Stupidity will be the death of this nation

[TwixVoy]

Yesterday morning I went to the old Target store I used to work at to say hi to some of my former co-workers.

I got to talking to an elderly former co-worker who is always upset the company keeps taking away her health insurance soon after she qualifies because her hours get cut.

She started telling me that the health care reform was going to "take all her money" (she makes $10/hour after being at Target over 10 years... I know, I was her supervisor last year and gave her her annual 15 cent raise). Then she told me that she heard that she didn't have to pay taxes because "nothing in the constitution says we have to".

To which I responded "actually the 16th amendment specifically allows income taxes and was added to the constitution after the courts started to strike down income tax laws". She smiled at me and said in a very patronizing tone "Ok sweetie if that's what you want to believe but trust me nothing the constitution says anything about income taxes".

So instead of actually doing her homework on health care reform and even the freaking constitution when I gave her the exact amendment that allows for income taxes instead of bothering to look it up she just continues to CHOOSE to remain ignorant.

I can't wait until these morons screw health care reform, the stock market starts to nose dive again come 4th quarter, and we are back in another economic crisis that will make 2008 look like a tea party. It obviously is going to take a major shake up in these peoples lives before they actually make some effort to educate themselves instead of letting FAUX news do it.

[YOY]

1. Well if someone has the info right in front of them and refuses to acknowledge it.

It should be pointed out as just that to their faces.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Maybe she doesn't believe in the amendments? Of course, that means she has to

give up her right to vote now.

[cabluedem]

10. She has to quarter the troops in her house too. nt

[Berry Cool]

27. Yeah, and don't even try to tell me she doesn't have to quarter them

because if you say she doesn't have to, it can only be because YOU HATE THE TROOPS!!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

You're talking in the subjunctive!

-Tweet

[kirby]

3. I fully support euthanisia in this case...

Just kidding.

[TrogL]

4. Some people are so stupid they don't know they're stupid

They trust a single authoritarian source of information, either their fundie pastor or Rush.

[cabluedem]

9. Watch the movie:"Idiocracy".Thats where we are headed. nt

[Bigmack]

13. "Idiocracy" seems like a documentary to me. nt

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

16. I was just wondering - would an idiot enjoy "Idiocracy"? nt

[MindPilot]

20. Huh? Some smart guy made that. He's stupid.

Now go away; 'batin'

[MindPilot]

18. Especially the part where the people are playing slot machines

hoping to win the opportunity to get some health care.

Damn Mike Judge is good.

[izquierdista]

5. There was a time

A long time ago, the stupid deferred to the smart and listened to them. If you had to sign your name with a mark or have someone read you a letter, it wasn't a source of pride. You didn't berate the government as being incompetent, you wanted them to do something for you -- build a road, put in a post office, hire you on some construction project.

With mass merchandising and automation, the need for smart people becomes less obvious. You can go about your daily business getting food from the grocery store, heat from the electric co-op, and (very fashionable) clothes from K-mart. It's only when you get into a car wreck or start spitting up blood that you need to find someone who went to college and professional school to help you out. Yes, I believe you are right, these people are going to have to hit bottom and realize it before they start to think to ask someone how they can improve their situation.

[Libertas1776]

12. The stupid

are still listening to the smart...just not the good, benevolent kind of smart. The powers that are orchestrating the stonewalling of the health care debate, riling up the stupid masses with manufactured issues, are very smart, sinisterly smart. The kind of evil smart you get from a James Bond villain or something of the sort. To reiterate, our problem is that the stupid are deferring to wrong kind of smart people.

[Flying Dream Blues]

26. Great point and (a belated) welcome to DU! nt

[bluestateguy]

6. Civics tests to qualify voters

It will be a tough pill for some people on the Left to swallow, but it may be necessary to save the republic.

[Lyric]

17. Except that it would be incredibly racist.

The kids who grow up in poor neighborhoods and attend crappy schools are disproportionately racial minorities. Racial minorities are also less likely to have access to computers, the internet, and public libraries. They are the ones who would have the most difficulty passing a test like the one you proposed. Should we punish them for being poor and dark-skinned by making it even HARDER for them to have their voices heard in the political sphere? They have little more than a whisper's worth of voice as it is. My deceased AA brother-in-law couldn't tell you much about the Constitution, but he damn sure knew that the people who oppose affirmative action and public assistance are the ones to avoid at the polling place.

I, for one, am COMPLETELY opposed to anything that unfairly diminishes the voices of minorities and the poor. It's the middle-class white people who got us into this mess--THEY are the LAST people we need to give MORE power to. It's not lack of education that's the main problem--it's willful stubbornness and the refusal of the conservative white middle-class to believe that THEIR Faux-Snooze worldview isn't the ONLY one, much less the correct one. They consider it a source of pride to be ignorant, and have replaced critical thinking with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Frankly, we'd have better results excluding the selfish and the willfully ignorant than excluding the poor and uneducated. Let the poor people vote. How many times have poor minorities saved our Democratic asses at the voter's booth? Disenfranchising them would be incredibly stupid--both for the nation AND for our party.

[izquierdista]

22. Then get rid of political advertising

The whole point of advertising is to get you to buy something that you don't need: cigarettes (lung cancer), beer (DUIs), a Sham-wow (doesn't anyone just use rags anymore?), or Republican politicians (just plain wrong all around). Take the advertising out of political campaigns and people have to think; they have to ask themselves about the candidates views and policies, and the willfully ignorant will have less to scream about.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. "Everybody is stupid except me"

It's part of the American belief system.

--d!

[cbdo2007]

8. Idiocracy anyone?

It really is happening all around us.

[Hepburn]

11. Yes, I agree....

...

[DCBob]

14. The right-wing depends on "stupidity" to further their message.

That's why as the country gets more educated it turns away from hard-core right-wing conservatism.

[Maru Kitteh]

15. Any crash will be blamed on Obama and Democrats will be voted out.

That scenario doesn't lead to any kind of reform, it leads to the return of the Republicans. And then the real shit will hit the fan.

[gratuitous]

19. If stupidity is enough to kill the United States

Then it deserves to die, and good fucking riddance.

But I don't think it's strong enough, and I think that the howlers, screamers, birfers and deathers are going to get tired and go home for a nap soon. They don't have a whole lot of staying power, and it requires a lot of effort on the behalf of some admittedly highly-monied interests to keep them engaged. As the silly season of August passes, we'll see this spasm of rage subside and the grown-ups will be in charge again come Labor Day.

Already we had four letters to the local paper, every one of them down on the disruptors at the town halls. The backlash is already in force against the fear-mongers, and they don't have a lot of other options for advancing their agenda.

[Franzia]

21. No amount of misery and suffering will wake these people up because they are willfully ignorant.

They prefer to "stay with the big ship" and drown clinging to their delusions because they live fear-based lives.

[B Calm]

23. and they're all dumber than Joe the Plumber.. . .

[defendandprotect]

24. No . .. rw propaganda which makes people stupid, will be the death of this nation . .!!!

[CrownPrinceBandar]

25. Its not just the stupidity, its the blatant contempt of the intellectual.....

I first noticed it during the run-up to the 2000 election, when terms like "northeast intellectual" became commonplace and a target for much hatred. For me that's when the blinders came off. Maybe I was naive, but after that, I began to see that some used their ignorance as a badge of honor and their ire towards "intellectuals" became some kind of homespun defiance to be lauded.

[surrealAmerican]

28. Many times, even people who get defensive like that ...

... will actually look things up later. She just didn't want to "look stupid", so she pretended to be sure of herself. You may have planted enough doubt in her mind to cause her to actually read the 16th amendment. Here's hoping, anyway.