So why is America so Dumb, as we asked yesterday?
Education
If 25% of Americans are prepared to believe that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s pet dogs and cats, then our readers primarily nominate US education as the single major factor.
“The American education system has failed to educate the general populace to be good citizens. By good citizens I do not mean patriotic which seems to be a primary aim. Good citizens have the tools to properly participate in the democratic process using critical thinking, a capacity to research and identify reliable sources and to identify poor sources of information and lies.” Paul Gatto
“The neoliberalist curse that infects the Western World has ensured that public education, health, aged care and a chance at a decent career from poor origins remain out of reach for so many allies itself with the Evangelist-Pentecostal-Quasi-Christian bullshit artists and the absence of impartial journalism to spread via social media the many ridiculous notions that appeal so much to those lacking education and worldliness, which are the unseen millions in trailer parks and ghettoes across the USA, the kind of under-informed grist to the mill for fascists to manipulate. America is systematically dumbed down. It is an organic process and it continues, which scares me.” Jon Cocks
“Lack of proper funding for public education over decades means an ignorant populace. The same is happening in Australia, with the huge amounts of money going to private schools, while public schools fall apart.” M Lovejoy
“I would add the dangerous habit of leaving many educational decisions and school staffing mostly in the hands of local school committees that are populated by zealots, as well as the ludicrous practice of electing law enforcement officials and judges.” Christine E.
The Republican Party and its fellow travellers and donors in big business (and various church bodies), have done their best to undermine trust in education, the value of education, and the trustworthiness of scientific knowledge. Quite apart from more public efforts playing out in Congress and the Senate across the decades, the real action has been playing out in local county and state-level school boards, and school libraries, where the issue of “what kinds of people do we want to make for the long term?” has been a live issue for *decades*.
There is also the economic aspect: education costs insane amounts of money. You can’t rise above your lot in life if it’s too expensive to get a decent education. Adrian Bedford
Religion
Readers nominated the pervasive influence of religion in the USA as another factor.
“My family and I lived in Southern California for a decade, and just down the road was the largest religious assembly venue in the country where more than 3000 people would worship every service on Sundays. Preachers tell their congregations how to vote. Americans need to believe that they are the chosen ones, and have this special place in the world (in the greatest country on earth!) where anyone can become President, and that God has a significant say in what happens to them. Cate Cooper
“Settled by religious extremists i.e. pilgrims. Established as a state by rebels i.e. 1776 Expanded by uninformed people with a mission of myth (westward). David Donaldson
Angry, disengaged white folk
Many readers pointed to the impact of decades of economic and social inequality producing a large cohort of disengaged and angry (predominantly) white Americans, happy to go along with the simplistic solutions of a strong man.
Many Americans are ignorant and frightened of the many changes occurring in our lives. Things are not predictable: life is not ‘the same’ for them or indeed any of us.
This means they are able to be scared and angered deliberately by those fomenting division.
It is no accident that the greatest supporters of Trump are white men with no College education. Dr Deb Campbell
Americans believe Trump for the same reason that other populations in history have believed so called strong men who preach messages that they really want to hear. Glenn Russell
Trump, social media and right wing media have given them a voice and real power for once in their lives. It is ironic that they will use democratic processes in an attempt to bring down the establishment and democracy itself. Richard Whitfield
American voters are not dumb. American voters are sick and tired of corruption and disregard for US citizen welfare; they are desperate. When one is desperate one will want to believe there is hope. If hope is offered, be they lies or mistruths; does it matter? Bruce Beddoe
When people can’t access health care but do not seem to want to reform laws around it, when they are paid a barely livable wage, when they openly carry guns because you never know when you will be scared enough to use it, when they ban books, when they maintain the death penalty…you have a country where too many people just feel powerless. They are not dumb…just very cranky. Judy McCue
Lack of public accountability
As readers pointed out, unlike Australia and the UK, the US has no public broadcaster, just a struggling National Public Radio.
