The other day I was reading an article in the newspaper. (Yes, I’m one of the dwindling number that still do that.) The subject was Republicans in Congress and their continuing fight against the Obama administration’s ruling that religion-affiliated employers must cover women’s contraceptives in the health plans they offer. A CNN poll released last Thursday found that half of all Americans aware of the ruling said they oppose it, while 44% support it.
But here’s what really shocked me. Nearly 40% of those polled said they had not heard about the dispute. Apparently they were too busy watching “Jersey Shore,” and missed any mention of the controversy, which had only been covered by every newspaper, magazine, radio news broadcast, network and cable news outlet, comedy news show, church bulletin, facebook page, gossiping housewife, skywriter, and crazy homeless guy with a bullhorn, almost constantly for the last two weeks. How ignorant and/or out of touch do you have to be to miss a news story that big?
I get really angry when so many people say that “it doesn’t matter who gets elected, because they’re all the same.” Well, guess what, folks—one political party, the Republicans, wants to restrict your access to birth control, and the other, the Democrats, wants you to have easy access to contraceptives and other women’s health care. I’d say that’s a pretty big difference.
If you snooze, you lose. That has never been more true than in today’s politics, with so many Republican candidates fighting to see who can be the most right-wing, and actively working to roll back progressive ideas that most people have taken for granted for years. It is vital that all voters pay attention to what our lawmakers are doing, and make their opinions known so that elected officials who stray way out of the mainstream will fear for their re-election chances. You can’t just leave democracy in the hands of the die-hard believers in the extreme wings of both parties.
The thing that really bothers me is how easy it is for politicians to manipulate their uninformed constituents into supporting measures that are against their own interest. 98% of Catholics use birth control, yet many have bought in to the bogus notion that the government is intent on taking away their religious freedom. Millions of blue-collar workers were hurt by the housing collapse, yet they still support the Republican Party that wants to ease regulations on Wall Street and the big banks. Many people support Tea Party candidates that espouse rigid small government ideas, all while happily cashing their Social Security checks and relying on Medicare for their health care.
You’ve all seen those Jay Leno segments where he interviews random people on the street and asks them questions about common things you would think everyone should know, such as, “Who is the Vice-President?” That question seems to be too hard for most people. However, they do know the names of all the characters on “Two and a Half Men,” what Lady Gaga wore to the Grammys, and what Beyonce named her baby.
So I don’t know what we have to do to get folks to pay attention to important issues that greatly affect their lives. Maybe Jersey Shore could do an episode where “The Situation” gets “Snooki” pregnant because she couldn’t afford her birth control pills…
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Funny, the greatly bandied internet explosion seems to have done nought in the fight against ignorance
Kind of like the bizarro version of the "grass is always greener" idea...
...actually, now that I think of it, it's not that funny.
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Oops, yes it was.
You might be on to something with having Jersey Shore do a PSA. One hopes, though, that we wouldn't have to teach the characters how to pronounce words like Ahmadinejad.
Did you hear about the people that think government programs such as Welfare and Food Stamps are bad, but don't realize that Social Security and Medicare are government programs. I heard that this morning.
I guess I lost out somewhere by not being edumcated here in a Florida skool!
And mr. hopey changey is different how?
And while this is all true, I'm not really sure it's all new. The classist war waged against forethought and intelligent analysis of issues, as opposed to the fodder to be developed by appealing to the ignorant masses has manipulated the American political scene from it's onset. There's no dearth of evidence to be had in campaigns going right back to the begging. It's human nature that can be exploited and it let's face it - it works. Without some (gasp) test of the ability to entertain critical thought and (double gasp) even admit, that (as I said in http://open.salon.com/blog/samasiam/2011/09/13/mama_why_does_that_man_have_a_stick_in_his_hand):
“the mark of true intelligence and critical thought, is the ability to understand that beliefs are not facts and that facts, unlike our emotions and beliefs, are not instantaneously gratifying and are always subject to being modified by additional information. But the life and the society which strives to base it’s values, policies and objectives on facts, is the only hope mankind has.”
I'm not taking bets.
What so many can't deal with is the Left has to deal with our economic system and its flaws and corruptions- AS IF THEY COULD JUST SNAP FINGERS AND MAGICALLY REPLACE IT!!!
