- FEBRUARY 9, 2010
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TIGHTROPE
Obama’s China-Taiwan Challenge
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DECODER
Parsing the State of the Union
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SUPREME COURT
Decision Widens U.S. Credibility Gap
Land of the free, home of the stupid...
Posted By David Rothkopf
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 6:21 PM
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America has been suffering an outbreak of especially virulent and acute stupidity recently. It has been particularly manifest at town hall meetings devoted to "discussions" of health care reform in which incensed Republicans scream at the top of their lungs about provisions that are not actually in any of the legislation under consideration -- for example the so-called "death panels" that would have bureaucrats deciding when to pull the plug on "grandma" (as President Obama characterized it yesterday).
Scientists are, of course, fascinated by this phenomenon which, given the behavior in question, has a better claim on the term swine flu than the current influenza flavor of choice does. Does it represent something new in the long history of stupidity? Or is it merely the latest manifestation of a time-honored component of the political process -- the cries for help of one of America's most important minority groups: idiots? (At least I hope it is a minority. There is some debate about that. It calls to mind Gore Vidal's famous line when asked about what he felt about studies that showed that only half of Americans read newspapers and only half vote and he said, something to the effect that at least he hoped it was the same half.)
Now, frankly, I don't know what the idiots have to complain about. This country has done more for them than perhaps any other single segment of our society. The constitution is packed with protections for the stupid. Grade inflation was designed especially to make them feel good about themselves. Self-help sections in bookstores and most daytime television talk shows are focused around the idea that morons are entitled to the same self-esteem that is enjoyed by people who actually think before they speak and act. In fact, catering to the nit-wit market has built the American entertainment industry into the world serving behemoth it is today (there are dummies everywhere, in fact globalization threatens a shift in the global balance of stupidity that may give an edge to more populous nations although China and India do have cultural inhibitions against some root causes of American assininity. They for example, as societies, seem to value education more and respect for those members of society that have somewhat more experience.)
Religious idiots are given the right to insert made up fairy tales for which is there is not nor could there be one single scintilla of evidence into "science" books as if they really happened. They demand and are actually accorded respect for ideas that are so preposterous that they wouldn't make it into the cosmology of Sponge Bob Square Pants. Conspiracy idiots have created an industry out of the idea that weather balloons are alien spacecraft and that those of us who are Jewish, who have been getting our asses kicked for all of human history, are actually in control of global affairs. Special-interest idiots are given the right to plead the case that if their children fail at math, can't spell or speak English badly enough then rather than being taught how to correct it, tests ought to be adjusted to ignore their shortcomings or, alternatively, their linguistic "innovations" ought to simply be treated as creativity or even as new forms of language. (You wonder why the math idiots have not managed to get algebra and calculus revised or just dropped from the curriculum for similar reasons. But then again... they are idiots.)
The financial industry caters to the idiot market and depends on the idiocy of congressional overseers to enable the embrace of techniques that anyone sound of reasoning would instantly reject. Congressional idiots are allowed to stand up and say that when legislation becomes too long it shouldn't even be read. We even several years ago elected and then re-elected an idiot president of the United States.
Last week, I spent a couple days -- after a beautiful trip of whitewater rafting in Colorado and hiking through the amazing Utah desert -- in the idiot capital of America: Las Vegas, Nevada. While many decry Las Vegas as a fleshpot, a blight on civilization or just the tackiest place on the planet Earth, first and foremost it is the Capistrano of idiots, the place to which nature draws them all (or at least the ones who could not get full-time work in Washington or Hollywood). You can tell because even at the airport, they have games of chance that guarantee that whoever plays them will lose their money... and long lines of people waiting to play. And the airport is just the tip of the iceberg of an entire industry built on the notion that people can't count or won't, that they believe in magical outcomes (see earlier offensive religious reference) or are just too damn dumb to breathe.
The city offers shows that cater to idiot tastes (how else can one explain the long and flourishing career of Carrot Top or the fact that every other person in town seems to have a tattoo that they are certain to regret in a matter of months if not minutes?). The city even seems to think that if it doesn't build windows into casinos that the idiots will lose track of the time and stay in them forever (much as horses will reputedly continue to eat until their stomachs explode or as right wing conservatives will continue incessantly to hammer the policies of the '80s regardless of how outdated or discredited they have become).
