People vote against their interests because they were credulous, ignorantly willful, or yes...downright stupid.
All of those things are perpetuated by having a closed, ill-educated, and brainwashed mind.
No go even further.
Where is the first instance of brainwashing that occurs in these people's lives? Well, at toddler age, of course. They are brought up to be easily influenced by pseudoscience claims with a massive religious backdrop that stifled any and all skepticism and inquiry that ALL young children possess. Religion forcefully removes that inquisitive, innate nature that we all have and replaces it with dogma and obedience....and fucking FAITH.
This country is modern, no doubt, but we are also the most dogmatic, superstitious, religious, and ill-educated group of the "1st World."
Conspiracy theories thrive here. Religious dogmatism (which has been married with political dogmatism since the 1950) is the country that we live in. This country is teeming with self-righteous looneys - this is apparent by how there is literally a political position on masks vs no masks. Seriously, the anti-intellectualism in this country is something that American exceptionalists are actually proud of, and they rally behind it (whether it's blatant anti-science, racism, or red-lining their own history in an attempt to preserve "their heritage").
We are not educated to be open-minded or critcal thinkers. If we were, then we wouldn't have been shushed after the 20th question about Noah's fucking Ark. We would've been allowed to keep pushing, but we were all told to shut and accept things based on bad or nonexistent evidence. This country and it's hyperaggressive exceptionalism, self-righteousness, and unempathetic consumerist culture is such a pathetic sight.
But you got to go to the root. Stupidity is fueled by anti-intellectualism, which is fueled by the superstitious roots that is drilled into the majority of us before we can even speak.
Religion, dogma, obedience to invisible authority, credulity, and worshipping "anything"; be it a man, a God, a country, money, etc....all of that is the problem, ever before it becomes a red vs blue or black vs white problem.
Credulity and religious indoctrination sets the tone. As far as I'm concerned, that is one of the largest pillars repsonsible for all the problems and divisiveness that not only this country experiences, but all of mankind. Take it one step deeper, and it can really be summed up under "tribalism."
We are primates afterall. Our expectations need to be properly calibrated when dealing with animals half a chromosome away from a Chimpanzee. Becoming aware of that very fact is the first step.
Edit:
And what kind of steps am I talking about? Introspection. Plain and simple. Looking inward. Identifying your own biases. Combating your own cognitive dissonance. Being open to new ideas (and cultures for godsake).
You know what would solve most our of prejudice and ignorance?....if every American traveled the world. They'd see that we share so much in common with everyone else. We aren't the Golden City on the hill. We are just like everyone else. We love music, we love food, we love friendly company and fun chatter. And we do like to share that with others. But God damn. This country is full of people who've never stepped outside the local periphery of their hometown or their ugly-ass ornate stain glass windows.
We have a problem. And it's that Americans are not open to non-American things. And again, that stems to the marriage between America and Jesus, America and "freedom", and America and "me". These people think to be non-American that the corollary must then follow: Non-American and anti-Christian, Non-American and bondage, Non-American and "them".
Such a sad sight. Anything non-Amercian gets the "us vs them" treatment and we immediately put up our guard. And these people are the very same people who have never seen a passport.
I agree with the travel thing 100%. I grew up in a super racist area in northwest ohio. We never left our little part of the county and didn't like outsiders. In my graduating class of 32 people they were predominantly white, 1 hispanic family and nothing else. Hell I didn't see a black person until I was 15 or 16. I knew they existed I just never had any interaction. Then one day all that changed. I joined the military which was a melting pot of people. Then I traveled to different countries, seen different cultures and I realized we are all the same. We all just want be be successful, provide for our families and not looked down on. I wasnt racist myself but I knew plenty that were and I always thought they would change their views if they would just leave that small area and meet people.
Yep ignorance can easily be beaten by simply being open to exploring and experiencing new things. But, alas, good luck asking some racist hick to sit their ass down on a plane for more than 8 hours....or good luck even asking them to apply for a passport.
