How did Americans collectively become so dumb and cowardly?

[Bragi]

I returned to Canada the Sunday past on a flight from the U.S where everyone, as always, had obligingly and smilingly on departure undergone shoe and belt removal and, now, pat-downs by airport security.

Upon my arrival in Toronto, I picked up a copy of the Sunday Toronto Star which had a feature on Canadians buying up real estate in Florida and other hot spots for a fraction of what these properties were worth a few years ago. According to the article, these people buy up these properties, and then rent them out in what was described as a quite robust rental market. The rental market, it explained, is healthy at least in part because it is buoyed up by demand for rental accommodation from – THE PEOPLE WHO WERE FORCED OUT OF THE HOMES NOW BEING BOUGHT UP BY SPECULATORS!

So America, my question is this: When did you become collectively so docile and subservient that you now enthusiastically embrace every imaginable indignity imposed on travelers in the name of security, can have your jobs sent overseas, can have your houses stolen, can have your taxes swiped to pay vast sums to the people who stole your jobs and your homes, and do absolutely nothing about it?

Why is it that there are not daily riots in the streets of every city in America? Why is it that the only apparent expression of grass-roots political outrage in America seems to be an idiotic movement of stupid people desperate to defeat a nefarious plan to extend health care benefits to more people?

Seriously, as your longtime Canadian friend, I want to understand what happened, America. How did you collectively get so stupid, so docile, so gutless? Do Americans even know how stupid and cowardly they now seem to the rest of the world?

- B

[Romulox]

1. Unrec. nt

[jayfish]

2. Truth Hurts? -NT-

FSH

[Romulox]

10. Nope Americans suck, but I haven't met too many Canadians who're much better.

In addition, the disease whereby Canadians and Britons can't help but "teach us about ourselves" gets old very quickly. This poster is one of a couple dozen of Canadians on this board, not somebody making first contact, after all.

[whathehell]

99. Thank you......Yes, it does get old very quickly.

[liberalhistorian]

121. Yeah, but at least they're civilized enough

not to bankrupt their sick, and to vote for more humanitarian policies. They often think of "we" and not "me", the way we do here.

[pa28]

127. I've noted this particular disease myself.

Stern lectures from one of the many "keen foreign observers" I've seen on this board get dull very quickly. Blinding insights like these are already old news to most of us and in many cases the reason we're involved with this forum.

When you write a long screed generalizing about "Americans" and then top it off with with as many gratuitous insults as possible it's hard to take to make yourself take his ideas seriously. This guy might see himself as the second coming Alexis De Tocqueville but in reality comes off more like a destructive crank.

[girl gone mad]

149. Yes, and one wonders if the OP has seen this..

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/S5_ef9ah9ZI/AAAAAAAAICk/ToxHenZhzbA/s400/canada+blog+credit+cards.png


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/S5_eJGHLpdI/AAAAAAAAICM/U-jTm2b6lPs/s400/canada+blog+personal+lines+of+credit.png


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/S5_f7is7XAI/AAAAAAAAIC0/RirI24CFCwQ/s400/canada+blog+mortgage+debt.png


I don't think we need any lectures on fiscal intelligence from Canadians.

[nyc 4 Biden]

169. deleted, moved

[mudplanet]

150. Well, I'm American. got the birth certificate to prove it. And I think it needs to be asked.

Why ARE Americans so fucking stupid?

[nyc 4 Biden]

170. beautiful response.

/sarcasm/

Americans are a bunch of ignorant lumps too eager to hate the class level below them instead of questioning the status quo.

Why are we like this. Very simple. The MSM has been successful in shoving RW talking points down our throats and now we regurgitate them as fact.

Those insulted by this OP need to wake the f#ck up!

America is supposed to be the city on the hill, we are supposed to be an example for other nations. Now we are just the opposite, as depraved, manipulative and cynical as the worst. And it's all because the populace has been asleep for 40 years.

Wake up!