In fact, it is telling that Las Vegas is so dependent on stupidity that it is one of the few cities in America where alcohol (read: stupid juice) is sold on every street corner and practically handed out free on casino floors. There is really nothing that gives you a clearer picture of what the city and much of America is about than watching a cluster of bloated conventioneers, recent excess testing the very limits of their pants' sans-a-belt technology, weaving down the sidewalk along Las Vegas Boulevard while sucking on the twisting plastic straws in their two foot tall day-glo margherita containers.
This past weekend, despite the recession, Las Vegas was choked with people mouth-breathing their way from all-you-can-eat buffets to one opportunity after another to fritter away their kids college funds. Which just goes to show: There really is one recession proof market in the United States, a market that flourishes in good times and bad, and one that canny politicos everywhere are depending on as the last line of defense against common sense and the big fixes America urgently needs in health care, energy, climate and fiscal policy. Powerful people in America have come to depend on our idiots precisely because they know that when it comes to stupidity, they will never let us down.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
So your solution to winning the health-care debate is to call your opponents stupid?
That makes as much sense as addressing people's fears of a new, impersonal, overarching government bureaucracy in charge of their health care by...telling people to rat out their dissenting neighbors and starting a political enemies' list. Is this even legal? Who cares? Please choose my doctor for me!
Or as much sense as a president leaving probably the most hated politician in America, Nancy Pelosi, in charge of his domestic agenda (people even like Cheney better!).
It seems to be working out great for you; the polls are all moving in one direction and it's away from your position. Gallup's latest has about two-thirds of the country against Obama's health care, and Republicans are much less than two-thirds of the country.
At this rate, 2010 is shaping up to be a massacre for the Democrats; and 2012, well those stupid Republicans might even be able to run Trig Palin and beat Obama...
No, my solution to the health care debate is, as I have repeatedly said, to focus on three core principles (improving health care, cutting costs through enhanced efficiency and providing universal coverage) which are being drowned out in the current "discussion."
This particular rant...and I'm the first to admit it qualifies as a rant...albeit a light-hearted one...is directed at a particular strain of idiocy associated with the lunatic fringes of the opposition. That is to say those who are attempting to argue without a shred of evidence that current proposals would lead to eugenics and death panels. Since these are preposterous ideas, I think it's ok to observe that they depend on idiots to buy into them. (Since who else would buy into such fantastic nonsense?)
Davie boy..if jerks like YOU who think you are in charge of everything SUPERCLASS (God that just makes me ill) want this Obama care...I know exactly why I'm 100% against it!
As a Canadian who worked in the US health care system, it amazes me how many Americans still can't understand what president Obama is suggesting. Further more they can not understand that the plan is not proposing that the government will be "Choosing your doctor for you!", as your HMO already does that for you at a substandard level.
The best health plan in the US, Medicare is a government run plan. All doctors will accept a Medicare patient and they will prefer this patient over an HMO one. Just try to book an appointment with your HMO plan for out of network doctor, or try to get an expensive procedure approved. Some might argue that Medicare is running out of money, but this has been the talk for the last 20 years and it still did not happen. The government found trillions of dollars to help the bankers, why not find some spare change for the health of average Americans?
I also find it odd that no one else seems to acknowledge that any insurance plan has a limited list of doctors you are allowed to use.
You guys won't be able to run Trig in 2012 because those nasty old death squads will have tracked him down by then.
but we want to think they are. As a liberal, I get so frustrated at rants like this one, or like Bill Maher's last friday, about how stupid everyone is. Everyone everywhere is stupid. or to be more exact, Everyone everywhere is about the same.
I just got home from a long trip in Europe, and I met dumb foreigners and smart foreigners, foreigners who thought Bush planned 9/11, and others who I knew more about their country than they did.
Also, it is a bad strategy. I know many intelligent conservatives who don't believe in death panels or that Obama is a foreigner, and they still don't want health care reform. Let's try a different tactic.