It’s a country raised more than most on movies and TV. And nobody has ever taught Americans that reality TV is an oxymoron. Lacking a strong public broadcaster, Americans are at the mercy of news slanted to make a profit. Danny Neumann
There is no obligation for “truth in politics.” Candidates and their teams are able to espouse outlandish lies without fear of punishment. The bigger the lies, often the better the results. Strong penalties, including the banning of candidates whose campaigns indulge in lying, should at least reduce the number and strength of lies. Voters would not be subject to blatant untruths. Dale Piercey
Politics is a wrestling match
While the issue of truth and lies is key to the political future of the US, one of our readers has pointed to a compelling parallel to the world of Wrestlemania and Hulk Hogan promoted by Donald Trump in the 1980s. Former Keating speechwriter, Don Watson, has written eloquently of this in the current Quarterly Essay. www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2024/09/high-noon#:~:text=Don%20Watson%20offers%20a%20report%20from%20the%20United%20States%20that
“TV wrestling involves a lot of boasting, posturing and abusing, as well as body slamming. It owes something to the “sensationalism” of tabloid journalism and something to cartoons. The wrestlers are real, but not real. They are personifications of good and evil, courage and cowardice, patriotism and treachery. They are often unhinged…It is a fiction, a melodrama, a parody.
“But try telling TV wrestling fans that what they’re watching is all a lie: see who looks silly. Prove it’s a fake and you’ll look even sillier. Try it at a Trump rally or Republican Convention. Fans enter the world of TV wrestling as they enter any other fiction, knowing it’s make-believe but open to its seduction. They boo and hiss and shout, much as kids used to at Punch and Judy shows, much as we all do during elections. By making politics like TV wrestling, Trump created a fictional setting for his fictions. He can be as abusive and as untruthful as he likes. In a fictional world, to lie and keep on lying is a requirement. For some, it is also essential to be hated. You can sound demented, might even be demented; the more demented you are the more you blend with the environment.”
Thank you for your contributions – and here are some links
Finally, for the weekend Rex Manson provides links to people who might provide more answers on why America is so dumb.
THE BREAKDOWN WITH BRIAN TYLER COHEN (youtube.com)
Danny Neumann wrote “the US has no public broadcaster”. It does, the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) but like its affiliate NPR it is constantly subject to attempts to shut it down and starve it of funds by Republicans. In fact in Australia you can watch its PBS-Newshour on SBS every mid-afternoon except Sundays when it is the “Washington Week” hosted by Jeffry Goldberg (yes that one, who is the editor of The Atlantic; it is a panel discussion of 4 guests usually top journos like Anne Applebaum). PBS is also known historically for Sesame Street and Mr Roger’s Neighborhood. Its news coverage became widely watched when McNeill & Lehrer covered the Watergate hearings live and rebroadcast them in primetime for the whole 7 months.
It is broadcast on 350 stations via syndication, and Wiki says “A 2016–2017 study by Nielsen Media Research found 80% of all US television households view the network’s programs over the course of a year.[5]” I must say I found the 80% a bit hard to believe …
I’d say it is a better quality news service than the (Australian) ABC though it is an hour versus 30min. But then I also think SBS World News is far superior to ABC News, and it too is an hour.
Sure enough, 1 May, The Guardian:
Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to cut public funding for the news outlets NPR and PBS, accusing them of being biased.
NPR and PBS are only partly funded by the US taxpayer and rely heavily on private donations.
“National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),” Trump said in his executive order. “I therefore instruct the CPB board of directors and all executive departments and agencies to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.” He added that “neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens”.
The CPB budget has already been approved by Congress through 2027, which raises questions about the scope of Trump’s order.
Update, 02 May The Guardian:
It reportedly involved a “rescission” – the blocking of more than $1bn that’s already been approved by Congress for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which administers the federal funding for public broadcasting. The memo, in theory, would give Congress 45 days to approve the cut or keep the funding.
And on Thursday, Trump signed an executive order intended to end public funding of NPR and PBS, claiming that this would stop “biased and partisan news coverage.” A White House statement listed examples of “trash that passes for news” at those outlets.
Congress should send Trump’s plan packing and continue to provide funding – not because NPR and its member stations are perfect, not because PBS always gets it right in its overall excellent NewsHour program that airs each evening, but because, on balance, they are a critical part of the fact-based news ecosystem necessary to democratic self-governance.