Keeping the younger generation dumb and happy—it’s working!
Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It’s a winning combination, along with ignorance, and it may keep the liberals and left in power through thick and thin, despite a few temporary setbacks (2014, anyone?).
It used to be that ignorant young people didn’t much care about voting, so that acted as a sort of natural bar to them exerting too great an influence on elections. But Obama was able to muster a campaign of getting out the vote that was wildly successful in getting enough of them to the polls in 2008 and 2012 to tip the balance in his favor.
In 2008, this was done mostly through projecting himself as an inspirational and transformational persona. In 2012 the mechanism was more fear of the Other, the dread Republican/conservative bent on taking away the sex, drugs, and rock and roll, as well as the financial governmental largesse (as opposed to prosperity) that might accrue from the left remaining in power.
The success of all of these efforts relies in large part on keeping the young voters dumb as well as happy with their pleasures. The “dumb” part apparently isn’t all that hard to do if you take over the educational and entertainment systems, weaken the family and other institutions that used to teach values, and control the press.
Here’s some strong evidence that the efforts to do this have been hugely successful. Read it and weep:
Last week, MRCTV’s Dan Joseph went to American University to give the student body a little general knowledge quiz.
When asked if they could name a SINGLE U.S. senator, the students blanked. Also, very few knew that each state has two senators. The guesses were all over the map, with some crediting each state with twelve, thirteen, and five senators.
The students passed the pop culture part of the exam with flying colors, as one might expect. This wasn’t a scientific survey, of course, and there were a few who knew the answers, but how many senators each state has is the sort of thing that not a single college student should be missing. However, as one of the interviewees said, “I’m not big into the ‘America’ thing.”
The question about how many senators is so elementary that students should be learning it—and much more about our government—in grade school. If college students at a relatively reputable university (called, ironically, “American”) don’t know the answer, they certainly can be assumed to be ignorant as well of most of the Founders’ brilliant designs for our government and its checks and balances on tyranny.
One of the foundations of liberty is an informed electorate, and if that is lacking, tyranny will almost undoubtedly emerge. No accident, either.
[ADDENDUM: Jeff Goldstein seems to be a half-full guy, because he sees this student ignorance as opportunity “for a[n] engaged and motivated liberty movement to take root where right now sits only bindweed and the loosest of intellect mulch.”]
My son did learn this in grade school, along with how many representatives to Congress each State has and how many electoral votes. I’m sure the curriculum varies by state, and it would be interesting to see what those kids did learn in Social Studies / Government class.
Never trust anyone under thirty.
All too true.
When our great grandparents lived is such destructive cultures, there was a refuge they could flee to. Where do we go?
There are fellow conservatives who talk about regaining the Presidency and the political upper hand…I just laugh at them.
There’s your argument — Restrict the franchise!
I remember when the public schools in North Carolina jettisoned the teaching of Civics: it used to be a course Everyone took, but by the time I was in the 9th grade, it was gone. (That was in 1969.)
So much of this decay is a sort of political and cultural entropy: how do we roll it back?
People may not know this but several cults on the international scene have historically used sexual orgies to re-program the loyalties of their members.
This is not taught in public school… for a very good reason.
My boys are in college. One of their history teachers bragged about being an illegal immigrant from Mexico until he was a youmg adult.
Professor Juan taught American history before the civil war – most of the class time was spent on American history from Mexico’s perspective, and the rest on socialist issues and contemporary essays and novels written by people who live in America as migrant workers, unskilled, poor, and generally outside American society as we know it.
They never were assigned anything from the actual history book, and only wrote essays (for tests) that pertained to the hard luck, down with corporate america screeds they were forced to read.
When my son wrote a different perspective and researched it with articles, books, etc, he was told “get off your soap box” and give an F for the assignment. He was also verbally reprimanded for taking a different view of “history before the civil war”
Kids today are being indoctrinated and intimidated and bullied by these weasels. Yes, they’re still dummies, but you can see why they’re “not into the America thing”
2012 was more of a referendum election than is acknowledged. Enough of the people who wanted to vote for the first black president in 2008 didn’t want to see the first black president be fired from the job in 2012.
And while I think it will be a long time before a perfect storm candidate like him comes along again, you are completely right on the dismaying ignorance of the electorate. What is scariest to me is this is just starting to get cranked up. Common Core is going to do for math what the public schools did for reading. In other words, if you think people are uneducated now – just wait. And good luck trying to even reach these people in the first place. Look at the trouble Obama is having informing people enough to sign up for
Obamacare.
We will never change the media or gain control of enough of it. I’d like to think the libertarian movement will catch but I think it’s too little, too late. People care more about free stuff than they care about liberty.
southpaw: have you thought about a different college?
