This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Why Are American Voters So Uninformed?
The sad fact is that it appears completely rational to be ignorant about politics. The cost of being an 'informed' voter - as opposed to a bigotted closed-minded ignoramus - is high, from the time spent following (and interpreting) the news in the paper, online, and on the television. As the following clip notes, "becoming an informed voter is competing with a lot of other needs in your life," from American Idol watching to eating Cheetos in the bath. Of course, the sad truth is that it has never been more important to be 'informed' and so the 'bread-and-circuses' will continue lest we stumble upon the truth - but perhaps this brief clip will sway a few more to the dark side of 'the informed' - though just because 'you' are better-informed does not mean politicians will do a better job - as the probability of your vote changing the outcome of an election is for all practical purposes, zero!
»
- 25027 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. "
John F. Kennedy
are you talking about the free cheese eatin ones?
Meh you got it all wrong... minority=Democratic voters dont NEED to know the issues. The only issue they need to know is they vote for Democrats to keep the welfare, SSI, 599 weeks or whatever gravy train checks flowing. Meanwhile the rest of us grapple with the calculus of working life, try to resolve the derivative of where the next paycheck is coming from.
Because up to this point, there has been no cost for being ignorant.
these 13 words nailed it - says it all - except there has been some cost, just not enough yet to matter
+1 classic "tragedy of the commons" - which won't matter at all, as economists will attest... Until it does
I would add, no realized or perceived cost of being ignorant, yet.
Because being smart is retarded yo. Real men watch sportscenter and debate concussions and doping, things that people actually care about. Run those Superbowl wings on my Obama backed (d)EBT card.
Informed? Yeah, douchebag, I'm informed - about football. Like anything else matters. Hey, what kind of beer you guys buying for the Super Bowl?
perhaps the Goebbels like constant propaganda in support of the muslim puppet?
Engaging the electorate about "voting" is like pissing with a boner. Start way back from the toilet and slowly move forward as the pressure decreases.
So the point of the video is: it pays to be ignorant, you can't make a difference anyway, so don't even bother. Got it!
The fact is, there is so much disinformation out there that it is hard to be informed about anything, if a reader checks out ZH and other blogs and completely ignores newspapers,and other mainstream media.
Example: why is stock market going up? Either ZH and others are spinning false information and the economy is indeed going gangbusters...or..the government is really, really trying to cover up what is going on behind the scenes, and worsening at an alarming rate, and not only has got to make the stock market look good, but make it look spectacular.
Because the vast majority of Americans take liberty & freedom for granted, blindly trust their leaders, are extremely gullible, have not been taught to be critical thinkers - and as a result are completely apathetic.
Let me count the ways............opp's, can't count that high!
Don't worry, I've hacked the voting machines anyway!
What number would you like?
'I was willing to pay for a victory, not to pay for a landslide."
- Joseph P. Kennedy on Cook County voting 1960.
We're so uninformed we actually think that our vote means something. Hahahahaha!
Many Democrat voters are well informed on how to get the policies that support their life style. Unfortunately, the media bias favoring the Democrat position is so dominating that the low information voter is easily captured.
Young people, new ethnic voters and others are literally submerged in a Democrat way.
Example, California state senator Hannah-Beth Jackson has introduced a bill to allow 15 year olds to pre-register to vote.
San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Debra J. Saunders quotes Jackson in Pretty puhleeze—vote: “I would like to engage young people in the political process at the earliest point in time. If young people get invested in the process earlier, they’ll be likelier to vote.”
Says Saunders: “To my mind, the reason Jackson is pushing this bill is clear. She’s a Democrat. She wants to boost Democractic voter registration. What better way to find Democrats than to recruit kids before they have earned a paycheck or paid a dime in income taxes?
“Not to mention: They’re not old enough to vote, not old enough to enlist in the military and years from being old enough to buy alcohol or cigarettes.”
The bottom line is, low information voters can be enlisted as Democrats by the schools, the media and the welfare carrot.
Don't fool yourself, they will figure out how to have them vote , likely the primary reason behind the scheme!
DP
the most informed ballot has always been cast on lead paper.
"Why Are American Voters So Uninformed?"
The media.
Back in the 90's a republican strategist was on the McNeil Lehrer newshour talking about why they wanted to dumb down voters. Makes you wonder if there were ulterior motives for the push for charter schools. Even the WSJ guy Paul Gigoux was disturbed by this strategist's sociopathy. But for the life of me I cannot remember the guy's name. At the time I thought no way anyone would listen to this person and did not make an effort to remember his name.
there was a story in the unnofficial biography of bush,jr. by his most vocal critic a lady by the name of i forget, a fellow texan. she coined the nickname, shrub. she was funny as hell as a political commentator. anyway, she told the story of shrub's first run for congress in the late 70s. she said he ran a wonky campaign on the issues where he was opposed by a good old boy texan who kept everything light and dumb. after he lost(damn, i can't remember her name) he was heard to have said, "i will never be out dumbed again".
molly ivins! my brain is still partially intact!
