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There was a time when the stupid and the ignorant knew their places.

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bulloney Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:11 PM
Original message
There was a time when the stupid and the ignorant knew their places.
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 03:16 PM by bulloney
There have always been stupid and ignorant people, but, at least where I live, they kept to themselves for fear they would be shouted down and humiliated.

Now, they feel emboldened and they're not afraid of displaying it.

I recently had some heated discussions with two BILs from each side of the family. Both are hard-core RW for whatever reason. With the first BIL, he and another BIL were on one of their rants about Obama and his socialistic agenda and how it will destroy the country because the private sector is inherently superior to anything the government attempts to do. Here's the kicker: He works for GM. When I pointed out to him that his employer was on the brink of bankruptcy and the government had to bail them out to keep them from having a meltdown, all he could do was try to rationalize that that was different and GM really didn't need the bailout and anything else he could pull out of his ass.

The second BIL and his wife have lived off the taxpayers their entire lives. Every time we have a family event, he goes on one of this RW, anti-socialism, anti-Democrat, anti-Obama rants. They regularly send me e-mails with these types of messages. He was a municipal employee; she was a public school teacher. Both are retired and living off of their taxpayer-funded retirement programs. The BIL has since acquired a another job with the county engineer, meaning he's drawing a taxpayer-funded paycheck while drawing from his taxpayer-funded retirement. Things got ugly when I tactfully pointed this out. We haven't spoken since.

It's these incidents, along with the illiterates waving their misspelled signs at teabagging rallies, appearing on TV and radio programs and displaying their ignorance out in the open anywhere they can.

I think the over-saturation of RW talk shows is a big factor in this. These people feel like they have a leader that is leading their cases to the rest of the world, even though they're blatant hypocrites.
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Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:16 PM
Response to Original message
1. It all goes back to Rousseau and his bullshit glorification of
the Noble Savage, a creature that has never existed anywhere in the history of the earth.

They honestly believe there is something vital and glorious in a mind untouched by the centuries of human wisdom found in books, a mind that is advertised to be far more open to that most uncommon of qualities, common sense.

They're fools, of course.
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3waygeek Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:52 PM
Response to Reply #1
21. It goes all the way back to the book of Genesis...
remember that Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
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leftofcool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:18 PM
Response to Original message
2. Teachers live off tax payers?
I was a teacher and I earned every dime of my salary, as well, I paid in 8% of my own salary every month just so I would have a retirement check. The district matched it with only 2%. Tell me again how I am living off the tax payers.
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bulloney Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:22 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Where I live, our schools are funded by local property and income taxes and state & federal money.
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 03:29 PM by bulloney
And you can try to rationalize that you contributed 8% of your paycheck toward your retirement, but where did that money originate? The taxpayers. And where did the employer contribution originate? The taxpayers.

Enlighten me and explain how your schools are funded. Did you work for a public school?
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leftofcool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:29 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. So do cops, firemen, city workers, librarians etc........
but we are all just living off the taxpayers aren't we? You must work for Rand Paul. He says the same thing.
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bulloney Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:33 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. My point is, if you're going to go on some anti-social spending rampage
because your were inspired by Limbaugh or somebody, look at the mirror. Try to understand that you may be guilty of what you're showboating about.

I have nothing against publicly-funded teachers, fire departments, police departments, etc. They're good for the overall society. But, don't act like you're some rugged individual, self-made person who did it all yourself. I've found that these kinds of people have benefited more from public funding than anyone.
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athenasatanjesus Donating Member (592 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:28 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. Obviously Teachers Earn their money
The point the OP was making is where does that money come from.
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leftofcool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:31 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. We don't 'Live off taxpayers.'
That repuke meme has been around for ever
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. Medical research is sponsored mainly by the NIH - tax payer funded
that means my job is largely dependent on tax payer money. I assume public employees employed by the state government also rely on tax payers - is that incorrect?
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never cry wolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-08-10 08:48 PM
Response to Reply #8
29. teachers DO live off taxpayer money
and it is NOT a RW meme. There is no dishonor in working for taxpayer money. I do not and have not, but I vote YES on every educational referendum because I know spending money on education helps us all. Educators are very important and deserve to be paid so my district can keep the best.
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DavidDvorkin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:21 PM
Response to Original message
3. That must have been back when a man's word was his bond
and all children were obedient.
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:29 PM
Response to Original message
6. I just don't want them to run for office.
Couldn't part of registering to run for office also involve an IQ test? Half the politicians in this country's history wouldn't have qualified if that were the case.
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alsame Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:39 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. +1. Comedic value aside, it's shocking that people as
ignorant as Palin and Sharon Angle are taken seriously by anyone.
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:45 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. But the problem is that they are.
They have been coached in using the right bumper sticker on an issue to appeal to the ignorance, racism, sexism or fear of their moronic constituency to get their vote. Behind every Palin and Angle there is a puppet master and that entity comes from a special interest. A smart candidate would see through the fact they are being used and hopefully wouldn't allow it once they caught on.
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alsame Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. True, the puppet masters manipulate the ignorant candidates (who
make a lot of money) to garner the votes of ignorant voters.