Matthew M: I would suggest a small town far away from any major urban area. In Idaho, Montana, or eastern Oregon and eastern Washington.
One of the libs in my family always accuses me of wanting to disenfranchise people. I tell him he’s G**D*** right. Having these kinds of people have any say over my life makes me want to vomit.
KLSmith: unfortunately, there are very few “other colleges”. Randomly pick any higher ed inquisition, download their catalog and look through the English, History, Sociology, and Education courses. Also take a look at the faculty profiles. The Marxists have taken over those areas almost completely.
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Abraham Lincoln
“Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” Vladimir Lenin
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president”. Vé¡clav Klaus (former Premier of the Czech Republic)
These corrupted centers of higher (ahem) education still want our money. You want to give, to “give back”? Give to Hillsdale or to Grove City College or to Bob Jones University.
physicsguy: quite true unfortunately. 99% of them probably.
If my kids were that age again, I’d look at Hillsdale, Grove City, or a few others. Read a book long ago that said it’s more important/beneficial to pay for a good early elementary school education than it is to pay for college. The first few years being when they learn to read and form their attitude toward school. Their foundation for all the years that follow. Thank goodness for the home school movement.
I wish the interviewer had asked a follow-up question: Did you vote in the last election?
On second thought, I don’t think I want to know how they would have answered that question.
I suspect this is also why there’s a push to legalize pot while tobacco is still so demonized. It’s not about health, it’s about pot keeping the younger populace subdued. And pot use by kids has been shown to effect their brain development.
I have come to the conclusion that the Democrats are playing to both Low Information Voters and Low Intelligence Voters. They are trying to monopolize those demographics.
Remember, half of all voters are on the left side of the IQ bell curve. The Dems already have the intelligentsia and chattering classes (academics, media, entertainment industry) in their back pockets. If they can get a lock on the idiot vote, they will have a solid majority. Those of us on the right side of the bell curve who are neither intellectuals nor blithering imbeciles will be hopelessly outnumbered.
The educational system cannot raise low IQ students above a certain level of achievement. They simply don’t have the capability for complex thinking. But the educational system can handicap those of above-average intelligence, by drugging them, stifling their curiosity, punishing independent thinkers, etc. It can level the playing field only by pushing the top down.
Both people with low IQs and people who are ignorant of history, economics, and math are susceptible to being manipulated by emotional appeals to fear, envy, and resentment. How can we argue with logic and reason when they have never been taught logic and reason, when they can only feel, but not think?
When seen in that light, the most outrageous statements by Democrat leaders make perfect sense. Whether it is fear-mongering about global warming or accusations of racism towards supporters of voter ID, keep in mind that they are not trying to persuade us. Their target audience is the stupid and ignorant.
The more I think about this, the more sense it makes. How can we counter it?
Neo: “Obama was able to muster a campaign”
Obama didn’t muster a campaign.
The 2008 and 2012 campaigns were a subset and project of the Left’s grander first, non-stop, and always activist movement.
This distinction matters because mistakenly defining Obama as the creative source when the creative source is actually the Left’s activist movement will lead to a dead-end prescription by the Right, ie, a quixotic search for a messianic savior GOP candidate who’s on par with the holographic myth of Obama – when the solution needs to be a competitive activist movement by the people of the Right. Neither the GOP nor any GOP pol can save America from the Left. Only the people of the Right can do that.
The GOP needs to be saved by the people; they’re not in position to do the saving.
KLSmith: “I think it will be a long time before a perfect storm candidate like him comes along again”
Will the Left activist movement generate another avatar like Obama in 2016? Maybe. Maybe not. They may not win the White House in 2016. If not, that would only be road bump in their long game unless the Right goes activist, because the Left’s progressive social march will continue apace as long as it’s not seriously countered by a competitive Right activist movement.
rickl: “How can we counter it?”
Marxist-method activism.
Eric:
Actually, “muster” isn’t a bad word for it:
It gives the idea of a number of troops at the ready, which are assembled for a purpose—rather than some creative and solitary activity. The left is indeed composed of a bunch of troops in a sense, who were mustered for this campaign. Obama was calling on forces that were already part of a movement, and they were in turn calling on him.
I’m not implying he was totally in charge or some sort of mastermind. But he was the ceremonial leader of sorts.
Neo,
That’s better, but I dispute even the distinction of “Obama calling on forces”, in the way of prior Democrats like Kerry in 2004, and “they were in turn calling on him”.
There wasn’t that much separation.