I'll be traveling to DC on Saturday to protest our imperial wars (among other things) and hopefully i'll meet some true american patriots willing to stand up, not some online heroes unwilling to hear the truth from a northern ally.

eta: corrected response position

[ChiciB1]

175. Wish I Could Go With You To D.C. And Protest! Have Been There SEVERAL

times, but can't financially do it right now! Good Luck and thank you for STANDING UP for WHAT IS WRONG!!

I know of a guy who went to college here who might be there as one of the leaders. Not sure, but he was one of the Iraq Vets Against The War some years back and wrote a book and became rather successful.

I'm sure he doesn't remember me, but I was PROUD of him! He may still be around, but to have organized the way he did HERE in this VERY RED county, he and those around him ALWAYS made me PROUD!! And I was PROUD to have marched with him and his group when I did!

GOOD LUCK, and I agree with what you have stated! WAKE UP, that's something we NEED to do!!!!

[salguine]

69. Unreccing that was docile and cowardly.

[activa8tr]

96. How do I "unrec" an unrec? I think you missed the point. n/t

[merkins]

119. My Rec Unrec's your Unrec!

Wait .. did I say that right?

[awoke_in_2003]

133. And my rec...

rec's your rec to unrec his unrec (i am confused now)

[Newsjock]

3. All good points, but ...

... y'all have George W. Harper and Stockwell "Doris" Day, so it's not just us these days.

[Bragi]

11. Guilty as charged!

But do remember that our very own creepy Bush-clone throwback heads a minority government which is elected by just 35 per cent of the voting population.

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of the population votes centre and centre-left, but splits their vote between 4 parties, which gives harper a plurality of seats, though not a majority.

Clearly, this is something we have to work out, and it is embarrassing. But it's not as though a majority of Canadians voted for Harper.

[Webster Green]

4. Rec!

I think the TeeVee did it.

[arthritisR_US]

9. MSM has dumbed the populace down and trumpeted propaganda endlessly. :( n/t

[Hatchling]

20. It's public education as well as MSM.

I was an indifferent student in middle and high school (graduated with a D+ average), but in talking with younger people when I returned to college in my 40"s I was amazed at how uninformed my young peers were on simple basics like social studies to history or even on just following instructions. California went from having the best education system to being just a diploma mill to keep kids occupied until they were 18. As a TA grading papers, only one student earned an A, the others were primarily D's and C's. The A student was my age. I wasn't grading on grammar, or even decent writing. I was just grading on whether they had included the 6 areas requested in the assignment. There was such an out roar at at my having graded on the outline of the assignment that the students were all given a chance to "improve" their grade and I wasn't allowed to grade the second batch.

[Bitwit1234]

29. YOU ARE 100% CORRECT

people are glued to the TV especially Fox. They have lost the guts and spine that used to be America. They are letting crapoids like bush and cheney take over and listening to rush and drudge and malkin and FOX DUNG and believing every word they say..after all they are the media and should be believed.

[earth mom]

131. Not only that but people bought into the fake hope & change Obama sold them and are still

in denial about him even after kissed the banksters asses, escalated the war overseas, thumbed his nose at doing much about climate change in Copenhagen, created NO jobs, sold the people out on Health Care and now Obama is throwing teachers and unions under the bus.

[Fire1]

159. I recommend reading Diane Ravitch's new book for the

answers regarding public education. The decline started under H.W. Bush.

[Triana]

26. I agree. Yellow journalism and the Ignorami that it serves. n/t

[whathehell]

124. Yeah....because they

don't have TeeVee in Canada:eyes:

[Name removed]

126. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[whathehell]

139. You can research that yourself.

..You didn't even know that Fox was IN Canada..Duhh..and you're laughing at me?

See, you actually have to READ the post..When you do, you'll see that I said nothing ABOUT the effects of the "corporate media"..I simply informed you of the fact that we aren't the only country who HAS it.:silly:..Idiot!

[NNN0LHI]

5. Many of us would have to drive our imported cars to the daily riots

Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Don

[DrDan]

6. I think you are right-on-target

we like to talk a good game ("you'll have to pry this gun out of my dead hands"), but in reality - pretty cowardly.

I am not sure when it began. But - I think many downward trends began with Newt and his strategies. Not sure I can tie this one to him - but, he has taken us to lows in a number of areas.