Eric C
(www.onviolence.com)
Fortunately, I'm not part of anyone's strategy. I'm just a guy making an observation. And part of this discussion is idiotic. I do agree though, Americans haven't cornered the market on idiocy. (Although I have to admit our attitudes toward health care baffle me. We are unique in the developed world in our resistance to a national health care system despite the fact that our approach is more costly and does not produce better results by almost any metric. That suggests a cultural or cognitive problem on our part which we need to address before our approach bankrupts us, kills us or kills us and bankrupts our families and our country.)
I too dislike comments like this. Average people in any part of the world are nothing spectacular anyway, and it's so superficial and smart-alecky to look down upon them and congratulate oneself on one's superior intellect and discrimination.
I'm surrounded by people like this, being in the profession that I am, and to a person, they are all "liberals", so the correlation worries me.
What's worse than looking down upon the people around you is to romanticize people of other countries, like Europeans, or like you do here, Chinese / Indians. I grew up in India. The cultural inhibitions and traditions, such as they are, are a mixture of a certain type of traditional culture, and an adaptation to many centuries of living in poverty. The underside of "value education more and respect for ... experience" translates into a rigid hierarchical environment, a fetish for book learning, contempt for manual work, etc. And so on. Of course, India is changing rapidly.
But my point is the whole combination of looking down upon stupid fat Americans and quickly walking back with a "just kidding", and mooning after alien cultures, is a repellent mixture.
like Bill Maher's last friday, about how stupid everyone is.
Maher's throwing stones from a glass house. The man doesn't believe in germ theory, not to mention a number of other pseudoscientific things.
after a beautiful trip of white water rafting in Colorado and hiking through the amazing Utah desert
Oooh, which parts? Did you pass near Moab, St. George, or Lake Powell? Or Zion's Canyon? I've been hiking down in that area myself, and it's pretty fantastic (I live in Utah, and have friends and relatives in the vicinity of southern Utah).
In fact, it is telling that Las Vegas is so dependent on stupidity that it is one of the few cities in America where alcohol (read: stupid juice) is sold on every street corner and practically handed out free on casino floors.
That's not limited to Las Vegas - when I went out to the local "border town" (Wendover for the gambling needs of Northern Utahns), one of the casinos had free beer as well.
Besides . . . let's not ruin a good thing here, Rothkopf. I like free beer - don't you?
Brilliantly written, beautifully referenced and terribly true, terrible as it is those idiots who run the world. Bush much?
Great article, first one I've agreed with to some extent. Free beer? where?...
David Rothkopf said, "the fact that every other person in town seems to have a tattoo that they are certain to regret in a matter of months if not minutes"
Recently, Clinton's former chief-of-staff Betsey Wright was charged in a bizarre case of smuggling strange contraband in a prison which included 48 tattoo needles.
Obama's chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel has done similar bizarre activities, albeit, not illegal. Read about them at on Foreign Policy (this Website) at: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/11/06/the_five_most_infamous_rahm_emanuel_moments
Most top level evolutionists are believing in panspermia and directed panspermia--that little green UFO space aliens put life on earth--since the chances of life springing up by lightning hitting black slime are nill and scientists have no idea how to duplicate that first moment of non-life to life in a Bible-hater's laboratory with smvt magazines hidden in their scientific papers.
If you hate Americans so much Mr. David Rothkopf, please move to Kenya or Pakistan, and take Bill Maher (and many others I could list here) with you.
I'm having a difficult time finding a theme to this post (or your duplicate below). Care to help me figure out what panspermia has to do with tattoos in Las Vegas?
Also, why does David Rothkopf hate America? :(
Sir, you must have pulled that claim off of some creationist "research" institute, because I can only think of a few hacks (Orgel anyone? Or perhaps a bastardization of the words of Francis Crick, who is frequently, and terribly, misquoted as an "aliens first" proponent) in the evolutionary biology community who seriously support such weakly supported, and virtually untestable, theorems. This is coming from a Catholic, by the way, so don't throw that "Bible-hater" crap at me.
Back to the article, the author identifies a very common characteristic in the average American and, unfortunately, mislabels it.
Americans are not stupid, they're just gullible. If you gave me an internet forum and a substantial following, I could convince a great deal of Americans, with a little viral marketing, in time that 9/11 was done by carnivorous dandelions created by Neo-Retro-Nazis residing in Argentina with Elvis and Michael Jackson. I could probably get on the Alex Jones radio show fairly easily too. It's easier now than ever before to flood people with disinformation, so it's to be expected that these town halls are filled with ranting and hollering.
