Always thought that voters were undereducated in foreign affairs

[lostnfound]

The schools taught jingoistic American history year after year, but world affairs was not taught at all.

Learning in my late teens about the fact that the US government supported numerous brutal dictators was a shock without explanation. Iran-contra caught my attention, and the assumption of Archbishop Romero on an altar. I realized that most voters knew nothing and cared little about foreign policy. Yet, the government that we elect was at the controls of the most powerful tools on the planet for shaping international realities.

Watching Taylor, Kent and Yovanovitch talking about Russian aggression, I again am struck by the fact that the typical voter is clueless about US strategy and interests. The simplistic MAGA crowd that elected trump won’t realize that they have abetted the distraction of ”Pax Americana” and put the world on a course setting that leads to World War III,or are least to a future where their children and grandchildren will suffer hardscrabble lives in a country depleted of the numerous powers that have ensured US strength and leadership for 70 years.

Go see “Midway” and be reminded that world power structures are not as certain as they appear to all generations since the 1950s. Small details that worked in our favor in Japan (as well as in Normandy), combined with blood and sweat and guts of a generation, enabled the US to gain the upper hand. There was no guarantee that these efforts would prevail. We used that upper hand to help rebuild those countries and establish them as strong allies with representative democracies. there is no guarantee that the ”winner” of the next global contest will do anything other than loot, enslave, corrupt and dominate defeated countries.

Trump voters and Trump enablers have knee-capped American soft power and have thrown away a host of better futures for the unstable unknown. And because they don’t understand foreign affairs, they don’t even know it.

[hlthe2b]

1. They don't travel and yes, they are willfully ignorant even where opportunities to learn exist.

One need only contrast previous generations, who fought in foreign wars. Nothing motivated the public to learn more about those countries--their geography, their history, their culture and politics than that. Everyone from the unsophisticated small town farm boy to the ivory league college grad that served could speak more eloquently to world affairs than the average American today.

It is disgraceful. I have worked and traveled worldwide extensively. I can tell you the poor and less educated children of Egypt or India or Thailand know more about world affairs and US politics than a lot of college-educated Americans and certainly more than the average high school graduate.

[lostnfound]

3. I suspect that Americans have been intentionally dumbed down and distracted into silliness

The ease with which the right wing can get these Fox-News-watching people to wave their purple bandaids and chant nonsense as if at a high school pep rally?

Maybe it’s not an accident. Easier to manipulate that way.

[maryellen99]

4. They really started pushing the reality show right after 9/11 up to the Iraq war nt

[ChubbyStar]

6. Don't suspect it KNOW IT

The entire educational dumbing down is by design, a very callous and calculated design.

[beachbumbob]

2. american people understand blackmail and extortion and many even know the

implication of a president using his office to do such things against a future political rival, Majority of republican/trump voters already indicate they have zero moral or ethical values so it clearly will not matter to them BUT they are NOT the majority of americans

[maryellen99]

5. Trump supporters think Hillary is going take over if trump is removed or resigns

That’s why they are pushing the coup talking point.

[ChubbyStar]

7. Jesus tRUMP supporters are seriously ill.

WTF does Hillary have to do with ANY of this?

[llmart]

8. I was taught by my parents that educating yourself is a responsibility of all citizens.

You got the basics in school - Civics classes required, American History, American Government - but my parents taught us to read for ourselves and use our own common sense to decide if something is propaganda or not. They taught us what propaganda was.

In high school, I subscribed to US News and World Report and paid for it out of my summer job money. I was 16.

[Doc_Technical]

9. Well said, llmart!

I came here to say this but you said it better.

I remember the words of Frank Zappa,
“Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts. Some of you like Pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read.”

[llmart]

10. Why, thank you.

My parents were very poor. I come from a large family. My mother taught me that the library was the best thing since sliced bread! She took us to the library every weekend and never, never, never limited what section of the library we could pick from. I learned that just being poor doesn't mean you have to be stupid.

[moondust]

11. Largely by design.

Last edited Fri Nov 15, 2019, 02:48 PM - Edit history (1)

If voters were to find out how well citizens of some other countries have it they might start demanding a government that actually serves The People and not just the wealthy. Republicans figure it's better to keep them self-absorbed, xenophobic, and in the dark.