Reply #40: Illiterate America: the perfect workforce for a service economy. They'll do whatever they're told, [View All]

[bertman]

work for below-subsistence wages, expect no benefits and minimal safety standards, and blame their plight on the elite liberals.

An earlier post suggested that these illiterate Americans could go to classes to improve their reading/comprehension skills. My experience as a building contractor is that the ones who need those classes the most are rarely in a position to take advantage of them. They are almost always working two jobs or side jobs, plus trying to raise the kids, and somewhere in there, trying to find time to relax--which usually consists of watching TV. They live in the worst kind of self-perpetuating ignorance cycle. What is really scary is that most of these folks take pride in being "rednecks" and "just plain folks", and many of them would view adult education as too much trouble. And not so ironically, many of them want their kids to have better educations and opportunities than they have had, but they don't know how to help them accomplish that goal.

This election reinforced in me the points Chris Hedges outlines regarding the no-nothing electorate. I worked to get potential Democratic voters to vote because I wanted Obama to win the election. While I was trying to get people registered I encountered ignorance and apathy in our so-called Democratic base that was frankly appalling. Many of the poorest voters that I talked to had no idea what Obama's campaign ideas and platforms were, and only knew to vote for him because he was going to help poor people. I certainly agreed with them that Obama is going to help poor people, but it did not make me feel good about our democracy to know that the woefully uninformed have just as much say as those who make it their mission to know what the issues are and where the candidates stand on them.

A better education system is one part of the long-term solution to this problem, but weaning the viewing public off of their propaganda teat is going to be one helluva battle.