Stupid Is As Stupid Does

It's probably no surprise to readers of my blog that I don't do stupid. When someone like a political leader, television or radio personality or religious leader for example, says or does something stupid, well my reaction is something tantamount to fingernails across a chalkboard. Suffice it to say that the eight year presidency of George "Dubya" Bush was horrendously painful, as was the last election. In fairness, all of us are prone to misspeak from time to time. I'm not saying it's just the Republicans. Obama, Biden and others have had their moments of verbal shame too. But some people don't know when to quit!

For example:

"I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

"This will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, 'credibility' with the black community -- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made-to-order for them. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there, could not wait to get out there." -- Rush Limbaugh on Haiti earthquake relief, Jan 13, 2010

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." –Pat Robertson

"So here you have Barack Obama going in and spending the money on embryonic stem cell research. ... Eugenics. In case you don't know what Eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A perfect person. ... The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening." – Glenn Beck, March 9, 2009

"I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out." -- Sarah Palin, referring to a department that does not exist while attempting to explain why as president she wouldn't be subjected to the same ethics investigations that compelled her to resign as governor of Alaska, ABC News interview, July 7, 2009

Unfortunately there is an inexhaustible supply of this type of nincompoopdom from these folks, and it only gets worse. The real tragedy is that when these political wonks on Fox News spew their hateful, ignorant ramblings, their listeners totally buy into it as if it were the gospel truth, whether they understand it or not. Why would they lie, right? But that's where we are these days in America. Some people will believe anything if you say it while holding an American flag in one hand and the Holy Bible in the other. It's just a whole lot easier than thinking. How else could anyone nod their heads in agreement to the kinds of utter bullshit they sputter.

Glenn Beck is a great example of this trend. Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" once said of Beck, "Finally, a guy who says what people who aren't thinking are thinking." How do people with any degree of intelligence listen to Beck and say, "yep, that's the truth all right?" Sure, like when he said "The only [Katrina victims] we're seeing on television are the scumbags" or "When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." That would explain why Stephen King referred to Beck as "Satan's mentally challenged younger brother."

Sarah Palin is another good example of how people can be such complete lunkheads. As long as I live I will never understand how anyone can listen to her incoherent babbling and not want to shove a dirty sweat sock in her big, stupid mouth. The best I can figure is that as horribly brainless as Dubya was, for some he just wasn't quite as idiotic as they would have wanted. Palin fills that need particularly well.

Rush Limbaugh, the "father of modern stupidity," is probably the most listened to imbecile polluting the airwaves with his single-minded rants. He has been one of the largest (no pun intended) propagandists for the Republican Party for many years and his legion of listeners follow him not so much to find out what he thinks, but to find out what they should think. His adroitness at bending the truth, or just inventing a new "truth" to suit his twisted reality is beyond compare. Who else could put the blame for the country's financial woes on Obama two days after the election?

With recent events in Massachusetts, it occurred to me that the problem isn't the candidates or the platform, but the dumb-as-bricks electorate that we have. People have become lazy and complacent in the last few decades. They don't really care about learning about the issues they oppose so vehemently. They would rather let somebody else do the reading and the thinking and then tell them how to vote. And afterwards they can blindly shout names and spout rhetoric that they have no understanding of while they drive themselves into a frenzy of ignorant rage.

As H.L. Mencken once penned, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

This brings to mind how years ago, during the 2004 Presidential campaign, the Democrats struggled with the problem of trying to explain to the voters in the so-called red states what their positions were, but they couldn't get through to them. Their conclusion was that the people there weren't very bright to begin with. One e-mail that made the rounds amongst Democrats at that time showed the 2004 election map with the word "America" superimposed over the blue states while the rest of the nation, the red states, were labeled in larger type, "Dumbfuckistan." I know this type of generalization is not just crude but unfair too. But it is funny...and if the shoe fits...well?

A lot of the political pundits on the right like to characterize Obama as a friend of terrorists, a socialist, a fascist, and a whole lot of other things that aren't true. It was once said that "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." Ironically, the person responsible for that quote was Adolph Hitler. I'm not saying that Republicans are Nazis, but that is one of the many charges leveled at Obama. Their unscrupulous spreading of disinformation in this fashion has worked wonders in boosting the Republicans growing following. And though these new radicalized right-wingers have no idea what they are talking about, it makes them feel clever and politically astute to mimic these views and memorize some of the talking points. Isn't it great to have an opinion!

I guess that just because someone nefarious says something you agree with, it doesn't necessarily mean that you share any of their other beliefs. Unless you are a Democrat, in which case it qualifies you as a card carrying Nazi. Oh well. By refusing to follow suit and lower ourselves to their despicable level, we may have hurt our chances of being a strong voice in politics. The Republicans, who have no need of morally acceptable practices, are just appealing to the lowest common denominator here. In the battle to control the political voice of our country, our inability to target the ignorant masses that are mindlessly helping the Republicans speed us into a collision course with disaster has cost us dearly.

The average Joe (we'll call him Bubba, actually) might never have the brains to comprehend our "fancy talk" about improving the economy, creating a health care reform bill that would benefit him, creating jobs and other issues facing us today. He might never know that it is corporate America that is pulling the strings in Congress and that he is merely their pawn in a greater conspiracy of greed and political power. He will likewise never know that his vote against our current administration and its efforts to change the status quo which has crippled the country and continues to send it on a downward spiral, is creating his own undoing.

Funny isn't it? You need a license to get married or drive a car or even own a dog. But any old fool who registers to vote can be the instrument of global chaos by voting the wrong way. If 46% of Americans wanted an unqualified moron like Sarah Palin to be anywhere near the Presidency, what chance does this country have for the future?

Are these the type of mean-spirited, irrational, hate-filled, ignorant morons we want to elect the next President?