How f..king stupid are Americans?

[marmar]

Sorry if I've missed threads on the new Harris poll, but I'm listening to the rebroadcast of yesterday's Thom Hartmann show and can't believe what I'm hearing:

- 50 percent of Americans believe Iraq had WMDs, based on that pathetic and embarassing Santorum and Hoekstra charade.

- 72 percent of Americans believe Iraqis are better off, post-U.S. invasion.

Que?

How can so many people in the world's richest, most powerful nation that allegedly has the best of everything be as dumb as a bag of rocks?

Somebody stop this ride - I wanna get off! :yoiks:

[raccoon]

1. For one thing, the propaganda B.S. put out by the so-called

MSM would do Joseph Goebbels proud.

[SmokingJacket]

2. Comfort makes you dumb.

That's the only explanation I can come up with.

[Darkhawk32]

4. It's the opposite. Being dumb makes you comfortable. n/t

[baldguy]

3. We kill 100 Iraqi civilians each day.

Bush says he's "liberating" them.

[luckyleftyme2]

5. how many americans believe we are the richest

how can we be the richest nation in the world when we are so far in debt? why is it our workers get less pay for their labor? have less benifits and work more hours then people in other countries?
because ="it's the best kept secret by our government"

[NewJeffCT]

19. While we work more & have less benefits

A lot of other nations are even more deeply in debt than the US. The US has the biggest overall debt, but our GDP is also a lot bigger than anybody else's GDP. I was surprised to find out that Japan has like twice the debt level in relation to GDP as the US, and many other 1st world nations are similarly in debt.

That said, the people here get less in the way of government services (health care!), work more and get less vacation.

[NotGivingUp]

21. WE are definitely not the richest nation....the ruling elite are.

[peacetalksforall]

30. It's in the dumbing down policy that the Party who works for baron

backers support.

Many are now working a couple of jobs that are disablers - we find it impossible to find the time to educate ourselves about how they are changing the Constitution to one for corporations and the rich.

And if we can't pay for an education for our children and the grants are reduced and eliminated, we are only raising future sphinx and pyramid slaves.

Want proof of dumbing down - listen to Wash Journal - some of these people have been dumbed down by their churches and tv reverends. Apparently, believing in your reverend's interpretation of the bible is quite effective. Follower tendencies and hate and fear in the heart, especially for brothers on the planet, works well together. Worked for barbarian leaders.

1. Don't think for yourself. Let us do it for you.

[bryant69]

6. Have you got a bag of hammers?

If so, I would suggest you might find it more sensible and reliable than your average human.

But all humans everywhere are idiots.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[bdamomma]

7. Ignorance is bliss for some American citizens

total misrepresentation of the facts, or there are some who do not believe in the facts.

[warrens]

8. That poll has to have been freeped somehow

There are a lot of dumb Merkins, but 72 percent think Iraqis are better off? Bullshit.

[theHandpuppet]

9. At least 55% believe in the Rapture

Though only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.

So the fact that 50% still believe Iraq had WMDs is surprising?

Yes, Virginia, America really IS that stupid.

[genie_weenie]

24. Laptop... (cough) ruined...

cue spit take... and action Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. and print!

[Toots]

10. USA USA USA USA.. We Don't Care.. We Don't Care.. We Don't Care

Dumber than a bag of bricks...

[Ravenseye]

11. Ignorance and Stupidity

For many it's just plain ignorance. I know even well educated liberal people who are shocked when i tell them about the situation in Iraq. They had no idea things were still so bad there. Why? Because nobody reads the newspaper anymore, even when the papers are practically giving them away for free. The number of people who regularly read the news online is also insanely low, as are the broadcast television ratings.

For those that do read a paper or watch the news, or go to a website more times than not those places are part of the MSM which either dilute the news to be more palatable for Americans, or outright make stuff up.

How else can you explain that most people have no idea that 20% of the pre-war population of Iraq has fled the country and the ones that remain have power, if they're lucky, for an hour or two a day (which means not just electricity and air conditioning, but also water (that needs to be pumped) and jobs. That's when they're not doing ritual bath's every morning before their commute to what work they have, because they don't know whether they'll make it there alive.