[phatkatt]

7. YEAH!! LET'S GO GET TH - oh, wait American Idol is on ...

[FSogol]

8. The Revolution will begin when: 1. Taco Bell runs out of Chalupas and

2. Wal*Mart runs out of Diet Pepsi.

Pay Attention!

[NeedleCast]

12. "as your longtime Canadian friend"

Thanks, "friend."

Nothing like a little broad brushing between friends, right?

Meh, doesn't matter, Canada isn't a real country anyway.

[Webster Green]

17. I believe the word "collectively" shields the OP from that response.

The OP is dead on. The sum total of what we have become is exactly as described.

[NeedleCast]

27. Perhaps, but not how I read it

I agree there's a dangerous lean towards anti-intellecualism in this country and that Americans are, by and in large, not very curious or adventerous.

However, coming on a liberal web site and essentially asking "why are you so dumb?" isn't very helpful and isn't likely to produce any clear answer.

[a la izquierda]

57. No but coming on a liberal board and asking....

these questions means that perhaps the OP thinks enough of us on here to seek answers.
My own family is so fucked up and conservative that they think I'm elitist for calling them out over the proper use of terms like fascism and socialism; I'm elitist because I am close to a PhD in history; and I'm too big for my britches because I know there's more to history than Fox Snooze.

So, when Fox Snooze has the highest ratings in the land, and they feed millions of Americans bullshit and fear, I agree with the OP.

[hfojvt]

89. I think that's probably just true

in California. Collectively, of course.

Except for the girls. I wish they all could be California girls.

[whathehell]

101. Have you been to Canada recently?......Not much better....We're just better at beating ourselves up

and Hell, you can hardly even compare Canada to the US..The population differential is ENORMOUS.

[txaslftist]

48. LOL.

bwahahaha.

awesome post. Maybe the Canucks should try shouldering the burdens we've taken on ourselves.

[eridani]

144. You mean kicking the shit out of the rest of the world on a whim whenever? n/t

[Cherchez la Femme]

97. "Not a real country"?!

Are you insane or completely uneducated? Worst of all, you're obviously proud of your status.

You've completely proved the OP's post. Congratulations.

[whathehell]

100. Touche!

[era veteran]

13. Fluoride in the water?

[quinnox]

14. unrecommended

America bashing is so boring, guess what, not all of us are the same. Just like in all countries, there are good and bad people. Idiot.

[Johonny]

50. pretty much

Just a boring flame bait post.

[branders seine]

15. please don't hurt us

please!

[azul]

16. America is the test case for corporate rights.

If enough people can be convinced that corporations are smarter than them and deserve to be running the government, then, well, they'll have to drink some more beer and watch American Idyll, and be contented with what they got.

It is breeding for domestication and dullness.

[txaslftist]

53. If enough people can be convinced that corporations are smarter...

they'll adopt universal health care.

Just saying.

[treestar]

84. A smaller population country would make a better test case

Like, say, Canada.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. TV and HFCS

and serious dumbing down of the schools. maybe?

[Bigmack]

19. Adjusting my tinfoil hat...

I think the MSM is only one of the tools the Right has been using to turn this country into sheep. The real problem here is that the "vast rightwing conspiracy" really exists, and it has been framing (Lakoff) issues for years. They have studied how American advertising sells - or discourages sales, and used those methods to mind-fuck the population. The Left has failed miserably to respond, probably because there is a lot more money in the Rightwing/corporatist coffers, but also because the Left isn't nearly rabid enough. We were living our lives and trying to make things better, while the Right was laying plans for the far-off future. That future is now.

