americans • proposal by lovejoy

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This vox by lovejoy on behalf of americans is endorsed by 4 of them and denied by 0.

"The ideal citizen of a politically corrupt state, such as the one we now have, is a gullible dolt unable to tell truth from bullshit." I came across this 2012 article today and thought still apropos to the state that we are in. We need to educate ourselves past what politicians and popular news media are telling us to believe.

Reference

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic Widespread ignorance bordering on idiocy is our new national goal. It’s no use pretending otherwise and telling us, as Thomas Friedman did in the *Times* a few days ago, that educated people are the nation’s most valuable resources. Sure, they are, but do we still want them? It doesn’t look to me as if we do.

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Discussion among the americans.

mike • It's a grave situation. I instinctively point the finger at the Education System, but I doubt that's changed all that much in the last 50 years. What does seem to have changed is that being informed and applying critical (objective, skeptical) thinking now has less social value and less day-to-day importance than in the past. As globalization continues to increase the pressure on our workforce, we turn our focus inward, toward making it till the next paycheck. Considering wider issues of the day on a deeper level is as laborious as it is luxurious, especially given the choice of an evening of escapist diversions on TV. I find it hard to imagine how this can correct itself in time, to restore an more scrutinous interest in more "distant" issues to the ordinary American. I fear the future holds greater income disparity and resulting concentration of socioeconomic power for us. 10 years ago