Does that make the naysayers on Obamacare any less credible? Not really, it just wastes their time when they could be making credible arguments against the President. The Obama plan looks like a vehicle for debt from just about every perspective, so the administration has a lot of work to do to make this thing legitimately attractive or they can count on many more Town Hell uproars to come.
tattoos, Clinton, & Panspermia stupidity for evolutionists
David Rothkopf said, "the fact that every other person in town seems to have a tattoo that they are certain to regret in a matter of months if not minutes"
Recently, Clinton's former chief-of-staff Betsey Wright was charged in a bizarre case of smuggling strange contraband in a prison which included 48 tattoo needles.
Obama's chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel has done similar bizarre activities, albeit, not illegal. Read about them at on Foreign Policy (this Website) at: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/11/06/the_five_most_infamous_rahm_emanuel_moments
Most top level evolutionists are believing in panspermia and directed panspermia--that little green UFO space aliens put life on earth--since the chances of life springing up by lightning hitting black slime are nill and scientists have no idea how to duplicate that first moment of non-life to life in a Bible-hater's laboratory with smvt magazines hidden in their scientific papers.
If you hate Americans so much Mr. David Rothkopf, please move to Kenya or Pakistan, and take Bill Maher (and many others I could list here) with you.
Las Vegas is a success for American business intelligence and ability. Why do you think Macau, Singapore, Malaysia all are trying to create a Las Vegas type sin city? Las Vegas draws foreign idiots with their money into the USA. As a foreign policy, I think it is excellent to suck the money away from the other nations and increase our own.
America was built and is so successful because there are people who are not idiots here. Those vocal conservatives against Obama's healthcare are much more productive and contribute to our society than the liberal protestors. Mainly the liberal protestors are dependents upon parents, federal welfare and grants. These people haven't started their contributions so should not have any moral foundation to tell me how to allocate my money.
Liberals who think that money should be spent on the losers of society are the contributors to the decline of our civilization. If these people can't maintain a minimum living in the USA, they shouldn't expect to receive more opportunities and money. The USA is one of the easiest places in the world to live in peace and at minimum levels of comfort.
Losers who can't afford health insurance before spending money on a car and entertainment should not be demanding my money. They should see how they would survive in Somalia or Darfur where the women are raped and forced into slavery.
The USA was created based on the principle that the pursuit of happiness was available, not the guarantee of happiness. The USA is successful because people respected the natural rules of commerce. People should pay for what they receive. People who produce should be able to charge what they want. People who purchase should be able to refuse or accept such charges.
What Obama wants is to force us to pay for a insurance that is given freely to those who don't contribute a single cent towards that insurance. The entire concept of insurance is to spread the risk of losing lots of money from health problems. Those currently uninsured will be not sharing the risk, since they did not pay for anything.
America is still the greatest nation in history despite such losers in our midst. It is not the end of our society if these losers don't get their monthly check ups. The fact that other nations have more insurance doesn't mean they are better than America. They have a weak military, unable to rely upon themselves for defense, their economies are not that great, their culture isn't as dominant, the world doesn't look to UK or Japan or Canada to solve world problems.
How is having a small fraction of the population without insurance a problem? The USA has succeeded beyond anything recorded in human history with this situation. Having 100% insurance coverage will not make us the greatest nation in history, since we already are. Wasteful spending is the downfall of great nations. We must always be on guard to prevent it.
Firefighters shouldn't put out "losers'" fires either...
Yes, the USA is the most powerful nation on Earth. This is a result of World War 2 where all the other powers were wiped out and the USA came to dominate because of its industrial base and geographic isolation from the conflict. Having universal health care for all its citizens would not have effected this outcome.
Your argument about the uninsured being in that situation because of their lack of effort is remarkably flawed. Most Americans get their insurance through their employers, so if you lose your job, you lose your coverage. How can you blame a single employee for a company going out of business?
Take my situation as an example. I will be leaving my job in 1 week to go back to university. It will be 2 weeks before I get my coverage under the student plan. What if I get into a car accident in that period? If I need surgery and the bill comes out to $40,000 will you say I deserved it because I am not a productive member of society?
