They're Not Stupid, Stupid!

[sierra_le_oli]

The elections are over and hard on the heels of the question "why?" comes the answer, "because they're stupid." And I'm not buying it. Or, at least, I'm not buying the idea that Americans are dumber than anyone else

Comments

[bslsimes]

When I'm able to think calmly about the whole thing, I'd tend to agree with you, but at that point it just infuriates me all the more because it means that sixty million people closed their eyes to reality when casting their vote. Absolutely the best we could say for them is "wilfully ignorant", because there were people saying that the economy is better now than before, and even I can work out that some billions surplus is rather better than some billions deficit.

I did read a report, pre-election, which counselled against using the word "stupid", saying that there were people who were going to vote for Bush because he had cut taxes for the rich, and they wanted to be rich.

I thought about this for about three seconds and, yes, the word "stupid" arrived in my brain. So, say we don't want to say that. What can you say about this? These people are voting for someone whose policies are making them poorer because they want to be rich. I'm not opposed to the mercenary sentiment, but they clearly didn't think this through at all before

[furrfu]

(and it's your own fault for making me jump in

[sierra_le_oli]

With regard to the mandate, 57% of Americans voted and just over half of that number voted for Bush. That means 43% have silently consented to another four years of Bush. So, if I'm being cynical, I'd say it wasn't even close.

I'm sure that Americans have been badly informed. That doesn't mean I won't blame them for unquestioningly embracing the media's viewpoint just because it panders to their own prejudices.

The European political entities that I used as examples were meant to show that Europeans shouldn't get too smug about bad things happening in America because they're happening on this side of the pond too. In that sense, it's a valid comparison. (I picked those examples because they were racist, by the way, not because they were right-wing.)