[SidDithers]

21. Here's the article from Sunday...

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/newsfeatures/article/779603--half-price-homes-canadians-pounce-on-the-sunbelt

Sid

[Mari333]

22. HEY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez9t8SlXZz4


:P

[indepat]

23. Complex issue, but Americans, in large part, are largely ignorant and being fed the

official line by a media mostly owned by those who espouse a radical RW ideology and agenda. So most Americans are fed the big lie and far too few bother inform themselves of the ruin inflicted by those espousing this radical RW agenda, i.e., wholly irresponsible fiscal policies, grossly unfair tax policies, ludicrous drug and incarceration policies, spending as much on the military as the rest of the world, ridiculously low minimum wages, no universal health care, the further concentration od wealth among a precious few, pernicious greed and fraud by the Wall Street banksters. Need I go on. The MSM, instead of exposing all this for what it is, hide the truth from the people and instead, support it all. :)

[Fire1]

55. This is a BIG part of it! P.T. Barnum said it best, "There's a

sucker born every minute."

[whathehell]

102. Then how is it that, last I heard, Canada has Fox News as well?

[indepat]

114. Does Canada have several cable outlets serving up RW garbage 24-7?

Besides, Canadians are probably a little swifter and not so eaten up with (RW) religiosity to the extent so may Americans are. :)

[whathehell]

116. No......and that might be because

..Canada has about ONE TENTH the population of the USA?

Canadians are definitely not "swifter"...My spouse worked for a Canadian based company for almost ten years...He and his American team were constantly being called up to Toronto to "help" them with their problems, help they resented getting from an American, even though he is, by virtually all accounts, personable, low-key and highly considerate in his work life.

In his experience, Canadians are short on initiative and slow to take any action which didn't reach "consensus".

And if we and our country are so comparatively "dumb", how come the ratio of Canadians moving to the US versus USers moving to Canada continues to be about four to one?

[Ho Tai]

24. For people to get it...

I say it's mandatory for Progressives to replace "MSM" with "SPC" -- Servile Press Corps.

[dogfacedboy]

25. What do you expect?

What can be expected from a nation in which artery clogging $1 double-cheeseburgers can be had without even getting one's fat, lazy ass out of the car?

[Romulox]

28. Did you know that Canadians use more energy per capita than any people on Earth?

:shrug:

[SidDithers]

31. Prove it...

:rofl:

Sid

[NeedleCast]

36. That acutally wouldn't surprise me

Considering the level of industrialism/technology and the length/coldness of their winters.

[SidDithers]

37. Our energy usage is very, very high...

but it's not the highest, as was claimed by that poster.

Sid

[Romulox]

39. I mispoke. A few micro states use more per capita (Bahrain, UAE):

Canadians nonetheless use more energy per capita than Americans. :hi:

http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/energy-resources/variable-351.html

[SidDithers]

45. Kuwait and Iceland...

are hardly microstates, and they too have higher energy usage per capita than Canada. (As do Luxembourg, Dutch Antilles and Qatar)

Canadian energy consumption is nothing to be proud of, but you were trying to score points with "facts" critical of Canadians, in a thread where a Canadian OP is critical of Americans. Unfortunately, you pulled the "facts" from your ass.

And of course Canadians use more energy than Americans. We're bigger and colder, with virtually the same standard of living.

Sid

[Romulox]

47. Kuwait has 2.7 million people. Iceland 300,000. Of course they're micro states. nt

[SidDithers]

51. Kuwait is ~ 1/10th the population of Canada...

That scale seems to be OK for your comparison between Canada and the US.

Edit: UAE is ~ 1/5th the population of Canada.

Sid

[Romulox]

54. Any grouping is arbitrary at some point. Canadians use more energy than Americans.

That's an objective fact.

[SidDithers]

56. So why didn't you make that point...

instead of trying to claim that "Canadians use more energy per capita than any people on Earth"?

You were trying to score points and got caught :rofl:

Sid

[Romulox]

59. Gimmeabreak. I had plenty time to edit. I corrected and took my lumps.

Way to be gracious to someone who admits error. Very Canadian of you. :rofl:

"You were trying to score points and got caught"

I kinda did score a point though. You guys are more gluttonous than any major country on earth. :hi:

[NeedleCast]

60. Energy Consumption /= Energy Efficiency

There's a reason Canada consumes lots of energy. It's cold. The more important question would be one of energy efficiency.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that contries in the far north or near the equator consume, per capita, more energy, than countries in more temperate climates.

