A large obstacle to freedom - the average oblivious American citizen (a large %)
Submitted by informant on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 11:08This post might get a lot of retribution, but I am willing to write it and post it. I am not holier than thou in any way. I do take a bit of pride in the fact that I care about people, not just Americans, but all humanity... also in the fact that I am willing to learn, willing to change accordingly, and willing to admit error. Most Americans aren't willing to step outside the box, learn uncomfortable facts and information of the Reality of the US and/or the world, admit ignorance, admit they might be wrong and open to change, etc etc.... if so, they are a brother/sister in freedom... but I find this rare, and that's why we are in the dire national and international circumstances we are in... economics, political, familial values, educational, etc etc... Frankly I am embarrassed by the information I am posting below. This is why it's imperative that not only we push the greater national vote to give Ron Paul the win for President, but that a bottom up fundamental educational and informational Renaissance... remember to be worthy of a Republic, worthy of freedom and personal property, the public understanding, knowledge base, and intelligence in general has to rise... the equivalent of a societal epipheny has to take place to take the united States back, and to change the course of the world en masse.... the future looks bleak if we fail... People like Alex Jones, Jeff Rense, David Icke, John Pilger, John Bowe, Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn, William Blum, Alan Watt, etc are trying to do this very thing.... let's spread the word and the Truth... Ron Pauls victory will be a good side effect of this greater change...
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Have you ever watched Jay Leno's "Jay Walking" when he's on the streets in California and various other attempts to quiry or take the pulse of the average "Joe/Jane American" on the street to see... THis may look like propoganda or like they are picking people off the streets to play dumb, but be assured these people aren't acting, they are REAL...
Alex Jones speaks of the same median intelligence level of the average soccer mom or Joe six-pack American who can't answer basic political questions, can't accurately point out Australia on a map, some don't know who the Vice President is, San Diego State Univ. students in a random campus poll couldn't accurately answer in which year 9/11 happened (this is no joke), many don't know how many members there are in the Senate and how many for the House, most couldn't tell you what fiat currency is, most don't know what the Federal Reserve IS, DOES, or that it's not a part of the American govt, most Americans don't know that the united States is a Republic and not a Democracy, also for the past few years there is a study done of Ivy League universities (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, etc) by Intercollegiate Studies Institute, MUST READ Summary page -
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/report/summary_summary....
also,
UPI - U.S. college students fail civics test
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Harvard, even though it scored the highest, was among elite U.S. colleges where students proved dismal in their knowledge of civics and history, a report said.
The non-profit Intercollegiate Studies Institute analyzed scores of a test given to 14,419 freshmen and seniors at 50 U.S. colleges last fall, USA Today reported Tuesday.
Overall, the freshmen tested averaged 50.4 percent on a civic literacy test, while the seniors tested averaged 54.2 percent.
Seniors tested at Harvard had the highest overall average at 69.6 percent, nearly 6 points higher than its freshmen but still a D-plus, said the ISI report.
A Harvard senior was the only student among the 14,419 tested to get 100 percent correct.
Yale had the highest scoring freshman at 68.94 percent with freshmen at Princeton, Duke and Cornell also out scoring seniors who took the test, the report said.
William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told USA Today students have fewer civics requirements because the value of higher education more often is defined by knowledge of economics.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/09/18/us_college_...
SO, now that I have proved my case with just a bit of research and information that points out the dire circumstances of the oblviousness of most uninformed or disinformed Americans, willfully or unwillfully ignorant.... this is why, despite themselves, we MUST push the point home and make people understand why Ron Paul is the BEST HOPE, and use their own herd mentality logic and straw poll stats, for instance, to convince them..... etc etc
And the results above with teens, twenty somethings, and generally 30ish group who have education and school work and facts fresh in their minds (or at least should be) and they score this poorly and are not knowledgeable, imagine the older adults in America who have been further away from active education or learning... they probably know/remember even less, and are probably more trusting of their govt than the younger generation....
Education...
Is not supposed to stop after H.S. or college. It's my mission to educate my family, friends, coworkers, and anyone and everyone that will listen.
