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-- Does This Make You Laugh or Cry?
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Does This Make You Laugh or Cry?

quote:

- A third of the American public believes U.S. forces have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. Twenty-two percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons. [...] Several analysts said they were troubled by the lack of knowledge about the Sept. 11 hijackers, shown in the January survey conducted for Knight Ridder newspapers. Only 17 percent correctly said that none of the hijackers was Iraqi.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/...ont/6085261.htm

Even worse, you can count the Commander in Chief amongst the misinformed third:

quote:

"But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong. We found them."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2003May30.html

First case I've ever heard of an individual being duped by his own lies.

Seriously though, I find this incredibly distressing. The US government can do what they like, say what they like, and a third of the population will still - purely out of ignorance - believe what the government wants them to believe. I know it's easy to say that there's an ignorant fraction of society in every society in the world, but no ignorant fraction has more power over the rest of the world than than the American fraction. If 33% of the American population cannot distinguish bewteen truth and fantasy - thereby legitimising ill-advised military adventures like Gulf War II - it's the rest of the world that suffers.

So what do you think? Should I take it easy and laugh at something like this, or am I justified in weeping over my keyboard like a big girl?

Depressing, because I live int it

I read this before as well. It is rather depressing. I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that the potential WMD finds had the BREAKING NEWS headlines attached to them whereas you had to turn to page 7B to find the articles that corrected the headlines.

Although it is somewhat heartening to see everybody so trusting of polls accurately reflecting the general population after I've campaigned so hard for them the past several months

weep...weep!!!

...sigh, that's troubling

This could seriously lead to the slow but steady demise of democracy and an establishment of a new 1984-like society.

WAR IS PEACE - FREEDOM IS SLAVERY - IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

quote:

Originally posted by JohnSmith WAR IS PEACE - FREEDOM IS SLAVERY - IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

That is probably the scariest shit I've read all week

Here's the survey given:

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/I...qqaire_5_03.pdf

The analysis of the institute that conducted the study states that many are experiencing "cognitive disonance" or something silly like that. Here's the entire analysis of the study if you're interested:

http://pipa.org/whatsnew/html/new_6_04_03.html

quote:

Originally posted by Sand Leaper That is probably the scariest shit I've read all week

Same here man. Ignorance is THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA! I can't believe how stupid Americans can be.

quote:

Originally posted by Galapidate Same here man. Ignorance is THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA! I can't believe how stupid Americans can be.

Hmmm people in the east or west are generally smart. I blame the bible belt

MisterOpus ... how's life in the mid-west?

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Hmmm people in the east or west are generally smart. I blame the bible belt MisterOpus ... how's life in the mid-west?

Yes, I've noticed that myself. I live in NJ in an upper-middle class suburb and we learn things that towns in the Bible belt would ban or forbid. We are a fairly democratic town as well, so a majority of us see Bush as an asshole.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Hmmm people in the east or west are generally smart. I blame the bible belt MisterOpus ... how's life in the mid-west?

Sorry I didn't get back to you very fast Occrider. Them pigs out in the coup were just geetin' mighty huungree. Mary Jo Beth Sue couldn't get to 'em out right 'cause she's impregnatin' the cows. You know, you done seen um doin' that on that dar "Jack Ass" show on MTV? Heard 'bout that show. Wish I shur had cable.

Sorry, just had to put on my stereotype outfit for a moment to see if it fit well.

To be honest, you could blame the Bible Belt to a certain degree. It's not that many out here are not intelligent. To be certain, I've met a great many highly intelligent minds here, as well as a number of well-rounded individuals who've travelled to all parts of the world. Rather, it's more or less a lack of knowledge, and a lack of resources to gather up knowledge on worldly and/or political issues. The KC Star newspaper does a pretty good job in it's coverage of most issues. However, I've resorted to the internet for most issues. It may also be a lack of willingness or lack of need to get more information on particular issues which people in the Midwest tend to do as well. Consequently, they tend to buy into what is generally told to them by the normal media outlets (and I suppose to a certain extent their religious outlets - hence the Bible Belt).

Here again, I'm stereotyping. This description doesn't fit everyone. I'm not even sure it fits the majority. We do have a Democratic Governor you know. However, the State Legislature is Republican controlled - and there are some religous zealots in the lot. Our State Board of Education used to also be run by a bunch of religious fanatics - and at one point they successfully allowed Creationism (aka "Intelligent Design") to be taught in the K-12 science classrooms. That set us back into the Scopes/Monkey trial days for awhile. Fortunately, that decision got overturned a year later after some of the religous idiots got ousted in the state elections. That's another issue altogether, but just a small sidenote point to be made.

WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Galapidate is right....in this town Bush is considering as a fucking moron, that's pretty much it. As for the Bible Belt, and the South, don't lemme get started. The Mid-West has some educated people at least.

quote:

Originally posted by Galapidate Same here man. Ignorance is THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA! I can't believe how stupid Americans can be.

you know it's from 1984 right?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...94363?vi=glance

Sorry I didn't know, I never read 1984...

I love 1984. one of the best books ever written, and the scaring thing is that it might be coming true.....

What's it about?

It's pretty much like Animal Farm. A neo-communist party called The Part has taken over what used to be england (now known as airstrip 1) and their control over the people is brutal.
they don't just censor the news, they create it. everything is fictional, and the "country" is run in an oligarchichal/anarchist/nihilist fasion. great book!

okie dokie, yeah I figured it had something to do with satire since George Orwell also wrote Animal Farm.

Well...it's not exactly a satire....

it satires communism, course it is a satire

quote:

Originally posted by Galapidate it satires communism, course it is a satire

no no no....satires represent their targets in a humoristic light. This book is far from humor. Read it, and you'll see. It's kinda satiric in that it exaggerates an issue, but you'd have to read it to better understand it.

I read it in 8th grade and I remember it as a satire. Not all satires are funny; the main goal is to mock human error or folly. Here's some food for thought:

http://www.recede.com/orwell/yemenici.html

Animal Farm was a satire, true. But, dear Brian, 8th grade was 2 years ago and you probably forgot the book. This isn't a book that pokes fun at human error. This is a bok that was written to warn us about the possible outcome due to a wide spread of communism. This book may poke some sort of fun at folly, but it's a very, very,very dark satire if anything.

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