[SidDithers]

61. I must have missed where you admitted your error...

"mispoke" and qualifying statements? You've got a funny way of admitting your statement was flat wrong.

:hi:

Sid

[Romulox]

62. Well played!

Good show not acknowledging "misspoke" as an admission of error (even though a reasonable person would accept it as such.) That would be letting me off too easy when, as you say, there are points left on the table! :silly:

[whathehell]

168. You're "bigger" only in the sense of geography

Your population is about one tenth of ours.

[Romulox]

41. These numbers from 2003 understate Canada's current usage.

Canada has the highest energy usage per capita of any "major" country (quibble with my qualifier if you will, but I'm talking a non-micro state.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_energy_consumption_per_capita

[jberryhill]

58. $1 double cheeseburgers?

Cool.

Where?

[whathehell]

103. I see...and Canada doesn't have fast food drive-throughs?

[quinnox]

30. wow 19 recommendations so far?

This will be a good thread for freeper fodder, it reinforces the stereotype of the left "hating America".

Good job folks.

:sarcasm:

[Iggo]

32. As your longtime American friend...

...a big Eff You to you, too!

:hi:

[raouldukelives]

33. We have quite a few republicans living here

With a collective large, shrill voice. I haven't met a republican who wasn't afraid of something. WMD's, gays, estate taxes, immigrants, Michael Moore. They always have to have a boogeyman and they are frightened to the core by them.
Name just about any minor issue and somewhere a conservative is shaking in a puddle of pee over it.

[era veteran]

44. Don't forget gun control, evolution, global warming and Jesus

They must have divisive issues. Unfortunately the right is good at it. Yes, they use the boogeyman a lot.

[The_Commonist]

34. We've been blinded by baubles...

...and that awful TV machine.

Really, I think it's the normal deterioration of an empire, it's just happening in hyperspeed compared to other empires. We're crumbling due to our own hubris, which is brought on by all the crap we feed our brains. A couple of generations without the struggle for survival has turned us into a nation of pussies.

[slackmaster]

35. K&R - the truth hurts indeed

:hi: up there!

[midnight]

38. The American psyche has been branded by the pros. They know we love our

flag and all that it binds us to it. To question that means we don't love it "our beautiful country". A slick slogan started being repeated by bush-you are either with us or your a terrorist. They didn't remove parts of our constitution. O no, how could they? They were slicker than that. Instead they wrote their own. It is called the patriot act. So those who are perceived as not being with them. and from your travels, could be all of us, are subjected to being treated like prisoners. The branded American psyche has been branded as those who respond quite nicely to fear. It is sold 24 seven via our media.

[G_j]

40. sad indeed

K&R

[Echo In Light]

42. The Manufacture of Consent & the astonishing power of denial & warped belief systems

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EjYtO28-Nk4/SYtgGVzM9RI/AAAAAAAABBQ/Qil4FG2gSzM/s400/noam+media+control.jpg

[zeos3]

73. Have you seen this? Take a look.

Decoding The Language Of Social Control
(Democracy Is Communism and Must Be Destroyed)


The social programming language of capitalist authoritarianism seeks to activate personal greed, intellectual insecurity and visceral racism as motivators of guided popular political reaction. The Pavlovian logic to this scheme of social manipulation is that all human beings are possessive, gullible and fearful.

As we become more self-aware, more experienced and better educated, we can see through many of the racist concepts and attitudes of the past. But it is self-deception to imagine that we have ever individually “gone beyond racism” in our visceral responses to the instants of daily life that erupt before us, or that we will never have a sudden emotion, thought or fear that is completely above the muck of primordial racist reaction. It is intellectual pride, and false, to assume we can consciously will ourselves to transcend the psychological reactions of our paleo-mammalian brains. Instead, it is psychologically much healthier to realize that our common human nature assures that any behavior humanly possible, remains humanly possible for each of us as well.

C. G. Jung made this point about Nazism, that those people least likely to act like Nazis and Nazi collaborators were those who knew they had no special immunity to Nazi psychology (not assuming they were too “intellectual”, “moral”, or “religious” to be swayed), but instead actively countered its influences to their behavior. A similar attitude operating out of the cerebral cortex is needed to manage the unthinking motivations arising out of our deeper-set limbic system, our reptilian brain. Racism is a burst of raw emotional energy whose emergence is to be detected and redirected intelligently, while within the individual.