Ask yourself why are group rates offered to companies lower than individual rates? Don't you think its because the risk is reduced because you have a mix of young and old, healthy and sick? Now apply that nationwide, don't you think the rates would go down?
And as a capitalist don't you see exhorbitant healthcare costs as an impediment to small enterprise growth? If one employee in a 20 employee company gets some form of cancer, then the rate for the company's group plan will go up, possibly up to a point where the company can no longer be competitive. Companies in other countries don't have this problem.
You mentioned the military as a sign of American greatness. But the military budget is paid by "productive" members of society. So if terrorists blow up people lining up at the unemployment office, should the military not be used to fight those terrorists? After all their victims were the low life "losers" you despise.
All budget forecasts show that healthcare will be BY FAR the biggest expenditure in the coming years if nothing is done to control costs. They have been allowed to rise exponentially for decades. Now its reached a breaking point. It may seem expensive to give people coverage now, but if the situation stays as it is it will surely bankrupt the nation. That is the "wasteful" spending that you SHOULD be worried about. You need to try to think ahead.
You think that I should help you pay for insurance during those 2 weeks? Since you are quitting a job and going to pay for student insurance, you obviously can afford 2 weeks of COBRA insurance. You are demanding that I pay for insurance that I don't receive.
We can change this by saying that since you quit your job, you can't eat company cafeteria lunch and have a time gap to wait for student meals. I should help you buy lunch during that 2 weeks. You are stealing my money.
Health insurance rates are lower for groups because they do contain a mix of beneficiaries. However, these groups represent the better part of our population. They have jobs, are expected to be reliable enough for a job, probably have a decent education. Many of those who don't have insurance represent the worst part of our population. The drug addicts, homeless, mentally insane and etc.
Capitalism would benefit if we didn't have to spend money on such losers and if the medical profession is allowed to refuse non-emergency care.
America is the number one innovator and business creating economy without the "aid" of government insurance for all. Israel is the 2nd best innovator and business creator. Britain, France, Germany, Japan small business creation is tiny and very difficult. French workers are the worst when they kidnap the managers to force greater and greater benefits.
The terrorists are attacking the producers, not the losers in the unemployment line. You think WTC is for unemployed?
Ok so in your world the citizens of the USA are either productive, responsible workers who take care of themselves and their health, or they are useless drug addicted bums. What about the millions of people who lost their jobs in this recession? I was giving my example as a situation when someone who is a productive member of society is going to be without insurance. But you rejected that, and then justified it by saying all people who do not have insurance are useless. So you missed my point entirely. My point is that people sometimes find themselves in situations where they lose their coverage through no fault of their own. My situation is obviously not as serious as that of a laid off worker who really doesn't have any options in the current system.
As for small business, they are the ultimate losers in the current situation. In many cases they can't offer the same benefits as bigger companies so workers end up preferring to work for larger corporations who can. How is that good for the economy? The best talent goes to the big guys.
Also one of the big reasons health care is so expensive is because the uninsured have to wait for an emergency before they can see a doctor. Say someone has high blood pressure but doesn't know it because he can't afford an examination. He ends up having a heart attack. The hospital has to treat him by law even though he can't pay. So the hospital has to recoup those expenses by charging the paying patients/customers more. So in a way you're already paying for other people's health care. Now if that patient had gone to see a doctor, got some preventive treatment and controlled his blood pressure it would have cost the system a fraction of the cost of the emergency room visit. Net result = Total costs decrease.
You're whole assumption on the make up of the insured vs. uninsured is completely wrong. Yes there are drug addicts and homeless people in society. But they are by no means the majority of the uninsured. The majority includes the self employed who can't get affordable coverage, part time workers, contract workers, low wage workers. The a dynamic economy needs all these people in order to function so you can't write them off and say "tough luck you should have full-time, permanent position at a large corporation you suckers!"
You missed my point about the military argument as well, I was giving you a hypothetical situation. I wasn't talking about WTC. Another hypothetical, a hiker is lost in the woods, do you ask what his annual income is before deciding to send a search party?
koolau, your diatribe states, among other things, that:
"...Mainly the liberal protestors are dependents upon parents, federal welfare and grants. ...Liberals who think that money should be spent on the losers of society are the contributors to the decline of our civilization. ..."