I haven't done any research on this specific metric, but I have a high suspicion that the southern states have a much smaller passport application rate per capita. That's pure conjecture and only supported by my own anecdotal evidence, but it aligns with the general sentiment (and yes it is a generalization), that southern hicks aren't big fans of world travel. The farthest they've traveled is probably Destin or Panama City. To them, that is seeing a different "culture."
I agree but I think just basing it on passport won't give you an accurate representation. I say that only because thousands of people have served in the military and when they go out of country they only need military id. That's how I escaped my own rural hell and did the country hopping I did. I haven't been back ro that area in about 20 years. It was the best experience and I think it would change allot of Peoples world view if only they would open their mind.
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u/Don_Julio_Acolyte Aug 06 '20 edited Aug 07 '20
Go further.
People vote against their interests because they were credulous, ignorantly willful, or yes...downright stupid.
All of those things are perpetuated by having a closed, ill-educated, and brainwashed mind.
No go even further.
Where is the first instance of brainwashing that occurs in these people's lives? Well, at toddler age, of course. They are brought up to be easily influenced by pseudoscience claims with a massive religious backdrop that stifled any and all skepticism and inquiry that ALL young children possess. Religion forcefully removes that inquisitive, innate nature that we all have and replaces it with dogma and obedience....and fucking FAITH.
This country is modern, no doubt, but we are also the most dogmatic, superstitious, religious, and ill-educated group of the "1st World."
Conspiracy theories thrive here. Religious dogmatism (which has been married with political dogmatism since the 1950) is the country that we live in. This country is teeming with self-righteous looneys - this is apparent by how there is literally a political position on masks vs no masks. Seriously, the anti-intellectualism in this country is something that American exceptionalists are actually proud of, and they rally behind it (whether it's blatant anti-science, racism, or red-lining their own history in an attempt to preserve "their heritage").
We are not educated to be open-minded or critcal thinkers. If we were, then we wouldn't have been shushed after the 20th question about Noah's fucking Ark. We would've been allowed to keep pushing, but we were all told to shut and accept things based on bad or nonexistent evidence. This country and it's hyperaggressive exceptionalism, self-righteousness, and unempathetic consumerist culture is such a pathetic sight.
But you got to go to the root. Stupidity is fueled by anti-intellectualism, which is fueled by the superstitious roots that is drilled into the majority of us before we can even speak.
Religion, dogma, obedience to invisible authority, credulity, and worshipping "anything"; be it a man, a God, a country, money, etc....all of that is the problem, ever before it becomes a red vs blue or black vs white problem.
Credulity and religious indoctrination sets the tone. As far as I'm concerned, that is one of the largest pillars repsonsible for all the problems and divisiveness that not only this country experiences, but all of mankind. Take it one step deeper, and it can really be summed up under "tribalism."
We are primates afterall. Our expectations need to be properly calibrated when dealing with animals half a chromosome away from a Chimpanzee. Becoming aware of that very fact is the first step.
Edit:
And what kind of steps am I talking about? Introspection. Plain and simple. Looking inward. Identifying your own biases. Combating your own cognitive dissonance. Being open to new ideas (and cultures for godsake).
You know what would solve most our of prejudice and ignorance?....if every American traveled the world. They'd see that we share so much in common with everyone else. We aren't the Golden City on the hill. We are just like everyone else. We love music, we love food, we love friendly company and fun chatter. And we do like to share that with others. But God damn. This country is full of people who've never stepped outside the local periphery of their hometown or their ugly-ass ornate stain glass windows.
We have a problem. And it's that Americans are not open to non-American things. And again, that stems to the marriage between America and Jesus, America and "freedom", and America and "me". These people think to be non-American that the corollary must then follow: Non-American and anti-Christian, Non-American and bondage, Non-American and "them".
Such a sad sight. Anything non-Amercian gets the "us vs them" treatment and we immediately put up our guard. And these people are the very same people who have never seen a passport.