Molly Ivins
lol - you edited before I refreshed the page/posted.
well done.
molly ivins
RopeADope said:
Lee Atwater? (Would had to have been around 1990)
haha, great video from the establishment. It's too hard to vote so tune in to Idol. Our growing centralized govt in DC is doing just fine! In fact, we'll even vote for you so you don't have to.
America will learn the hard lesson that every individual must stay informed and vigilant or any freedom left will be taken.
American voters are not poorly informed, black voters by and large do not care about issues they care about skin color and freebies, Gays care about who will approve of their perversion, deadbeat whites on the dole care about freebies and long unemployment payments, old people care about how much the COLA will be without regard for the fact that many will receive more than they put in AND the federal deficit, woman vote their pussy, young people have been conditioned to go for the free lunch, the top earners have been schooled to vote their wallet, politicians are frauds and liar and no one cares about the country as a whole we all care about our personal needs first. This explains where we were, were we are and where we are heading. Straight down and nothing that a good depression, real pain and soup lines could not cure.
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy
What happened to this? Gone when you put people like Obama in the White House!
Damn MFL! Back away from your radio. You can't believe everything it tells you.
it's irrational to be smart in an ignorant world indeed.
So what is the video telling you ?
"well you can't make a better world because of the mass of dumbasses that vote the same way they pick they daily burger"
duh ! NO ! what you have to do is make your point around you and further ! fight for a better world, don't be an idiot because everyone around is !!!!!
Navy can't drive.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia-pacific/2013/01/201312915262481902.html
Relying on Fox News and to a lesser extent CNN and MSNBC is big part of it...
Edit: based on the junks, it seems that more than a few people suffer from the D-K effect here (not that I did not already know that)....
too busy spending EBT cards at strip joints
"Why Are American Voters So Uninformed?"
It's because of the low intelligence levels that are evident throughout the US gene pool. Backward people who are equally content sitting in shite cars, eating platefulls of cinnamon or killing each other.
They don't even know where Vietnam, Korea or... South Africa can be found on world maps.
America is just one big debt farm. The country only exists to supply financial Pink Slime (US Treasuries) to the worlds financial centers.
I don't think this is completely correct - its not that people choose not to be informed because there is a cost to it, but that the lies of our soceity have been broadcast so widely that its hard for someone who hasn't carefully studied the matter to know where the truth is. Our lies are not just the deliberate falsehoods spread by people with an agenda, but the whole super-structure of public information.
Even at places where you can get some genuine news, you also get your ration of nonsense which isn't news; even at places where they aren't trying to deliberately lie to you, they are also putting out things which, by distracting you from actual news, essentially become a lie. What happened yesterday? Lots of things - but we didn't find out about most of them, and certainly not the most important things, because of either deliberate lies or because of distractions serving the purpose of lies.
Is there a cure for this? There certainly is an it is already being built - indeed, its already quite strong, just not quite strong enough, yet, to break through the wall of lies. It is, of course, the New Media, of which Zero Hedge is a part. Now there are plans being laid - still in their infancy, but advancing - to bring the New Media to the old media...to, that is, infiltrate the wall of lies and start putting out some truth. Imagine a 24 hour news channel that actually reports the news! It will happen; it is coming - far less time talking about a football players fake girlfriend, much more time informing people, say, just whom the EPA director is and what his plans are.
For those who are on the side of restoring America, this is a decades-long project. This is not something which will happen in a flash (though complete economic collapse - a distinct possibilty - would concentrate the public mind and make things go quicker). Its a step by step process. If you want to know how far we have to go - only about 35 Senators joined Toomey in asking that the "Sandy Relief Bill" be paid for by reductions in spending elsewhere; that is the number of people in the Senate who have at least some sense. It will take a long while to get to 51. In the House, it is about 150 members who see what needs to be done, at least to some exent. It will take a long while to get to 218. As for a President - that may take even longer. Obama isn't the problem - if it wasn't him wrecking the nation, it would just be some other Ruling Class liberal, or a RINO just doing it a bit slower. Getting a President who understands the need for radical change will take some doing...hard to win when you're out there speaking the truth while the other guy is whispering sweet nothings in to the public's ear...but with the rise of the New Media, it will eventually be possible for such a person to win.
The main thing is not to lose heart - not to fall in to a despairing attitude which just figures people are idiots and there's nothing to be done. They are no more idiots than you are - they just haven't, perhaps, learned a few things which you know...tell them. And tell them again. And then tell them one more time...but gently, calmly, with a gigantic dollop of humility and mercy in your heart...eventually, the truth will win.
I vote, and I like to think that I am well-informed, but I live in California. It's a lot like spitting in the ocean, honestly.
