This country has far too many stupid people in it for my taste.
What should we make of a country where millions of people would spend time watching a TV show called Lip Sync Battle? And enjoying it? Where millions of people start almost every sentence with the words “I mean…” Where the theme song of a major political party’s Presidential contender – who is close in the polls – is; “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”??? Where this same contender is currently being sued by over 5,000 people for fraud? A country that has taught the world that buying something for $9.99 is a way better bargain than buying it for $10.00?
As you may perhaps be able to tell – because I am so subtle about it – I am quite down on the smarts of the people of my country and studies back me up. In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released in 2013. Adults in Japan, Canada, Australia, Finland and multiple other countries scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test. Beyond basic reading and math, respondents were tested on activities such as calculating mileage reimbursement due to a salesman, sorting email and comparing food expiration dates on grocery store tags.
Researchers tested about 166,000 people ages 16 to 65 in more than 20 countries and subnational regions. The test was developed and released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of mostly industrialized member countries.
We are a woefully uneducated country. A country enamored with the word “virtually” – which many of us think means “for real” – but, in all actuality means “we are full of shit and this ain’t anything even approaching what we are saying it is, but you are way too stupid to realize this.” Furthermore, we are getting less educated every day – and it is the Republican party of this country that is the engine driving the slashing of funds for education. I submit that this Republican stoked dumbing down of our citizens is the only reason that someone like a Donald J. Trump, a supremely unqualified candidate, can be running neck in neck with Hillary Clinton, a highly qualified candidate, for the position of President of these United States. Have you heard the ugliness spewing out of the mouths of these ignorant cretins at Trump’s rallies?
And – yesterday, Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, was set on fire and the words vote Trump was painted on its walls. Undoubtedly the work of some of the Right-wing intelligentsia.
Moreover, what is most galling to me is that the intelligent people of this country, have to live with the results of elections skewed by these knuckle draggers – morons who elected a George W. Bush twice – and who think Donald Trump would make a fine President – but who lack basic reading and math skills and cannot read a food expiration date on a grocery store tag.
I am tired of having to live with the vote of these ignoramuses. We have a House of Representatives filled with Elks Club hail-fellow-well-met dummies such as Blake Farenthold and Ted Yoho – one could say about both of them, without too much fear of contradiction by anyone with an IQ above 90, that, since they are in Washington DC, somewhere there are two villages each missing a perfectly good idiot.
But, of course, not to worry – both of them were elected by idiots…weren’t they?
© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Recently discovered barkinginthedark and it’s my kind of place. Been looking through some of the past blogs and this one struck a nerve.
During this past holiday season, some of the reasons for Trump’s victory became painfully clear when I learned that the abysmally ignorant offspring of one of my nieces were, all of a sudden, politically active and supporting . . . guess who. A question posed to one of them, “What do you think about Trump’s views on nuclear proliferation?”, was met with a blank stare and a “Huh?”. I rest my case.
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it’s too friggin’ sad isn’t it? this is the natural evolution of the Republican war on education and Fox News. thanx, continue…
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thanx.
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We stumbled over here from a different website and thought I might as well check things out.
I like what I see so now i am following you.
Look forward to looking into your web page yet again.
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thanx for stumbling over and – I thank you for the “follow.” I shall endeavor to inform and amuse…and, above all, always try to be interesting. continue…
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I couldn’t agree with you more, Tony. It saddens and sickens me that people believe this buffoon, this monster, who has the intellectual and emotional age of a 2-year-old. I honestly don’t think my stomach could handle him winning, because the worry about it ahead of time is keeping me so physically squeamish already. And the bile and vitriol against Hillary is beyond belief. Just the mere existence of more copies of her emails is enough to bring Hillary-haters to a hotter fever pitch, whether there’s anything in them or not. I sometimes feel that Putin has pictures of Comey getting serviced by a 14-year-old boy or something, and therefore Comey is trying to singlehandedly skew the election. I have a great fear that he may win, and I would almost be ready to close up 99% of my brain and believe in religion long enough to pray that this will not happen. Keep preachin, dude.
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i will man…but i am so angry that we have come to this. as zappa said “who could imagine?” unreal…surreal. what a nation of morons we are. thanx, continue…
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It’s so sad…. our education system is going downhill real fast. Unless you have some $$, a good education is hard to find. Teachers are seriously underpaid. Other countries take care of their teachers. Give them the respect they deserve. Here, they are blamed for everything wrong with a student.
