"Insight that only a certain amount of 'living' can usually bring". True in most cases. But with MAGAs and Covid, even when their loved ones die or they wind up in the hospital, they still denied it. The doctors, the hospitals, everyone was lying, except for the crackpots on Fox or with Trump. As many have said, hit 'em with proof of the…
"Insight that only a certain amount of 'living' can usually bring". True in most cases. But with MAGAs and Covid, even when their loved ones die or they wind up in the hospital, they still denied it. The doctors, the hospitals, everyone was lying, except for the crackpots on Fox or with Trump. As many have said, hit 'em with proof of the truth and they still don't accept it. How did so many Americans get so stupid?
For accuracy's sake I suppose I should amend that comment to read "...only a certain amount of living and paying attention can bring". Or something similar. I've been at this living thing for a while now. Wish I knew a lot more than I do, but wouldn't know nearly as much if I hadn't paid at least some attention to what was going on around me along the way. Often find myself thinking these days I wish I'd paid a lot *closer* attention.
As to the number of stupid Americans, well, if you ever come up with an answer on that one, I think a whole lot of people would like to hear it, including me. Especially me.
There has long been a strain of anti-intellectualism in right wing politics.
My father tends to catch a particular thought on a political matter and then obsess with it for a few weeks, and during the GWB's first term, he liked to recite regularly that Bush stated things in black and white terms, and didn't do 'nuance'. (He really liked to lean on the word nuance with a particular contempt.)
Back then in my mid-twenties as a sort of Republican who was beginning to drift away, I nodded along.
But that really stuck with me, because nuance matters. Details matter.
Teaching people to think in simplistic, black and white tropes is politically profitable, but it's terrible for the health of a society that works based on the communal knowledge and inclinations of the public.
Which brings us to a whole other problem that Tim's book highlights quite nicely- what's good for parties and candidates is often terrible for actual governance.
"Insight that only a certain amount of 'living' can usually bring". True in most cases. But with MAGAs and Covid, even when their loved ones die or they wind up in the hospital, they still denied it. The doctors, the hospitals, everyone was lying, except for the crackpots on Fox or with Trump. As many have said, hit 'em with proof of the truth and they still don't accept it. How did so many Americans get so stupid?
For accuracy's sake I suppose I should amend that comment to read "...only a certain amount of living and paying attention can bring". Or something similar. I've been at this living thing for a while now. Wish I knew a lot more than I do, but wouldn't know nearly as much if I hadn't paid at least some attention to what was going on around me along the way. Often find myself thinking these days I wish I'd paid a lot *closer* attention.
As to the number of stupid Americans, well, if you ever come up with an answer on that one, I think a whole lot of people would like to hear it, including me. Especially me.
There has long been a strain of anti-intellectualism in right wing politics.
My father tends to catch a particular thought on a political matter and then obsess with it for a few weeks, and during the GWB's first term, he liked to recite regularly that Bush stated things in black and white terms, and didn't do 'nuance'. (He really liked to lean on the word nuance with a particular contempt.)
Back then in my mid-twenties as a sort of Republican who was beginning to drift away, I nodded along.
But that really stuck with me, because nuance matters. Details matter.
Teaching people to think in simplistic, black and white tropes is politically profitable, but it's terrible for the health of a society that works based on the communal knowledge and inclinations of the public.
Which brings us to a whole other problem that Tim's book highlights quite nicely- what's good for parties and candidates is often terrible for actual governance.