How do we break this cycle with 24/7 media propaganda propping these people up as viable candidates?
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:02 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. Election and campaign finance reform, however, we have
been talking about it since Bush was selected and yet nothing has been done. What anvil do we have to drop on the toes of our politicians to get their attention and make them to do it?
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alsame Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:18 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. I doubt campaign finance reform will happen - most of the
GOP and too many Dems like the system the way it is.
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:19 PM
Response to Reply #18
19. I have to agree that most likely you are right. n/t
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mwb970 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #13
15. It's the greedy leading the stupid to work against their own interests (and ours).
So this is how America goes down? Overrun by an army of the stupid? What an ignominious end.
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asdjrocky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:32 PM
Response to Original message
9. You can thank Bill Clinton and-
TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996 for much of the idiocy that passes as news now.

http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=uspolicyt

See, it's to the benefit of tptb to keep us dumb, and when tptb are allowed to own all the stations, then they put out dumb crap.

Mission accomplished.
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ladywnch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:11 PM
Response to Original message
17. they still know their place.....with rethugs and tea baggers. n/t
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felix_numinous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:21 PM
Response to Original message
20. It's different if you're ignorant and you know you're ignorant.
Then I suppose you would have some humility, which requires self awareness.

The news is disseminated with the sole purpose of channeling fear toward a target group, and bypasses all need for self reflection, or rationalization. Blame feeds on a sense of inferiority, which then results in a false sense of entitlement.

I am convinced the fear media enables the most vulnerable people to stay in their most primitive mindset--reptilian mind of fight or flight.

Adrenaline eclipses the ability to think, and shunts blood away from the head into the extremities, where thinking is actually impossible. (Just read that in a great book-Crucial Conversations, by Patterson...:) )Interesting, huh. In this book, they say you have to calm someone down first in order to have the best chance of a dialogue, then it goes on from there. Great book so far.
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DonCoquixote Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 05:20 PM
Response to Original message
22. Sadly
Both left and right produce this BS. I keep hearing so called leftists her demonize technology all the time, or, a popular theme on here lately "College is worthless". I have seen Luddites want to return to some myth of noble tribal life, or those Good old days" when the Unions supposedly made sure everybody had great pay at those factory jobs. Of course, the fact that if you were not a white male, those were not "happy days."
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red red red Donating Member (166 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 06:28 PM
Response to Original message
23. Well, look at society...
people think nothing of walking around with pants riding below their shorts, blouses dipped to the waist showing deep deep cleavage, cheeks showing from beneath short shorts and tattoo's all over their bodies including their faces. Teens look up to Lady Ga Ga and performers who make no attempt at 'looking pretty' - It just seems like the worse they can make themselves, the better they like it. My point is that society is such that the more 'outstanding' you look, the more attention you get, and thats what matters to them. I think thats true of idiots like Palin, Bachmann, Rush, Beck, etc. The more stupid they sound, the better they like it - and, don't they get attention! They're not thinking that someday their grandchildren are going to see this or hear of this and say "Grandma, you said this?" - T just think that they think they are cute and past that, they do not care. The sad part is that the country is suffering for this. Oh yes, we are suffering for this because when all is said and done, there is only so much time to get things done and they are wasting it big time - for all of us. They are grabbing the attention of the lesser-read people and causing so much havoc - Oh, yes, we are paying for it. Hope you guys understand what I mean - and no, I'm not belittling Lady Ga Ga or any other entertainer! JMO
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depakid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:00 PM
Response to Original message
24. "I think the over-saturation of RW talk shows is a big factor in this. "
You'd be absolutely correct.

Once upon a time, there were repercussions and consequences for outright lies and crazy talk- people would be blackballed from the industry and stations that aired them were accountable through various regulations to the public interest standard.

Now days, it's to the point where nearly anything goes and citizens can't even agree on what basic and objective facts are (much less tune into honest and responsible analysis of the issues).

How such a nation deals with the challenges of the 21st Century is quite beyond me.
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Curmudgeoness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:14 PM
Response to Reply #24
25. And it goes without saying that this furnishes the idiots with leaders.
People who can tell them what to think and more importantly, how to argue that point.
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depakid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:45 PM
Response to Reply #25
26. Interestingly enough, many of the tactics that the hosts use are on display right here every day!
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HopeHoops Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-08-10 09:21 AM
Response to Original message
27. They still do - it is called FOX now.
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-08-10 09:31 AM
Response to Original message
28. Definitely.
Rush Limbaugh started it, and Faux Noise underscored it.
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