People whose self-awareness, of the type described, are weak and under-developed and can be manipulated more easily. “There’s a sucker born every minute” (pre-1898, attribution uncertain). People who are keenly aware of this psychology, and devoid of moral principles, like the fictional Elmer Gantry and the all-too-real Joseph Goebbels, can manage the herding of a mass of people to give up their power — in every sense of the word — to a driving elite. The few rule the many by persuasion. The levers of direction are the popular flaws of character.


http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/03/decoding-the-language-of-social-control/

[Echo In Light]

80. Thanks for the heads up

[nadinbrzezinski]

108. Thanks

[Spazito]

43. Wow! Have you checked our own country's reputation lately...

it's not doing too well...at all and rightly so. Our (Canada's) government has implemented over the top security crap as well and that was done under the Libs. Americans are docile but Canadians are not? harper shut down the government through a process he thoroughly abused and where were the majority of Canadians? On the net posting how upset we are. A few Canadians were out protesting but the vast majority of Canadians were, dare I say, docile.

Let's talk about climate change, shall we. I am pretty sure I have seen millions of Canadians on the streets protesting the oil sands project, you know, the abhorrently polluting mess in Northern Alberta ....oh, wait a minute....I am wrong....there were and are no protests.

Do you think there are no homes lost in for closure that have been bought up by speculators in Canada? Really?


I could go on but, damn, I think we should clean up our own backyard before telling anyone else to clean up there's.

Unrec'd

[treestar]

88. I'd also be curious if they are no Canadian jobs going abroad

They are not having that same thing happen to them?

[Spazito]

91. Oh yes, outsourcing is definitely happening here, an example...

the contract for Canada House, the building representing Canada at the Olympics, was given to a U.S. company by our government. There has been the out-sourcing of ship-building, exporting raw lumber and importing the finished products, etc. instead of having the finished product having been produced here.

[Winterblues]

46. Me not dumb or fraid....... I have big gun....

Me need big gun cause so many also have big gun and they come for me....I shoot them, Ha, so me no fraid...

[txaslftist]

49. When did Canadians become so snarky and snide?

Especially since you don't exactly have your house in order.

[Dreamer Tatum]

67. Post-Olympics chest thumping nt

[whathehell]

104. Thank you!

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

52. So you didn't act cowardly and refused to remove your belt, shoes or be scanned or patted down?

Let me guess, your protest only involved you refusing to smile while it was happening to you? :rofl:

[hunter]

63. Lead, mercury, other metallic poisons, pesticides, HFCS, other fake foods, and corrupt news media.

Our brains are damaged by our own poisons, and then the corrupt news media fills our dysfunctional heads with nonsense and doublespeak.

[uppityperson]

64. You should check airport security in France.

Last week when returning from visiting family, I had my passport & boarding pass checked at least 8 times before I got on the plane. I had my carry-on x-rayed twice, physically searched once, then had the choice of a full body pat down or the scanner thingie (I did the scanner, they got to see my breasts rather than feeling them up). Oh yes, had to remove shoes, belt, pocket stuff, jacket and sweater (down to last layer before bra) while going through the 3 major security check points.

I guess the French are also stupid, docile, gutless.

[ljm2002]

65. It is due to an onslaught of disinformation...

...misinformation, lies, and muddying the waters. This has been a conscious campaign of the haves, in order to better protect their position and to bring us back to something more akin to their view of the natural order of things, which appears to be a form of feudalism wherein the great majority of people are wage slaves, and the middle class barely exists.

The last thing they want is a nation full of critical thinkers. They tried that, back after WWII, and got the '60's as a result. They decided then and there, they were not gonna make that mistake again.

Their results have been nothing short of spectacular.

[Dreamer Tatum]

66. I'm "soory," but your post makes no sense whatsoever...none.

I returned to Canada the Sunday past on a flight from the U.S where everyone, as always, had obligingly and smilingly on departure undergone shoe and belt removal and, now, pat-downs by airport security.