It is not funny, but, I agree with them, and others who think that way, on so many other issues, just can't walk around with wool covered eyes and blinders on the sides ... think about it: you want the Prez to save us, then complain he didn't do it the way you think is moral despite 10,000 years of human history that built up to it.
Fascinating, as Sen. McQuack is fond of saying.
How appropriate that Roberto's comment was the first. I was struck by the Catholic Priest in Rome interviewed by Senor Mayer who laughed like a hyena while pointing out Jesus was the #6 prayed to "Saint" in Italy- didn't even make the starting 5!
So, if Italians, after 2000 years, don't know Jack$@ about their own theocracy it is hardly surprising the hoi polloi americano are even STUPIDER after only 200.
Auwe (Alas)
I'd rate more than once, if only I was a hacker. ; )
Sadly, no. I haven't. In fact, I don't watch ANY broadcast TV of any kind. I just can't afford satellite and cable's non existant out where I live. Sure, I could put up that huge dang antenna a friend gave my wife eight years ago, but why? What can I get off broad cast TV thast I can't get better from papers, internet news and the radio? Answer: Not a Thing.
That said, even I know about the debate, have been signing petitions on all manner of issues with the War on America by the Republican Far Right, which is Nearly Wrong All the Time.
I have lived on the West Coast (California and Washington,) in Hawaii, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. No matter where you go, it's not hard to spot the Beavis and Buttheads of our society. If you don't see those two nitwits, you can find plenty of Homer Simpsons and that stupid ass Family Guy douchebag, which I cannot stand to watch for more than the time it takes to switch or walk out at any friend's house where I might accidentally discover it.
Look at our shows of the day (I do watch some series on Netflix with my ROKU -- I love my ROKU) and watch which ones win and which ones lose. The vast majority of the "winners" cater to the lowest form of intellectual stimulation: Sex, sexual innuendo, cheating, lying, backstabbing low moral fiber, mixed generously with cold blooded greedy bastards, political misconduct, explosions, gunfire and an extremely unhealthy dollop of perversely self satisfied bigotry disguised as being patriotic.
I think U2 said it best,
"When fact is fiction
And TV reality"
From Sunday, Bloody Sunday.
I have been 'blessed' to sit amongst relatives who actually believed all that Wrasslin' on Saturday, Tuesday and Friday was ALL REAL.
As a nation, we have some of the smartest and most caring people you can look to find. As a people, we are inventive, ingeniously creative and we even tend to be something of a workaholic society. But our entertainment caters not to this demographic. Instead it seeks to "level the mental playing field" by shoving insipid, petty and low brow, as well as a low ethical bar shows.
If you watch enough TV you'll believe:
New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Detroit are so crime ridden that going there is probably a bad idea.
That cars explode when shot, unless the good guys are hiding behind it, or when they hit another car, flip over, go off a cliff or if you shoot the gas tank.
You gotta realize (I hope anyway) that TV is like that slogan of Geobbels: If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, the people will come to believe it's true. If we are inundated with enough stereotypcial crap, pandered at the lowest levels, we, as a nation of people (and by extension, any people of other nations who are unlucky enough to recieve large blocks of our programming) are a bunch of gun happy ignoramus' bent on stealing to succeed, willing to kill for lust, and lie, cheat and steal for nothing more than a few more dollars and a nice car.
Then again, when dealing with our political base, I am pretty sure people of other nations come away with the same overall impression.
Sorry for the rant. I just wish I hadn't met so many Americans in my travels across the country who are not only willfully ignorant, but damn proud of it.
They don't represent all of us, but holy cow, I think the stupid people might be the majority and I think the majority might be winning right about now.
--r--
@kenny1948 that is hysterical and frankly in today's world all you have to do is speak it to be true, because you will rarely find real opposition.
@Markinjapan I'm as upset as you with where this administration decided to fall down and find it extremely difficult to continue to hold my nose and vote. I'm especially angry because when President Obama signed NDAA and said he planned to never use it, my response was then why sign it? What I figured was that it is a form of emotional blackmail that he is using against those who once supported him. And the thing is we know that the seriously deranged group running on the Right would have no compunction about rounding us up. I unfortunately think so would Obama if he felt the need.
Who on earth is Snooki?
I find it amazing that people can look at the same information I see and come up with a different logical conclusion or point of view. "Theyyyyyyyyy must be stupid, ignorant and ill-informed."