The problem with polling college kids is that they come from typical American homes, with typical American parents that spend a typical 15-20min a day actually talking to them.
What are you teaching your kids about their government? Or how the economy works?
We don't need attack ads. We need the sound byte hooks that will draw the uneducated in for a closer look. And that's when they can get a full on dose of truth. They'll never be the same afterwards...
This is why we have to translate the concepts of Freedom
into the Feelings of Freedom
Freedom is such a beautiful concept. Sure, it has great historical, philosophical, moral, and utilitarian support, but these sail above most people's heads.
What they want is to be inspried. Look at the think-nothing campaigns of othe other candidates. Vacuuous platitudes strung together with perfect smiles and waving flags. "Hope" "Stand" "Better" "Strong"
But theirs is facade. We have real foundations behind ours.
So why can we not had ads that appeal to that visceral level? The JBlack TV ads do it for me, as do many of the YouTube ads. I really like the DVD mailings (if people actually look at those.)
re[love]ution,
Dennis
Don't Vote For Ron Paul for anything less than
Re[love]ution & Renaissance
Dennis
I agree completely
The average Literacy for College students has dropped, and while the average literacy rate has increased slightly, there are fewer highly literate citizens. IF you look at science and math literacies, it is also worse.
So what can we do about it - People can't learn unless they are motivated, but once they are motivated most anyone can learn quite well. so we better start motivating them.
I've always believed the most "learned" people in this country
are those who are self taught. I have little college education and high school was a joke, but I consider myself intelligent and well learned about all sorts of subjects. It comes from using amazon.com or other bookstores and purchasing books and reading them. My wife took all college prep courses in high school and has much more higher education credits than I do, yet I whoop her arse on any and all subjects except pop culture. ;)
"It does not take a majority to prevail. But rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." ~Samuel Adams while plotting the Boston Tea Party.
http://disillusionedrants.blogspot.com/
It is discouraging
that the average American is so clueless about basic ideas. However, just think how much has been accomplished by the rEVOLution so far. We have established a resistance organization and can communicate with each other nationally and even globally. Our numbers can only grow (I'll never turn away). I'm sure the rEVOLution will continue on whether or not RP gets the nomination or presidency.
Pat, a member of our meetup group, was a precinct captain for the Goldwater campaign in 1963. She would go door to door and sell Goldwater literature. Think how hard that would be. Yet Goldwater made a lasting impression to this day.
Famous Quote from Justice William O. Douglas
"The Constitution is not neutral.
It was designed to take the government
off the backs of people."
Famous Quote from Justice William O. Douglas
"The Constitution is not neutral.
It was designed to take the government
off the backs of people."
Businesspeople know it is their fault for not conveying message
If people are generally idiots, it should be that much easier to get a message across.
My diagnosis of the RP Revolution so far:
1) We got a solid 10% base proven in Iowa and the commercial "Ron Paul, Answering his country's call" was solid for getting some basics across (the commercial saying that students from Egypt should be barred was horrible however).
This 10% can at least form the basis of a 3rd party run or, better idea, the takeover of the RNC by libertarians or a truce made with the socons and neocons resulting in a document that says the Socon/Neocon/Dem alliance will not mess with individual rights.
2) The campaign up to now has concentrated far too much on being "anti-war" which, in itself, does NOT differentiate Ron Paul from Howard Dean and UFO Kucinich and Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore.
3) Immediate remedy needed by the campaign discussing ACTUAL LOSSES OF RIGHTS like the really mentally ill Internet regulation legislation, mostly proposed by John McCain and his vapid buddy Sam Brownback (IMBRA law for instance).
4) No, nobody on the right looks at bombing enemy positions as "taking people's rights away". Non-interventionism is supported by other arguments. We must separate discussion of this.
Believe me, I am looking at plenty of conservative blogs and the vast majority of intelligent Republicans (as opposed to the really dumb ones who mostly voted for Huckleberry in Iowa) still sees us as a bunch of kooks because they are only hearing the anti-war arguments that they disagree with as opposed to the facts about our real loss of rights at home.