Whatever separation there was between the Dems and the Left, the Dems left it behind after Kerry lost to Bush in 2004. The Dems gave themselves fully to the Left after that, and the Left has honored their end of the devil’s bargain.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton still had one foot with the old ‘establishment’ Dems. Obama was fully an avatar of the Left.
When Obama was chosen over Hillary, that was conclusive. At that point, it wasn’t Obama the ‘establishment’ Dem calling on the Left. It was the avatar of the Left calling on it/them-self.
Add: My view on this was influenced from watching the evolving Dems slide to the dark side while volunteering for Clark before the 2004 election and then for Lieberman’s reelection campaign vs Lamont in 2006.
Add 2: The Dems are winning now due to their joining the Left, not from the Left joining the Dems.
Their source of power is the Left activist movement, not the Dems party.
The GOP and Tea Party got it wrong by Tea Party candidates joining the GOP while turning away from their promising activist movement, which was the part that the Right actually needed.
Electing Tea Party candidates to Congress was only secondary to the activist movement, but they mistook elected office for primary.
Whatever the power of the Left, Obama won because enough stupid apolitical white people voted for him. They were voting against Bush, they were voting for the first black president, they were voting for the cool guy. Most of them still don’t know what they really voted for. They (and their children) are going to find out the hard way.
southpaw: my prof friend suggests, that when possible, look at a professor’s web site before signing up for one of their classes. Speak to the department chair about appealing a grade given unfairly. All of us parents should practice propaganda prevention.
Lizzy: I think you’re right. Plus it’s a vote getter.
KLSmith,
That’s democracy for you.
Your specification of white people is on target because I’m not convinced the voting situation was better before the voting franchise was expanded. (Although ‘white people’ would include latter-day voting women.)
It’s not a fatalistic, helpless situation. It’s a competitive situation. It’s not the Left’s fault that the Right has opted not to compete seriously in the Marxist-method activist game, which is the only social-political game there is.
“Enough stupid apolitical white people” were merely spun one way by Left activists. By the same method, they can be spun another way by Right activists – well, theoretically at this point, because the Right doesn’t have a competitive activist movement to spin anyone.
Eric Says:
March 25th, 2014 at 8:11 pm
That works for class warfare, race warfare, and gender warfare. It works for dumb people by telling them, “You were oppressed by those people over there, and we’re going to take money from them and give it to you”.
But how do you use “Marxist-method activism” in the service of individual liberty, private property, and free-market capitalism?
In a truly free society, low IQ people will necessarily be at the bottom of the economic ladder. They’re only good for menial labor. There won’t be affirmative action to give them unearned and undeserved privileges.
How do you get them to support that?
rickl: you don’t. Which is why I think Eric is wrong. Look at some of the video from today’s protests in front of the Supreme Court. Dignified religious folks giving their speeches and the activists with their enthusiastic rap songs about their right to have you pay for their birth control. When you can round up a lot of people that permanently have the day off anyway and offer them a free lunch or a few bucks for showing up, you will always be able to rally some kind of crowd for anything. This is why it was so important for the media to try to kill the Tea Party in it’s infancy. A real media would have asked why are middle class, middle aged people protesting for the first time in their lives. Label them racists and be done with it. Can’t have normal people talking about liberty and free markets.
Eric: I am happy for anyone that can stay optimistic. I disagree completely with you, however, on whether the Right can out organize the Left. The libertarians and social conservatives have too many areas of disagreement to be able to effectively unite. Even when their country is at stake. My country died on Nov 4, 2008. It remains as a geographical entity and a dream of what may yet arise from the ashes one day. The inmates are running the asylum and too many people don’t know or don’t care.
Plato: The 2 most important things about any society is who teaches the children and what they teach them.
The battle was lost decades ago. All we can do is tough love and remind the stupid little snots that they are truly stupid. Hopefully that will shut them up.
But they are not worth worrying about since they are completely lost.
The next generation is the only hope.
One could argue that people should have to pass a literacy test before they could vote, but that would be considered racist. The only hope America has is that these idiots will sleep through the 2016 election.
rickl,
Products don’t sell themselves.
A salesman can use the same method to sell different products to different clients.
People routinely buy a lot of stuff beyond common sense.
People is people. Psychology is psychology. Sociology is sociology. Activism is sociology (plus psychology) weaponized.
It’s just a method. Just because you you’ve only seen it applied to a particular product doesn’t mean the method only works for that product.
Of course it’s a competitive market. The Right can try their best and simply be beat because the Left is Darwinian superior. But we don’t know how strong the Left actually is, and that doesn’t matter as long as the Right chooses to be weaker.
KLSmith: “The libertarians and social conservatives have too many areas of disagreement to be able to effectively unite.”
