Though zogby shows Chimpy's approval tanking;

"The survey also shows that in a re-match of the 2004 election, Americans would now vote in equal numbers for Democrat John Kerry and President George W. Bush"

[Melodybe]

29. kick, cause I want everyone to talk about this.

The election was stolen BTW.

[kentuck]

31. Just suppose....

The Repubs ran an ad tomorrow and they say DU says that people are "stupid" for voting for Bush and his policies because they vote agianst their own interests? How would that person react?

Would they say, "Well, I'll show all those smarty pants on DU...I'll just vote for Bush again....if he runs again"?

Or might they say...

"Hmmm....I hadn't thought of it like that before. Those people are stupid..."

I think we make entirely too much about what we say here on DU as far as how it might affect how people feel aboutt he Democratic Party. I understand that nobody likes to be called stupid or dumb, but some people are, and nothing we say or do will change that fact or make them any smarter.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. ALL Americans aren't stupid. A significant portion are.

I would include in that list some, but not all, Bush voters (some are just shortsighted and greedy), people who drive trucks with oversized tires, Toby Keith fans, people who genuinely give a shit what Brad/Angelina/J-Lo are doing, and anyone who has a sticker of Calvin pissing on ANYTHING.

And then, there is a significant sector of the populace that is not stupid, per se, but is seriously asleep, walking around in some kind of waking fucking trance... Those folks, I think, may be reachable, but not while the corp. media continually baffles 'em with bullshit.

And, of course, there are lots of intelligent, thoughtful, active people in this country.

[Hidden Stillness]

33. How Smart Can You Be When You are Lied-To and Things are Censored?

I am also tired of reading that crap, which is just an offensive thing to do regardless of your concerns about issues. Bush's approval numbers all falling into the toilet, there are no polls showing any other pattern, and things keep getting worse as the widely-hated CAFTA passes and gets associated with Bush, Bolton the harrasser gets booed at the UN, most people support the UN, and it gets associated with Bush, etc.

When people have two work two jobs, run around and pick up kids, etc., they do not have more than a short space of time for reading or listening to news--then, what do they get? Bush passed a Medicare prescription drug benefit, which Democrats opposed--a lie; we went into Iraq to fight the terrorists because "they attacked us" (Iraq)--a lie, I even heard a former hostage who had escaped, then written a book say that, that we were in Iraq "to fight terrorists"; they tell us "audiences" like and "cheer" Bush, then do not mention that they are all plants; they tell us Plame-CIA-Rove-whatever-it-is is trivial and it is all over anyway, they also tell us Judith Miller is a respected, fine journalist--if it was true once, and it was, it is a lie now; etc., etc. If you only have a few minutes a day to get caught up, and you only hear uncorrected lies, I don't know how anyone can expect anything different, or blame those who are misled. "Democrats are blocking another one of President Bush's nominees"/"up or down vote"--I could fucking kill these media operatives every time they do this, and they do it all the time. You have to do a lot of reading before you realize this is all a coordinated presentation, an appearance of things, and that takes time.

Also, things are not as popular as the media wants you to believe anyway: Fox's numbers are dropping and dropping, their era is over; I heard once this Paris Hilton series (I never watch any of this shit) was supposedly so "popular," yet when they gave an actual rating number, it was 13 million people--horrible. I remember, even 20 years ago, when a program with an audience of 13 million would've been yanked off the air instantly. Now, with an even higher population in the country, this is suddenly "good"? They are covering themselves all over the place nowadays; media itself is losing the audience as people come to hate it more and more as just another corporate oppressor.

I don't like it when people on this website and elsewhere call people "sheeple," like you are so great and they are so awful. It only makes me want to join them against the jeering.

[kentuck]

34. But you were smart enough to know you were not part of the "sheeple"

What part of your brain made you decide they were talking about someone else and not you?? Do you think other people's brains work similarly? Question: How did you know they were not talking about you when they mentioned "sheeple"? Just curious?

[Hidden Stillness]

35. Huh?

I don't know who missed the point, me or you, and I am not going to get into a fight. The point is, I don't care who it referred to, I don't like the attitude.

[kentuck]

37. Hey! I agree with you...

:) Just put the idea out for contemplation. When we hear anyone say "sheeple", what do we think of? Most of us, like a natural reaction I think, do not consider ourselves part of the "sheeple". Words have meaning and when they are "framed" properly, they are powerful. Can you think of a better description of the Republicans than "sheeple"?

[Generator]

39. Many are uninformed

Uniformed about history, even recent history. But beyond that, they are in denial. Trust me, I know it's much easier. The utter despair that comes with not knowing for sure what your government's role was in 9/11-that is not something many want to live with every day of their lives. I can't turn back the clock myself..but it would be easier. There was a time I supported the Iraq war..as those lies became blatantly obvious I started to question everything. The one thing I said I would NEVER believe was that the government would have anything to do with 9/11. I was incredibly naive. My husband still doesn't want to go there-then he reads something like the Northwoods Project and his world is shaken for a bit.

Now..besides 9/11, a war based on lies that is unending..I have an election that I don't believe the results of. Many on this board won't go there. THEY HAVE TO BELIEVE that at the the very LEAST voting makes a difference. If you have that taken away, what do you have? A stealth dictatorship?

Man, give me ignorance. I want to go back. I understand why the watch the Sopranos (oh the horror-but it's NOT REAL at least goddamn it-it's fiction) play video games (oh the horror) but it's not real-the images of people jumping from the towers is real...and of course they want to ESCAPE-they are powerless..and in the end nothing but cannon fodder for the next war. Waking up would change everything in this country. Everything. The middle class is going bye-bye. This country is going to be exactly like one of those South American ones..with a few extremely rich, and masses at the bottom. Maybe when the slums are more numerous than the suburbs then people will have a reason to no longer be in denial. Give it forty years.

[kentuck]

40. You think it will take forty years ?

All it takes is one good depression, the collapse of the dollar, or jobs dry up, like in the dust bowl...

[Darranar]

42. That sort of attitude ("we are smart, everyone else is stupid")...

is a tradition of the ruling class, and has been for centuries - one of the most popular excuses for all sorts of hierarchical tendencies in societies, ours as much as any other.

It is also wholly false almost all of the time, no more than a convenient fantasy.

It is accurate to say that on some levels human beings are astonishingly idiotic, but false to imply that some humans somehow arise above these limitations and ascend to the heavens of intellectual superiority.

[Spider Jerusalem]

43. Most Americans aren't stupid, they're ignorant.

But a significant number of those are WILLFULLY ignorant, and there is no functional difference between willful ignorance and stupidity.