I am really sick and tired of statements like this from quasi-intellectuals like you. Why don't you get off your high-horse where the rarefied air is distorting your perceptions and stand at ground-level with other humans where you can take a good look at reality?
I am a liberal who is dependent upon no one and who has made positive contributions to my country, America, and to civilization in general. I pay my own way in every way: health insurance, mortgage, utilities, etc. I have no credit card debt. I pre-paid my burial expenses almost 10 years ago. I drove, until recently, a 22-year old car, but finally had to buy a new, more fuel-efficent car because the old one no longer met emission control standards.
I am trying to make the least impact upon this earth as possible, so that there will be something left for the generations behind me. I recycle, unplug things that draw stand-by power, conserve water, vote 'yes' on important issues like school, police and fire levies even though it means my property taxes will go up. I pay both federal and state income taxes and I give to worthy charities.
Soon I will be old enough to 'go on' Medicare and that concerns me. I would rather keep my own health insurance for which I pay a high premium but rarely need its benefits because I am trying to leave this life with a minimum of medical interference. I believe that's what old people are supposed to do: die, as quietly and naturally as possible.
I know I am only one of millions of seniors, both liberals and conservatives, who feel this way and are attempting to follow the natural order of things. But your comment gave no leeway or acknowledgement to liberals like me, and that makes me wonder whether you might just possibly be one of the 'idiots' that you so scathingly criticize.
While I don't have data on what types of people make up uninsured/underinsured, your characterization of uninsured, unproductive losers ignores a big reality. My parents are hardworking small business owners who could never afford insurance. We are taxpaying middle class folks but the cost of health care is simply out of control and that's why reform is needed.
Greatest nation in history? A matter of opinion.
BTW, I'm with DR. I'm concerned about the "stupidity" of some Americans, too. Obviously Americans are not inherently more or less stupid than citizens of other countries, but environment/education has an impact on your intelligence. As a teacher, I fear that our educational system is failing many many students - especially in critical thinking and ability to analyze/evaluate information. Lack of access to good schooling is the first and foremost thing on my mind when I see these people at the town hall meetings.
I love America. Who couldn't love a country that produces people who spend such time proving the point of my column? Besides, I never said all Americans were idiots. In fact, I call them a minority. (Which admittedly, I thought was being charitable at the time.) It is possible you know, to love a country or a person and still find flaws in them. What's that called? Right: Having at least some tenuous grip on reality.
I also don't romanticize foreigners. I noted we may be losing our edge in terms of the global balance of stupidity. However I do think that every country produces it's own forms of stupidity and we have some that are especially American.
David..Oh David...met me in Colorado Springs
You know what Rothie.......I'm a 140lb 35 year old American woman, but put ME in a room with YOU for just 5 little minutes...and all your MONEY and POWER aside..I'd LOVE to show you who is in charge.
From Las Vegas:
This is why the DC pols & their media supporters are in for a fall -- the "idiots" are growing tired of Congressional & media arrogance. The DemSocs can't explain or defend their policies, so they simply resort to name calling (idiots, Nazis, mobs, racists, etc) in an effort to browbeat people into compliance. Rather than join North Korea, Cuba, and the other Socialist "wonders" that have tried and failed nationalization, bankrupting our children in the process, we must have the courage & faith needed to confront these media scammer & DC pols and see them for the arrogant, self-aggrandizing, elitist, nepotistic, wanna-be despots that they are!
Have a nice day!
Oh most enlightened and wise Mr. Rothkopf, please do save us from ourselves! And please, dear sir, share with the rest of poor and ignorant blighted humanity some drops of the sublime wisdom that the gods have given thee. I know that as you look down from the exalted heights from whence you dwell, it must be oh so painful for you - forgive us.
May your future path be free from any litter of ignorant and base men.
A humble request before I go: As you soar above, please look a tad more kindly on the mental midgets that dwell here on earth.
Signed,
A right wing idiot
David RothKOPF LIKE David Rockefeller wants us ALL DEAD! They only want their SUPERCLASS to live....
