That awful moment when you realize George Carlin was right

"Maybe, maybe it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here. Like the public."
- George Carlin

We can all point out how the political system is corrupt and rigged. Without a doubt the news media is complicit in this travesty.

But if this election season has proven anything, it's that the biggest reason that our political system is a joke is because the American public is full of "selfish, ignorant people", as George Carlin so aptly put it.

No one would be less surprised by the political success of the narcissistic, snake-oil-salesman Donald Trump than Mr. Carlin.

His speeches are over-the-top, grab-your-crotch, phony machismo bluster that is one step below 8th grade bully taunting, and just barely above animal grunts.

You would be hard pressed to find a candidate more unqualified to hold the office of the President of the United States than Trump.
If you searched all the high-security prisons, crack houses, and dive bars in the country you might still average a better quality of human being than Donald Trump.
That's because people in all of those places might still have some grasp of reality, while the average Republican voter most certainly doesn't.

How could they? How can anyone take one look at him and say, "I'd trust him with my wallet"?
Now imagine trusting him with a huge nuclear arsenal.

Yet tens of millions of people intend to do just that. What does that say about a huge swath of Americana?
idiocracy.png

Granted, the Republican voter didn't have much to chose from to begin with, but they still managed to pick one of the worst candidates.
So don't bother blaming the system Republican voters. This one is on you.

The Democrats have failed in an entirely different way.
They had a candidate that said, "Our health care system is broken. Our higher education system is broken. Our financial system is broken. I have an idea: Let's fix these systems by doing what the entire rest of the industrialized world already does successfully."
Bernie Sanders called this idea a "revolution" when it rightly should have been called basic, f*cking common sense.

But noooooo! The Democratic Party called Basic Common Sense "radical" and "unrealistic". We should flip logic on its head and continue doing what doesn't work, because continuing to do what doesn't work and expecting better results is no longer called insanity. It's now called "pragmatic".

In an alternate universe this would be called "idiotic". But Democratic voters took a look at the stupid coming from Republican voters and decided, "Gimme some of that."
In an election year where the public overwhelmingly believes the country is on the wrong path, and the government is corrupt, Democrats said, "Let's nominate a candidate that proudly declares her intentions to defend that broken status quo, while also being investigated by the FBI for "wrongdoing". No one will want a guy that proposes basic common sense ideas."

So who's really more stupid?
The voters who like a guy who is obviously a sleazy racist, con artist who will sell them all for a nickle?
Or the voters who decided to pick a candidate who will keep a non-functional system in place over one who would try to fix it?

The answer is: It doesn't matter.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Every nation's electorate is consisted of selfish people.

It's the ignorant fuckers -- especially those who cherish that ignorance -- which get Americans into the kind of trouble Trump represents.

Sad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

detroitmechworks's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMMCPeiQoc]

Sometimes I think the only reason this game sold so well is for this speech.

Carlin died the year Obama was running. I can't help but think that he would have been banned for life from liberal circles because of the inevitable "Uncle Tom in a nice suit" jokes he would absolutely have made.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

BrutallyHonest's picture

We face 3 individual, but interlocking problems on the Left. They are:

1) One born out of Human Biology
The Mental Shortcut that Dumbs down your Mind

The human mind loves certainty. Left to its own devices, when faced with a challenging situation, your brain will create a dichotomy, a this or that polarizing choice that simplifies complex situations.

It's not your brain's fault. The human mind is incredibly complex; every day it has to keep you breathing, find your car keys, and solve a myriad of challenging problems. Given all its responsibilities, your brain is a model of efficiency. But sometimes, your brain's tendency towards efficiency short-circuits your own intelligence.

2) Complexity created by the Establishment
Above, we have already discussed that many people are ill equipped to handle, or even truly understand most of life's complexities. Knowing this the establishment have created a political system that is both complex to understand, but also complex to interact with. This complexity causes many who get overwhelmed by complexity to become disenfranchised, to give up not only in participating in the system, but also to give up hope, losing the ability to visualize a better place, instead accepting the status quo, settling.

3) Naive Realism(Naive Realism is the belief that the other side is wrong simply because they are misinformed.) + us forgetting/ not truly understanding human psychology

We are a rare breed, though we might lose ourselves in the complexities of other topics, or subjects, we do not get overwhelmed by political complexities the same way most of the American Public does. Because of this, we can lose ourselves in the passion of our convictions which leads us to info dump and explain the facts under the naive assumption that since we understand and can clearly see simplistic options and answers, once the other person has the truth's and/or facts, then they will arrive at the same answers as us.

This is obviously false. The truth is one which most of us are still blind to and might surprise you too.
Most people, Trump or Hillary supporters, are people who become overwhelmed by our political system, like we do with other topics. Because they get overwhelmed, they use shortcuts to arrive at political answers. Some examples might be, Hillary was cheated on, I was cheated on, or I know someone who was cheated on, so I understand how she must feels, so she must be a good person/ a good choice. How they arrive at an answer is not as complex or as educated as you or I might arrive at an answer, however, and this is important, they have thought about the topic, and have arrived at an answer. When you info dump and explain things to people who have trouble understanding political complexities, it comes off as nagging to them, and is the type of behavior the right calls us elitist for.

So what can we do?

Understand that the complexities, both inherent and purposely made, in politics are not easy for everyone to fully grasp. As such it is in our best interests to find ways to distill and simplify the complexities for those people. We also have to not get wrapped up in the complexities ourselves. By that, I mean, we must not care about others understanding all of the details to the extent of our understanding over more successful communication.

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about 2/3rd "right on!" and 1/3rd "F U arrogant a-hole".

Too bad I was so busy at work today I really didn't have time to engage.

Oh well.

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detroitmechworks's picture

who were FUing were the Flag happy Go Hillary, fuck you, problematic humor police.

Hell with it. Hundred bucks, I'm THAT sure of it.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.