If that’s true, then that’s their choice. In that case, don’t blame the Left and don’t blame the people.
The end game must be insolvency.
It’s what did in the classic Chinese and Roman empires.
Bankruptcy worked even without having any peer competition. (!)
Instead, the issue was resolved by a full scale internal blood-letting.
It’s the only end game in recorded history — and seems to apply even for unrecorded history.
As the 14th Century proved, the population can crash 50% and more, and then re-boot.
Eric: Well, I don’t think there is any “if” about it. Look what happened to Mitch Daniels when he proposed we put social issues on the back burner in order to defeat Obama. Although I respect and understand the socon’s beliefs, I think they have stood on principle to win a battle and ended up losing the war.
And thank-you very much, but I will continue to blame the Left for destroying my country.
It’s rude to say it, so I will: humanity has achieved most of its astounding intelligence over the rest of the biota the hard way.
Every so often, bad luck causes immense suffering, and — on balance — those with lower IQs have taken a beating.
This episodic Darwinian ‘cut’ in the population-talent distribution has obviously been much more severe in the northern latitudes.
In which case, modern IQ distributions largely reflect massive social trauma.
The more bad luck a population/ tribe can survive the smarter it gets.
&&&
A piece of this selection pressure is exampled in the latest TV craze: “Naked and Afraid.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3007640/
This is an un-reality TV drama that drops modern Americans into the bush/ jungle/ tropics/ savannah the way God made them: one man, one woman — each with but one boon — and utterly new to each other. (At least they speak English!)
For obvious reasons, only the most fit and fanatical are camera-ready.
Even so, their trials are so mentally tasking that even above average IQs are a slim defense against such ecologies. It’s all they can do to stay out of the food chain. It’s not uncommon for the players to have but one or two meals in 21 days — and to lose astounding amounts of body weight — and they were not obese.
&&&
When minstrel Barry’s pipe turns reedy the world’s largest conurbations will take the big plummet.
Keep this in mind: Stalin and Tojo thought that launching hot war was a smart play. Their philisophical avatars still stride this Earth.
(Until Stalin said “Yes”, Adolf was totally frustrated, unable to launch WWII. Paris and London were locking out crude oil, tin, tungsten and rubber via their trading empires. Texas crude had to be paid for with real money. From November 1939 through to November 1941, Nazi Germany was lubed by Soviet oil. It was this surge in ‘free’ oil that made it even possible for the Luftwaffe to fly so many missions against France and Britain, to produce so many tons of explosives.
Just as in the modern day, London and Paris were trying to prevail by using their economic power — trade sanctions. It’s not a post-war idea.)
%%%
Continued American fracking may cause total panic in Washington and Moscow.
1) The domestic economy may revive. Barry is counting on crushing it.
2) Continued American crude production — it’s all happening in the sweet-light sector — is a dire threat to Saudi and Russian market shares.
American frackers have already hammered Nigerian oil spreads and oil sales. Something like 1,000,000 bpd has had to shift away from the East Coast and back over to Europe.
American refined exports have shuttered over two-dozen refineries in Europe! Their ‘crack spreads’ were ruinous.
( Crack spread = Refined product proceeds – Cost of crude – Cost of refining )
On current trends — and under current law — American refined oils — especially middle distillates — figure to sail far and wide.
They were the ones they were waiting for.
Evil were the ones evil were waiting for.
physicsguy,
2 year colleges are still focused on practical jobs applications. But you’ll have to transfer to get a bachelor on up.
Rick,
Death is, as always, the final solution. One not even the Left’s power can overcome.
Limiting the franchise wouldn’t be a bad thing. Instead of trying to destroy or remove welfare, which seems amazingly less possible as time goes on, one can easily put some actual tradeoffs for welfare slaves.
If you become a welfare slave, you don’t get to vote or get a say in anything, period, until you get off.
This bisects the problem and contains it, like a disease, but does not cure it. It’ll be up to the welfare slaves to decide whether they want to cure the problem or not.
KLSmith: “And thank-you very much, but I will continue to blame the Left for destroying my country.”
I agree with you there.
My point is that the Left is merely being competitive in a competition, which is what they’re supposed to be.
The Left doesn’t hide their playbook. Anyone can adapt it. The Right has the same access to the activist method. Yet the Right abstains from using the method that is proven to win, despite the obvious and increasingly demonstrated consequences for all of us from the Right’s deliberately self-imposed, fundamental competitive disadvantage.
I don’t blame a competitor for their opponent’s refusal to compete, especially not with these stakes.
If you want an informed electorate, make the minimal age required for voting at 35.