The Gray Cloud Of Ignorance

[ThomWV]

I had some work done on my truck yesterday. Local boy does it, doesn't charge too much, nice guy.

I picked up the truck in the afternoon. Daryl got the U-joints changed earlier and he was about done for the day. A couple of other local guys had stopped by, we, the four of us, were shooting the shit. The state of the nation was the topic.

A young guy was there trying to get a cheap car he bought inspectable. I'd guess the guy was in his mid to late 20's, he's got a job somewhere I suppose. Here is what he related to me:

The shia and the Sunni somehow got Israel to go to war with that other country (he wasn't entirely sure which one) where innocents were being slaughtered, and that Iran was behind it all. The reason for all of this was oil of course and the terrorists were trying to get it for themselves.

My jaw just dropped.

So I explained it in as simple a terms as I could muster up. The other two guys caught on pretty quickly. I actually went all the way back to 1947, up through the 1967 6-day war, and on to today. The young guy had never heard about a single bit of it. He thought Israel, as a nation, had existed since biblical times, he was unable to name a single country that bordered the country.

Dear god, how can you win?

[Protagoras]

1. By engaging in that little bit of education

I think you did.

One mind at a time. We have no other way.

[Sherman A1]

2. Well Done!

[knowbody0]

3. My neighbor thinks Israel is an Island

surrounded by Arab nations who want their water.

I ain't even going to try!

[Protagoras]

4. Just leave an anonymous map

on their front door one day with the Middle East all highlighted.

Maybe put some little arrows that are labelled OIL or WATER HERE.

[havocmom]

5. Might not be a way to win, but start with local school boards

and pay attention to policies in education and how those policies get implemented (or not).

It is terrifying how little kids are learning. Too many people haven't got a clue how our system is supposed to work. Too many have no idea how to look at a map and see anything. Too many people get out of school without understanding anything about the world.

Yeah, I know, not just the schools, but a whole cultural/social structure problem. But when you pay attention to the schools, you see how the RW pulled a lot off. There's a reason they had their fawning minions run for school boards all over America. Can't take over a democracy without blinding a lot of the population. How better than to appeal to 'values' to keep people from actually learning? Can't have them libruls teaching stuff that's not in the Bible!

The Taliban knows how to shape a distorted future: Warp the minds of the young. The neocons did the same damn thing here.

It is terrifying how much wrong shit is so fervently believed. More terrifying is the fact that so many people lack even a nodding acquaintance with critical thought. Too many are taught just to accept what they are told.

All it takes for evil to triumph is good men doing nothing? Yep. And the neocons have worked since 1973 to trick good people into not seeing anything that needed doing. Evil triumphs.

[pretzel4gore]

6. remember the ghost in 'scrooge'

the one who pulled back the curtain to show the 2 kids (ignorance and poverty) and warning us about neglecting them? everyone assumed the ignorance kid was in 3rd world, but it seems the real ignorance is right here! one meets people all the time who think god created israel, and those who fight it are 'evil' period.