I think this piece inadvertently gets at why people are so upset -- it has a little to do with health care, and a lot to do with utter distrust of their government. A lot of people I talk to (and they're hardly all Republicans, Mr. Rothkopf -- quite a few Democrats are PO'd now, too) are upset at the massive spending they're seeing accelerated since Obama took office. I think this started building under Bush, who was just as bad but took longer to render all the damage he did.
People are upset with the government, period. They see massive bailouts drawn from borrowed money (that their children/grandchildren get to pay back) going primarily to uber-wealthy bankers who screwed up royally ... and were rewarded for it. That's how it always works, of course (and not just with bankers; the wealthy are often insulated from their mistakes, while the rest of us get to pay). But there were no town halls for bailouts or the other debt-driven spending sprees our government has gone on in recent years, and both parties share blame in that.
But if it makes you feel better to belittle and mock the proles who bear the brunt of these massive spending sprees, by all means, do so. But know that this is precisely the elitist attitude that so many of us worthless "mouth breathers" out here in flyover country deeply resent.
Funny Thing About Deficit Spending...
Every nation on Earth is spending right now. You don't save your way out of a recession. In what universe is this a valid argument against current policy. During a recession, governments spend, and it works. It's not something that's "left" or "right". The Swedish are doing it. The Chinese are doing it. The Afghan's are doing it. The Japanese are doing it. The Indians are doing it. It's not a party, it's sound policy that works. People should be upset that past administrations (Bush, Reagan) created deficits so massive that they ruined our ability to properly spend in case of a recession. You can argue about how to spend the money. We SHOULD argue about how to spend the money. But to argue about whether it should be spent, or whether fiscal stimulus is the domain of the "left" or "right" as they are uniquely manifested in the American political sphere...shows a lack of knowledge plain and simple.
yes. you have to print extra money...
...so the smart people can skim the excess, then put it in inflation-proof assets before the money devalues.
dumb people never accumulate enough to make investments, and even when they do accumulate enough, they're so dumb they get herded into schemes that fleece them.
it's probably always been like that to a certain extent, but now that the smart people have mostly defaulted to loot mode, it's worse than ever.
"it's more the way it is now than it's ever been."
You know, if enough people were really this pissed off about everything that has been going that past 10 or 20 years, not to mention the past year, why don't they take to the streets or support canidates who actually talk about curbing government power and balancing the budget. Why didn't more people vote for Ron Paul, why is it that I have to chose from two canidates from two parties who are more alike on the political spectrum than they are different?
What the hell happened to "government for the people by the people"?
Until people take to the streets in masses I don't feel sorry for what will happen to people in the coming years. After all, people are only as good as the government that they have, and this is more true in so called democratic nations, such as the U.S.
America Is Producing More Idiocy than Most Developed Nations
Saying this has nothing at all to do with "hating" America or elitism. Facts stand independent of opinions and the facts are clear. By basically every metric, the American education system K-12 is producing masses of some of the least educated people in the developed world. This is clearly substantiated in almost every available metric. This isn't arguable, and neither sarcasm nor ad hominem attacks, nor the typical battle cry of anti-Americanism will make it so.
To make matters worse the only bright spot, America's higher education, is becoming increasingly inaccessible to millions of individuals and families already too burdened by debt (much of it medical) to afford to take advantage of the opportunities their talents might otherwise allow. Added to this, the Republican party has mainstreamed an attitude that requires political candidates to defend stints at some of the best universities in the world as if they'd committed murder. This has nothing to do with elitism. People who're indignant over issues they obviously don't understand; people who refuse to take advantage of widely available information, are idiots. Yet unfortunately that describes a sizable percentage of the electorate. The lunacy we're experiencing now is what happens when you have decades of - 1) Falling educational standards
2) Stagnant wages that increase the prevalence of unstable households as obstacles to a decent education
3) Unhealthy people increasingly expected to use their mental faculties in a knowledge economy, and
4) Incentives (current health care system) for people to take jobs at wal-mart for the health insurance instead of positions that may not have benefits but might allow them to expand their skill base.