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so true Michelle…and they are blamed pro forma because it’s a Republican reflex to be anti-education. thanx sweetheart. continue…
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On the money as usual Tony. I am still quite cynical, very pessimistic at times, but I’ll say one positive side effect of the internets encroachment on all facets of our society is that it’s easy to find like minded folks to exchange ideas & thoughts with. Blogs, forums, podcasts, etc. help restore my faith that America isn’t full of mouthbreathers who believe it’s their Constitutional right to use the electric scooter at every Wal-Mart they go to. There are a shit load of us out there, IQ80+ folks who have self awareness and empathy, and hopefully we all stay engaged and especially show up to Vote next week to keep the “other” people out there, said knuckledraggers, from influencing the election or anything thing else they have the capacity to ruin…
Be cool…
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i am tryin’ man, i am tryin’…but – thanx for the uplifting comment Johnny. continue…
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Did you read the article in the NYTimes this morning about veterans voting for Trump? Heartbreaking! People who have served their country and been abandoned like so much trash on the side of the road once they return from the war broken and broke. Especially since September 11, 2001, they’ve felt, and been, neglected. While it’s true that it was a Republican administration that first put them in peril, they are unable to see that it’s the Republican dominated Congress of the subsequent Democratic administration that’s compounded and amplified their pain and suffering. Bottom line: they perceive that the top guy hasn’t done anything to help them so they’re going to vote for the opposite of what they’ve had.
An education deficit? Absolutely!
Inadequate education, however, does not make them stupid and it CAN be remedied.
All they know is that they’ve played by the rules and got screwed. They’re hurt. They’re angry. They’re lashing out.
We need to stop lashing out. All of us. We need to expand the concepts of polarization, of binary, into a spectrum. There is no “Us” and “Them”.There is only “We the people,” and we’re all in this mess together. We made it together. We need to clean it up together.
I’ve made a yuuuge effort to control my gag reflex in response to the sight and sound of the windbag running for president. After Nov 8, my family and I will still be living here. Our plan is to continue participating and contributing to the well-being of our neighborhood, our city, our …nah, our city. NYC.
😉 xoM
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Margarita, i can not control my gag reflex when i see his stupid face…yes, i said it – stupid. i did read the vets article…they are so sadly misinformed – and misdirected. i can not help lashing out at the situation we find ourselves in as a country vis-a-vis education and you are obviously a bigger person than me. the only way this will be fixed is the way that these fact-free red state people are dead set against letting happen. while i am cosmically unbothered i am earth-bound and pissed off. i thank you for your intelligent, enlightened comment. continue…
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Lip Sync Battle? Really? lol! I didn’t know such a show existed, lol! (I just read your post to my sweet husband and remembered I forgot to comment on this hilarity before!)
On the earth plane is the only place to take action and effect change Tony. We’ve yet to master the art of harnessing unique individual expression to common goals in a unifying fashion. We’re still a work in progress…or non-progress, depending on your perception, lol! 😉 xoM
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non-progress i’d say…owing to the Republican Party…and I’d wager that 3/4 of Trumpistas wouldn’t even understand your comment. thanx Margarita. continue…
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Reblogged this on A Pondering Mind and commented:
I agree with what he says…
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thanx Don. continue…
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I dread about Nov 8th, has I have the thought of Herr Drumf winning the election. I hope I’m wrong…
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me too. and even when/if she’s elected the vitriol and hatred he’s unleashed will make it a nightmarish situation. unbelievable. thanx man. continue…
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Another thought came to mind, I wonder how many of Trump’s rabid base of assholes, actually vote and/or what it means to vote…
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Yeah…let’s hope they are too stupid to find the polling place. thanx Don. continue…
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Could not agree more. Americans, in general, are not only stupid, they’re defiantly PROUD of it. “I’m an American, and I get to be a dumb-ass son of a bitch because….well….because AMERICA!!!! And because…GOD!!! And because…..FREEDOM!!!” Idiots. Total, lazy, moronic idiots. $Amen$
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it’s really sad. thanx, continue…
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thank you Marcus for the important work of pulling back the curtain on would-be totalitarianism. continue…
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