This is the last time I'm going to quote from Just How Stupid Are We? by Rick Shenkman. I'm taking it back to the library today...that's why. But I would be remiss if I did not pass on two great observations on conservatism and the role of The People in American politics.
Skepticism of popular government grew naturally out of the bedrock conviction that man is fundamentally depraved, sin is universal, and redemption is rare. So essential were all of these beliefs to conservatism that one is hard-pressed to imagine what is left of a conservatism that exists without them.
In the twenty-first century conservatives have joined liberals in competing as flatterers of the vox populi. Whatever The People believe is right. On Fox News nary a single commentator is given time to express skepticism of The People. In their hurry to curry favor with viewers, Fox News conservatives are unwilling to suggest that the voters are ever in error. It is never the voters who make mistakes. It is liberals. We are all populists now.
Showing posts with label Rick Shenkman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Shenkman. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Shenkman on Obama
A few days ago I recommended Just How Stupid Are We?, by Rick Shenkman, a regular commentator on Fox News and CNN. I repeat the recommendation. You should read the book, if only for Shenkman's comments on the election of President Obama.
The book itself was written before the 2008 election, but the author has added an epilogue in which he refutes the argument that the election of Obrama proves that the American people -- those who vote, that is -- are smarter than he gave them credit for.
Shenkman says what should be obvious, that the election of Obama was based on pure emotion, rather than reason. (That is why Walt called it wrong, by the way. I never thought US voters would take leave of their senses completely.)
Obama's message was that a vote for him was a vote for hope-and-change (n. singular). What exactly would be changed was not spelled out, and the American people, the great unwashed, were gullible enough to fall for it.
Here's what Shenkman says:
One wishes not to so generalize Barack Obama's profile as to make him indistinguishable from other pols. He clearly is different.... But he behaved just like an ordinary pol on so many occasions that one begins to suspect that his chief calculations were more similar to theirs than different.
Did he really believe the American people are smart? Of course not. Like McCain, he counted on people not being smart.
And of course he was right.
But perhaps "the people" are waking up. Yahoo! polled its readers yesterday on the question "Has Obama brought meaningful change to the world?" 36% said yes. 64% voted NO.
The book itself was written before the 2008 election, but the author has added an epilogue in which he refutes the argument that the election of Obrama proves that the American people -- those who vote, that is -- are smarter than he gave them credit for.
Shenkman says what should be obvious, that the election of Obama was based on pure emotion, rather than reason. (That is why Walt called it wrong, by the way. I never thought US voters would take leave of their senses completely.)
Obama's message was that a vote for him was a vote for hope-and-change (n. singular). What exactly would be changed was not spelled out, and the American people, the great unwashed, were gullible enough to fall for it.
Here's what Shenkman says:
One wishes not to so generalize Barack Obama's profile as to make him indistinguishable from other pols. He clearly is different.... But he behaved just like an ordinary pol on so many occasions that one begins to suspect that his chief calculations were more similar to theirs than different.
Did he really believe the American people are smart? Of course not. Like McCain, he counted on people not being smart.
And of course he was right.
But perhaps "the people" are waking up. Yahoo! polled its readers yesterday on the question "Has Obama brought meaningful change to the world?" 36% said yes. 64% voted NO.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Why dumb is bad
From freezing Florida, Agent 17 sent me a link to "The Stupidest Game Show Answers of All Time". Watch it and have a chuckle at the dumb blonde and other ignoramuses. Then think about this.
These people are allowed to vote! And their vote counts for as much as yours and mine. Worse, as Rick Shenkman points out in Just How Stupid Are We?, never in the history of America have "the people" wielded so much real political power.
Public opinion polls drive public policy. Petitions and ballot initiatives lead to stupid and unworkable legislation. Elected officials can be recalled because "the people" have changed their collective mind (if you'll pardon the overstatement) and don't want them in office any more.
Yet "the people" know next to nothing, as these video clips demonstrate, about geography, politics, economics, civics or the issues of the day. Shenkman says we have stopped reading and learning about these things because we are preoccupied with entertainment and the culture of consumerism.
And what is the result? Bad policies, bad decisions and bad government. We -- and I include Canadians and Britons along with Americans -- are reaping the harvest of the dumbing-down of our society.
It's bad for us to be so dumb! Dumb. Bad. Dumb. Bad. Dumb. Bad. Keep repeating until it sinks in.
These people are allowed to vote! And their vote counts for as much as yours and mine. Worse, as Rick Shenkman points out in Just How Stupid Are We?, never in the history of America have "the people" wielded so much real political power.