So why? Because we no longer read newspapers and the news like we used to, and the majority that do, get their news from a compliant MSM who is obsessed with 'telling both sides' even if one side is the truth, and the other an outright lie.

For instance...If a reporter interviewed an Iraq talking about how they don't have any power, and that they are still afraid for their lives, they'd also interview some general, or congressman, who would talk abotu all the great progress that's going on, etc. Basically it dilutes the negative so people don't even hear it. Even if that Republican congressman, or General following orders, is just blatantly and outright lying, the press still still reports it.

[LynneSin]

12. The article came from the Washington Times

The Fox News of the newspaper world

[WinkyDink]

13. "Very" X Avogadro's Number.

[Warpy]

14. How do most Americans live?

They're lucky if they work just one job, but that job is either on salary or has overtime requirements, so forget that dream of a 40 hour week. If they have kids, there are time constrainst and hassles involved with day care or after school activities. When they get home, there are daily household chores to be done, especially for women. Men get to relax for an hour or two in front of the tube while she's doing laundry, bathing the younger kids, cleaning one room a night. He's too exhausted to watch anything particularly informative. Both are lucky to get six hours of sleep a night and rise before sunrise to prep kids for school and daycare, see them off to day camp, or generally make sure they're parked someplace safe during the day. They have to get themselves ready for work, too.

It's a total treadmill for everyone. There is little time to go out and dig for news. They have to trust the evening news the networks serve up.

That's where the blame lies, not with the overworked, overscheduled, and sleep deprived average adult in the US, but with the news media. Folks are being lied to, they suspect they're being lied to, but they lack the time it takes to figure out what the lies are and who is responsible for telling them.

[KitSileya]

25. I totally see where you're coming from.

However, the generation before us, and the one before that, managed to unionize, to fight for better work conditions, etc, and I'm sure they had just as hard lives - in fact, they were probably worse educated, and had less access to information. I'm not ready to let my generation off the hook just yet.

[electron_blue]

28. Yes, people are tired, they're also in major denial.

I agree with you, KitSileya, if you wait til life gets easier before you pay attention to politics, I guarantee you it'll be too late.

[KitSileya]

31. Exactly.

If Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr could fight injustice 50 years ago, why can't we today? They risked death, and knew it - we protest on Saturdays and think that might convince the criminal junta to change their mind. Until Americans are willing to protest on weekdays, to go on general strike, to stand in front of the White House, or election locales in November, in protest come rain or come shine 24/7, there isn't much they can say in their defense. If they want a more recent example of how it can be done, that is, if their own history and the tales of their parents and grandparents can't convince them, they should look to Ukraine and France.

[NewJeffCT]

15. It's that librul media

It's that liberal media again.

If they would only report the good news from Iraq, 100% of Americans would think we found WMD there and there would be a waiting list to get into the new Clubs Med in Baghdad and Fallujah, and people would know about the line out the door to get into the new Hooters in Baghdad, and how every day, our soldiers have young Iraqi children running before them spreading freshly cut rose petals in their path. And, of course, who can forget the new craze at all the frat houses – hazing at Abu Graib?

[ShortnFiery]

16. They may be Polling this bunk, but I don't believe the numbers eom

[Double T]

17. The majority of the American public are gullible suckers.......

that will believe anything and repeatedly change their minds on important issues. And you wonder why we are where we are???

[ClassWarrior]

18. Another name-calling thread. How refreshing.

Couldn't be the fact that Corporate America has our citizens so overworked and numbed and propagandized that most people don't bother - nay, aren't even interested - to dig below the Corporate Media headlines.

No, they're "dumb as a bag of rocks" say the intellectual snobs of the left, who feel superior while they hurl third grade epithets.

:eyes:

NGU.

[marmar]

23. Sorry to upset your sensibilities....

but it's my post and it's based on my visceral reaction to the polling. Besides, I sincerely doubt that this will make it into the Columbia Journalism Review.
And in this case, this was one of the rare exceptions in which the MSM DID widely report the truth - that Santorum's claims were based on old, useless weapons we knew about under Bush I. I'm sorry, but a lot of this is just willful ignorance on the part of our fellow citizens. If DUers can seek out the truth, so can everyone else.