My father always said "opinions are like assholes, everybody has one." And anyone with an opinion different from mine is a huge asshole.
Like you, I have been frustrated by these same debates for decades. While I try to respect those who hold the "anti-choice" position (I will never dignify it by calling it "pro-life") I cannot understand the notion that that point of view would impose a set of limitations on people while the "pro-choice" point of view does not. It has never made sense to me.
Any mention of international affairs, history, literature, or recent scientific discoveries seems to be viewed as liberal conversation; something the "elite" would talk about.
Redefining informed and intellectual people as the elite, rather than the top 1% of the wealthy has been very cleverly carried out by the minions of the top 1%. R
But it was All-Disco Week on 'Dancing with the Stars'!!!!!! :D
I take issue with "I'm all in for Team Dem."
There's full out waking up to awareness and conscience and then there's cherry-picking a few really strong and powerful issues that are worth fighting for, yes indeedy, and that the Dem Party is giving some lip service to (to earn the white hat from its more myopic followers) especially during an ELECTION year as well as the full out propagandized Dem tv (some alternative), but then there is obligingly wearing those blinders as the constitution gets shredded, the bankster fraudsters keep stealing with impunity from the pimped out pols going all the way to the top, and the media manufactures consent (bobble-headed assent from the "vast majority" of both parties) to keep on committing genocide and, hell, as long as we don't have to fight and murder and die, and really seriously think about droning, and corporate profiteering.
It's all just a remote game our celebrity amoral pol gamesters are playing with human lives and might makes right, winner takes all, gamesmanship earns its power, who cares about justice, humanity, the constitution, and international law.
Just focus hard on the amiability of Obama's smile and the hipster MSNBC team reassuring you that you have the moral high ground. Well, the lesser evil high ground, which replaced the moral high ground long ago.
I give you no argument re the derangement of the Republican leadership and the scary, scary, scary people and numbers of them who are empathyless in the name of God.
But what scares me even more in fact are those "pragmatic" lesser evilists who can't fight full out for real democracy. They are contributing to the deadweight of what is wrong with America. All the while attacking the messengers on the left, if they bother to even acknowledge them, of the reality of the depth of our national dysfunction. WTF????? Yeah, pick a worthy battle and ignore the siren of cognitive dissonance going off in your skull about the rest of the crap going down!!!! And be suspect to what you are supporting since it is an election year and the season of mendacity.
Lucy and the football election season once again. Five stages of grief exiting still WILLFULLY not happening as the "bargaining state" as we go toward a second term of citizen legacy party ABUSE. Doesn't matter which party is in power, we are all screwed by the criminal elite. Talk about lesser evilism to the masses of innocent people being droned into red mist that things could be so much worse under a non-Obama! Tell it to kids in this country who are starving, whose parents are dying from lack of health care, to the people who have lost their homes and jobs, who are saddled with debt, young and old, until they get to escape it by dying. To those who can't begin to get into school, into a job whether satisfying or not, just to survive. To those rotting in prison because the justice in this country has a huge, white, pro-corporate crony thumb on the scales of justice and our prison system is a form of racist domestic genocide, the prison system now being even more privatized for rat bastard takers.
I wish I were being hyperbolic. Yeah good on you for women's rights support. But don't let it be the Trojan horse "bargaining" chip used by a lying legacy Dem party once again to re-seduce undeserved support from a more aware than the righties but not aware enough by a long shot segment of America.
But it's more than that, a lot of people are lazy and would rather parrot political talking points than actually think about an issue.
Keep up the good work ! I hear Mother Jones needs more dope addled writers for their rag. This kind of sophomoric clap trap is what they are looking for...
1.) This is nothing new. In 1960 I conducted an opinion poll among hundreds of voters in a large American city, during the Kennedy-Nixon election campaign. I won't go into the details, but basically nobody knew anything about anything.
2.) Your statement that the Republicans want to "restrict your access to birth control" is simply not true. It is a twisted way of viewing the debate that is going on. No Republican, not even Santorum -- whatever his private feelings on the matter -- intends to do that.
3.) Your statement that 98% of Catholics use birth control makes me wonder how the Catholic demographics got so skewed. The Catholics must be an uncommonly young group, because apparently they have virtually no women who have reached menopause.