The corruption is caused by their short sightedness, a total lack of critical analysis capacity to see past the surface assessment of pretty much everything. The problem in the United States is that adults are no longer adults, we manufacture immature people with simplistic world views that seriously know no better, and they have the entire Republican Party hostage, a material percentage of the Democratic Party, and in general the USA is awash in a state of noncommunication because such people cannot see past their immediate assessments to find any common ground. Sure, we have real adults, but not enough to make a critical difference in the quality of our public discourse, to reverse this nose dive.
Bingo! And the sadder part is this isn't even anything new, but it's all come to a head now.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
Shame he did not take to the obvious conclusion that is now in evidence. The idea that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge" has been instrumentalized.
This relativism is encouraged, not because people genuinely believe all views are equal, but because it neutralizes inconvenient truths. If no one can claim authority, then no one can hold power accountable.
Perhaps part of the problem is that snooty intellectual elitists want everyone to be geopolitical geniuses and socially activist and fight for their hobby horses, when every nation, especially large ones, are in desperate need of people who mind their own business, keep their heads down, and contribute humbly to the common good.
Rather than being pushed through university and having technology shoved everywhere into their faces and bombarding them with messages from liars and hucksters at every step.
I honestly regret gaining knowledge about a lot of things that concern me because while “knowledge is power” it’s also known that “ignorance is bliss” because curiosity killed the cat.
If we’re a nation that stands and falls on the strength of social media disputes then perhaps it’s time to let the best bots win.
“Our current administration” idk wtf you even mean, because my leadership is significantly different than yours except for whoever’s in DC.
And you’ve hit the nail on the head there, because rather than placing our family first, community and local concerns ahead of all else, or loving who we are and where we’re at,
we’re wrapped up in a self-inflicted TDS dystopia that surely consists of a 7-layer burrito of illusions and fantasy, because politics is a reality show that is often scripted.
People are really enamored of focusing white-hot rage or glowing adulation on one guy. And for USians, it's the POTUS and his executive branch. It's not difficult to just send the same focus on just 9 dudes and dudettes in black robes, or just a majority of them, or a few choice villains in Congress, and just blame them for all the ills in society and our family's poor life choices and all that's wrong in the world today that may have started about 4 years ago so that we don't need to take accountability right here in the Old Therebefore, the distant past or present. So I invite you to downvote this comment to -3 like the parent.
I'm tired of blaming people far away and quite distant from us for stuff. At a National Security Level, none [hopefully] of us know what's really going on and none of us can actually DO anything about it, except kvetch and moan and whine into our keyboards. Surely all you spycraft fans could admit that there may be a 7-layer burrito of fake-outs and misdirection and Fog of War involved with a fuckin' Signal chat that got a scoop for a single news outlet? We're literally on social media discussing a... single report... about a thread on social media that was seen by one too many people. Since MySpace was founded, the lamestream media reporters have made entire careers out of digging stuff out of someone's profile or their friends posts and splaying it out in a Film At Eleven. But is there anything new under the Sun?
I personally admire our President [although he's got some unattractive personal traits] and I love the administration's progress since his first election, but it's all such big-picture stuff that really affects you and me so little, in the here and now. What matters much more is what's going on next door, in my home parish, in my municipality, and then there's diocese and county and state all above that. What also matters is the Finger of God, his angels and his saints, and their participation in what's going on, when "spiritual autists" need to hold men accountable and attack and blame humans--your sisters and brothers--for events and occurrences which are surely beyond human power to control or even correctly perceive. You believe that "knowledge is power" so is your knowledge absolute? Does your knowledge confer absolute power to know and act? Is there no higher knowledge or wider justice than the knowledge wielded by your philosophy, Horatio?
Name-calling, finding fault, spreading rumors and exposing scandalous gossip. When you get involved the Politics Reality Show and the Lamestream Media, that is your currency in trade. The media rakes muck and the politicians wallow in it and fling it back at them in the same briefing room, but it sullies not their impeccable blonde tresses nor designer Prada soles that you picked up in the 90210.
Well thanks for letting everyone know that you're one of the thin skinned victim playing anti-intellectualists Asimov (and many others) were warning us about. What is the term for "virtue signaling" when you're signaling the exact opposite of virtue?
In the past, I think the two party system somewhat protected against this. The complete capture of the party by trump has removed the system's ability to guard against this. Most senior republicans from a generation ago would recoil at what is happening in their party today. but many of the ones around during the trump takeover were absolutely spineless during his first administration, and things are far worse now.