[MamaBear]

29. I had a teacher in high school

My tenth grade biology teacher (who also let me take his honors lab as a senior) defined stupidity as willful ignoance.

Under that definition, many Americans are stupid, and I have been stupid myself on many topics over the years.

MamaBear
Trying to be Smarter

[Kokonoe]

20. PAY OFF THE MEDIA

Not only will they not tell you what is vital information of truth. They can just make shit that sounds happy.

[unpossibles]

22. it's a mixed blame, imo

first off, even though people are overworked and everything, personal responsibility also has to come into play.

The largest share of blame, imo, goes to the RW think tank spinners - the people who have convinced America that:

1 - the media is full of lies and is overly liberal (not true)

2 - FOX is fair balanced and true (not true)

3 - education and intelligence are to be mocked (not true)

4 - love it or leave it - many who might question, but are otherwise politically neutral, are swept up in the jingoist propaganda machine


Sure, the media is complicit, but only because they are afraid to speak truth for fear of being roasted as "liberal", so they lean further and further right until we all fall down.

But that said, a lot of people ARE lazy and willfully ignorant, even when shown the truth - the information is there and has been there, and many have refused to believe it. I blame them as well.

[spanone]

26. But, damn we can sure play a mean Nintendo game...

Dumbfucks. We deserve Bush*.

[electron_blue]

27. if propaganda didn't work so well, nobody would use it

[graywarrior]

32. Most people just listen to or read the headlines

Thus, the power of soundbites. Republicans are good at uttering propaganda soundbites.

[slackmaster]

33. Stupidity is a trait of classes of human beings, not just Americans

Please don't bash Americans with silly broad-brush attacks.

There are plenty of stupid people in every country.

Half of all people are by definition below average intelligence, and average isn't very smart.

[jerry611]

34. Well...technically Iraq does have WMDs

They are just old and not a threat to anyone or us.

And yes, I can't say if Iraqis are better off or not post-Saddam. I never lived in Iraq. I see only what they show on TV and that isn't enough to make a sound decision.

[Nimrod2005]

35. This is a fucking beautiful post, thank you...Answer:

Very very stupid...Twice as stupid as they look and 10 times as stupid as anyone you know.

I think 99% of all Americans households DO NOT watch the nightly news...Know nothing about nothing (foreign policy or political affairs...etc).

[Emit]

36. THIS FUCKING STUPID !!! ....

A significant number of people have a real hatred for conservative Republicans and George Bushs administration... the people who hated to see George Bush take office have a vested interest in wanting him to fail...that particularly includes most if the main stream media...therefore... they precieve everything that happens under his administration as being a failure.

I think that those people are blinded by rage...and starting to fall into ditches...they really are not thinking straight.
but...There are still enough voters ...and elected officials out there...with their heads screwed on straight ...those are the ones in control...and they are effectively containing the haters...so all the haters can effectively do at this point is whine....Good example is Ted Kennedy at the Judiciary appointment hearings.
And to be honest it is very entertaining to watch.

What I dont quite understand though is...why so many of the Democrats are drinking the cool aid... as they say.

The Iraqi people dodged bullets ...in huge numbers... to vote...TO VOTE!!

People stay home on voting day in this country when it rains.

Positive ...wonderful things are happening ...and the left wing and their media can only be angry and negative.
I just think they act like sore losers...all the time.

http://discussions.pbs.org/viewtopic.pbs?topic_view=threads&p=421098&t=59186

[Libby2]

37. Very! nt

[leftofthedial]

38. stupid all the way to the bone

and as gullible as a yokel fresh off the turnip truck


in my experience


and did I mention ignorant?

[earth mom]

39. Because those people watch Faux news and listen to assholes

like O'Lielly and Limbaugh! They are too damn dumb to do any investigation or research to find out the truth or delve any deeper than the surface. Stupid is as stupid does. :freak:

Hopefully it will all bite them in their lazy asses-and soon! :grr:

[Generic Other]

40. Is this a trick question?

72% of Americans are too dumb to chew gum and walk at the same time.