Presumptively this means you're not voting for Democrats - so, take over the nearly moribund Republican Party in California...a lot of people are working on it, and I've heard tell of TEA Party activists meeting with MoveOn activists to essentially start a political revolution in the State. It is true that some on the right and some on the left will never agree even to the point of attacking the common enemy (my rough estimate is that 65% of the left is made up of people too servile to revolt while about 25% of the right is made up of people who are so purist that they won't even make a tactical alliance with someone who disagrees; but there is room for a lot of people to get together). Get out there and fight - but remember its a 20 year process.
It's the Age of Entitlement...
Dumbing down was both deliberate...and effective
Have a chat with some high schoolers and college kids....
Calling your bullshit on this one! We can argue that our education system is not putting the appropriate focus on critical thinking skills that lead to understanding causal relationships, but these kids being dumb is absolute nonsense. The data clearly doesn't show that including data from the NEAP.
Walk into any third grade classroom and I guarantee you will see children learning literacy and math skills at much higher level than you ever did.at those respective grades Second grade students today produce writing in response to prompts that I would hazard you couldn't produce at your current age. That is not necessarily a slam, just that the educational expectations are much greater today.
What are u smoking?
Data, and then I disaggregate the data. Math and stuff.
public concern for public good died in 1980 in the US...figure out why...
trickle down piss'd folks off?
meanwhile, london bang'd the regulations, and teh party got louder. . .
Because the American People would violently revolt, if they were actually smart?
- a proud non-voter for 30 years.
Who was it that said we have "Two America's" when running for president? Was it Gore? Seems he may have been correct though probably for different reasons than he intended. Don't know if the two world views are reconcilable at this point.
This might be why.
http://www.openfilm.com/videos/human-resources
Back in the early years of this Country, when some one told a 'lie' about someone or something it was considered to be dishonorable.
At least two signers of The Declaration of Independence were killed in duels. Perhaps when drafting the document our founders felt that was a reasonable way to assure truth.
The First Amendmant guarantees 'Free Speech'.
No one said that speach had to be true.
And here we are.
I sincerely don't believe you need that much information to make the required choice. Vote for the candidate that empowers you to use the information you have. That eliminates the D part of any ballot right away. Granted voting the R part is still hard to do. : ( :( : (
"why are amrkn voters so uninformed?"
typo? uni-formed? inherent in the meme - to vote is to believe voting matters, that voting makes a difference.
if one was truly informed, the realisation of how silly "voting" is, and the belief that it makes a "difference" in a system as choked with lies as the one amrkns breathe in, would be obvious.
voters are participating members.
voters are so uninformed because they are blithering fucktards...americans in the majority believe that that lee oswald murdered the president, that the communists started the vietnam war, and the al qaeda detroyed the world trade towers....the latter 2 points are actually factual but require that the uninformed voter know who the communists are....they are located on wall street, academia, and powerful non-profits, as well as the trilateral commission, the bildebergers, bohemian grove, the rockefellers, koch brothers, rnc, dnc and a host of other anti-american entities....
yes, sorting through all of that requires too much work and 0 bigotry, which disqualifies 99% of all americans....sorry...you have to be cruel to be kind in the right measure
First of all if your a voter in America, you have already F'd up. Voters in America have affirmed that they are a citizen of the United States. Citizens of the United States are 1.) Either born or naturalized within the United States and 2.) SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF. And there, they are F'd. If you are subject you are not sovereign. And you must do what you are told. Pay taxes and are subject. Suject. SUBJECT. SUBJECT!!! Get it? The territorial jurisdiction of the United States is defined within Title 18 Section 7, and it says 3 times that it does NOT EXTEND INTO THE STATES. If you are wondering what the fuck happened to America, stop and look into the mirror. You have not known what I have just told you. IF YOU ARE WITHIN ONE OF THE SEVERAL STATES, YOU ARE NOT SUBJECT TO JACK SHIT!!! YOU ARE THE SOVEREIGN!!!! ACT LIKE IT!!!!
If the governement numbers are false, the economic system is gamed by corrupt lobbiests, and half the population is on some form of welfare, then having an informed voting populace is not possible.
what is a voter, is that a person, dead or alive?
http://maxkeiser.com/2013/01/29/kr399-keiser-report-kamikaze-currency-ki...
[KR399] Keiser Report: Kamikaze Currency Killers
Posted on January 29, 2013 by stacyherbert
.
why uninformed? perhaps because the informed are sick and
deluded? could be.
there goes the neighborhood ....
.
The Business of War: SOFEX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL_3Qg-SADY
.
let me say we might be better off uninformed and
as far away from the informed as celestially possible.
our leaders and public spokespersons are fucking vampires
and psychotic death cult extremists, aka fiat money business
men and women who deserve the effects they have caused by their
willful ignorance of their and our humanity. good be it all,
as always, and a special place for their hired help, the politicians.
50% of ZeroHedge readers are from the US.... teach 'em Tylers