This is just a tip of the iceberg. If you disagree with what Mr. Rothkopf wrote, the way to truly counter him would be to produce some statistics on education in America - drop out rates, etc. Instead this conversation, with its characteristic sarcasm, ad hominem attacks, and typical accusations of "anti-Americanism" is just further validation of what he's saying. Until we recognize the facts of our current social situation there is little hope for change. What I find interesting is that American exceptionalism, which was key to America's ascension, is preventing the recognition of negative facts and thus stifling our ability to adapt. I.e. millions of people believe America is so divine that learning from others and changing anything represents socialism, "anti-Americanism", and the end of civilization as we know it. Go figure.
by mr rothkopf's own "metric"... (hoo ha! whatta word!)
...he's an idiot.
he went to vegas in august.
and besides that, how you gonna have a country of people...
...so ignorant that they'll let dingbats like bill kristol and richard perle do their thinking for them?
you gotta dumb americans down and demoralize them so they'll swallow the neocons' "noble lies", dont you know?
Don't you see Bill Moron Kristol is just taking HIS orders from RothPUKE and Rothschilds and all of these disgusting POWER ELITE? YOU are NOT one of them! Unless you're a damned Billionaire, YOU are going to be one of the people they want to WIPE OUT TOO!!!!
sheesh!
Yes and HOW did this happen, this jerkoff is ADMITTING he is IN CHARGE....there are the people who are running our government TODAY and for the last 50 years!!! Your kids are MORONS b/c of THEIR policies!! This is the kind of SCUM we are fighting against...WAKE UP!
This article is a classic of the "stupidity=whatever I politically disagree with or find tacky" genre. Nowhere does Rothkopf define what constitutes stupidity, or why it differs from his unsubstantiated opinions. The irony is writing like this -- indeed, thought like this -- contributes to the dumbing down of discourse, to the extent anyone pays attention.
ule99 = win.
Mencken was more succinct, but this was more fun.
I wish there was a way to love Vegas without feeling ill about universal franchise.
I take issue with the approach that everything he disagrees with is somehow stupid. Left out of the discussion is the concept of moderation.
Let's take Vegas as an example. I go a few times a year for purely entertainment value. I do gamble at the tables and view it no different than going to a movie. Sure, the house has the edge and for that edge I am essentially paying for the time and entertainment of the game. I know that most times I will end up down, but once in a while you do win (usually to give it back later or on a subsequent trip). Yet, from the same standpoint, every time I've gone to dinner or to a movie I have been 100% guaranteed to leave with less than I arrived with. How is that any different.
The stupidity is the people who don't realize this, it is not to condemn Vegas but some of the people. Most people who go are on vacation. Judging these people based on where they vacation is no different than the very people you criticize.
Here's the bad news, everyone who disagrees with you isn't stupid. There are people with valid and differing opinions who are as intelligent as you are. Not to mention that there is also a whole gaggle of stupid people who DO agree with you also.
Let's hope you have it right, Mr Rothkopf
While I know it's easy to get there, I really dislike the 'these people are idiots' arguments. My friend used to get upset, like you, and say "I wish a worldwide disease would come and wipe out all the weak and stupid off the planet". While I liked my friend, I asked him how did he know he wouldn't be wiped out with them?
My findings are that even the smartest do dumb things, people of all political parties. No single group or country has cornered the market on this. You are held in awe of the Utah desert. I enjoy the desert too -- now that I live in DC and can *visit* it. However, when I lived in Tucson, it wasn't all that magical, just hot.
You denigrate people who blow their money in Vegas who play games that are canted 2% in the house's favor. Gambling at a craps table is quite and exciting and socially invigorating thing to do-- especially if the table's hot. We all know the odds are in the house's favor, but we're not investing, you know.
The people who make me sad is the poor downtrodden looking guy who's buying lottery tickets in 7-11. "Gimme 2 of those, a pick 3, and 3 of that new game...no the other one". This guy is blowing $10-20 dollar a week on a game that makes the Vegas odds seem like a guaranteed winner. That's $500-$1000 a year. What if he "invested" the money in a bank that gave him scratch off "lotto" tickets that didn't do anything and at the end of the year, they paid him back $1000. Would that have an effect on his life? This lottery is state sponsored and is supported by the upper class because the proceeds "go to schools". I don't see this sap as stupid, but it's just sad. If it weren't the opium and hope of the poor, I'd wish the lottery never existed.
David Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf.
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