Public opinion polls drive public policy. Petitions and ballot initiatives lead to stupid and unworkable legislation. Elected officials can be recalled because "the people" have changed their collective mind (if you'll pardon the overstatement) and don't want them in office any more.
Yet "the people" know next to nothing, as these video clips demonstrate, about geography, politics, economics, civics or the issues of the day. Shenkman says we have stopped reading and learning about these things because we are preoccupied with entertainment and the culture of consumerism.
And what is the result? Bad policies, bad decisions and bad government. We -- and I include Canadians and Britons along with Americans -- are reaping the harvest of the dumbing-down of our society.
It's bad for us to be so dumb! Dumb. Bad. Dumb. Bad. Dumb. Bad. Keep repeating until it sinks in.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Stupid Americans
Do you watch CNN? Or the liberals' nemesis, Fox News? If you stay tuned after these "news" outlets have finished talking about the adventures of Balloon Boy, you will occasionally hear Rick Shenkman talk about hard news and, especially, politics.
Over the weekend, Walt has been reading Mr. Shenkman's latest book, Just How Stupid Are We? (Basic Books, 2008). It's probably going to be the most depressing book I'll read all year, and I commend it to you highly.
In a word, Mr. Shenkman thinks the public -- "the people of America", as politicians love to say -- is abysmally dumb, and getting dumber. Yet although "the masses are grossly ill-informed and irrational, and our politics driven by myths, the political system [has been] reconfigured in such a way as to give the masses more direct control than ever before".
If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what would. To make matters worse, only some thousands, out of millions of American voters, will read Mr. Shenkman's book. Only these few will read his diagnosis of what ails American politics or his prescription for a cure.
Only these few will read such gems as:
"Americans are vastly inferior in their knowledge of world geography compared with Europeans. (The old joke is that 'war is God's way of teaching Americans geography.')" or
"In 2003 the Strategic Task Force on Educatin Abroad investigated Americans' knowledge of world affairs. [They] concluded: 'America's ignorance of the outside world' is so great as to constitute a threat to national security."
Walt's Canadian followers needn't sit back and feel smug either. Similar studies in Canada -- English Canada at least -- have concluded that Canadians' knowledge of what's going on in the world, or right around home, is not much better.
Don't believe me? Show your neighbours an outline map of the world and ask them to locate Afghanistan. Or ask them who the head of state of Canada is. (Hint: It's not Call Me Steve Harper.) Ask them who they'd call if they wanted a pothole in their street fixed. (Hint: It's not the local M.P. or M.L.A.)
Just How Stupid Are We? provides concrete proposals for reforming our institutions -- government, the media, civic organizations and political parties -- to make them work better for the people. But first, Mr. Shenkman argues, the people must reform themselves!
Footnote: George Mason University's History News Network features Rick Shenkman's blog on its website. You can buy the paperback there, and read the latest stupid news and stupid comments.
Over the weekend, Walt has been reading Mr. Shenkman's latest book, Just How Stupid Are We? (Basic Books, 2008). It's probably going to be the most depressing book I'll read all year, and I commend it to you highly.
In a word, Mr. Shenkman thinks the public -- "the people of America", as politicians love to say -- is abysmally dumb, and getting dumber. Yet although "the masses are grossly ill-informed and irrational, and our politics driven by myths, the political system [has been] reconfigured in such a way as to give the masses more direct control than ever before".
If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what would. To make matters worse, only some thousands, out of millions of American voters, will read Mr. Shenkman's book. Only these few will read his diagnosis of what ails American politics or his prescription for a cure.
Only these few will read such gems as:
"Americans are vastly inferior in their knowledge of world geography compared with Europeans. (The old joke is that 'war is God's way of teaching Americans geography.')" or
"In 2003 the Strategic Task Force on Educatin Abroad investigated Americans' knowledge of world affairs. [They] concluded: 'America's ignorance of the outside world' is so great as to constitute a threat to national security."
Walt's Canadian followers needn't sit back and feel smug either. Similar studies in Canada -- English Canada at least -- have concluded that Canadians' knowledge of what's going on in the world, or right around home, is not much better.
Don't believe me? Show your neighbours an outline map of the world and ask them to locate Afghanistan. Or ask them who the head of state of Canada is. (Hint: It's not Call Me Steve Harper.) Ask them who they'd call if they wanted a pothole in their street fixed. (Hint: It's not the local M.P. or M.L.A.)
Just How Stupid Are We? provides concrete proposals for reforming our institutions -- government, the media, civic organizations and political parties -- to make them work better for the people. But first, Mr. Shenkman argues, the people must reform themselves!
Footnote: George Mason University's History News Network features Rick Shenkman's blog on its website. You can buy the paperback there, and read the latest stupid news and stupid comments.
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