Maybe you should get out more often. Extra security checks are SOP everywhere in the world now. I would feel a little sheepish trying to explain why, except for the guy who tried to blow up a plane with explosives hidden in his garments about 90 days ago. You might see if the Toronto Star carried that story.

Upon my arrival in Toronto, I picked up a copy of the Sunday Toronto Star which had a feature on Canadians buying up real estate in Florida and other hot spots for a fraction of what these properties were worth a few years ago. According to the article, these people buy up these properties, and then rent them out in what was described as a quite robust rental market.


So let's review. You call Americans "stupid" and "docile" for not rioting in the streets over, among other things, the practice of landlording. If Canadians are the ones exploiting the market woes, however, shouldn't Americans be picketing CANADIANS? Your point seems to be that Americans are lazy, stupid, and docile for not rising up against the people exploiting them. But you seem to forget what you just wrote, because the people exploiting us poor morons are...YOU. I guess the picketers will show up at your place any time now.

Say, do picket signs have to be bilingual, too?

The rental market, it explained, is healthy at least in part because it is buoyed up by demand for rental accommodation from – THE PEOPLE WHO WERE FORCED OUT OF THE HOMES NOW BEING BOUGHT UP BY SPECULATORS!

So speculators are bad, right? Except, of course, when they can't pronounce a schwa.


So America, my question is this: When did you become collectively so docile and subservient that you now enthusiastically embrace every imaginable indignity imposed on travelers in the name of security, can have your jobs sent overseas, can have your houses stolen, can have your taxes swiped to pay vast sums to the people who stole your jobs and your homes, and do absolutely nothing about it?


Most of your points have nothing to do with one another, and in any case I don't know anyone who enthusiastically supports any of that stuff.


Why is it that there are not daily riots in the streets of every city in America? Why is it that the only apparent expression of grass-roots political outrage in America seems to be an idiotic movement of stupid people desperate to defeat a nefarious plan to extend health care benefits to more people?


Because we're subservient and docile to our Canadian landlords. Please, we're soory. We'll pay our rent. Please don't send your hockey goons down to Florida to threaten us with eviction...we'll pay the rent...we promise, sir. We're so, so soory.



Seriously, as your longtime Canadian friend, I want to understand what happened, America. How did you collectively get so stupid, so docile, so gutless? Do Americans even know how stupid and cowardly they now seem to the rest of the world?


Because when the world imagines white-hot vessels of political rage, they imagine Canadians. Right.

I'm soory we Americans have complicated lives. It comes with the territory when the GDP of your largest state dwarfs that of the country to your North. We're working on it. You could do your part by not kicking people out of their homes so you can be their landlords. OK, Mr. Potter?

:eyes:

[dionysus]

71. you don't know what you're talking aboot.

:rofl:

[ChiciB1]

174. Just One Added Point... Maybe A Canadian Attacking America Seems Snide....

However, WE MUST consider what is going on here in America as Americans and deal with what has gone wrong. One country calling the other out may not be the most effective point to make, STILL America DOES need to STOP letting THE BIG GUYS roll us! So rather than going tit for tat with the OP, maybe we can FOCUS on our PROBLEMS too!

JMHO!!

[KansDem]

68. "John Wayne"

Seriously, I was raised on John Wayne-type movies. You know, the ones that showed Americans as heroic and always on the side of right. We destroyed the German and Japanese war machines as we championed democracy and freedom.

Forget Korea, which resulted in a stalemate (I do believe there is a war going on and what we have now is technically a "ceasefire"). China was a big factor in that skirmish. You remember China? They were the ones who would use Korea to march down through southeast Asia and would soon be marching down Mainstreet, USA? Now they sell their wares on Mainstreet, USA.

Forget Vietnam, where we got our butts kicked but now buy its exports.

Forget the Mideast, where we allowed ourselves to be lied into war and where we will now suffer the same fate as the Soviets. And from where we suck the oil teat (Did you know a Saudi prince owns a quarter of Fox News?).

We are still "good" and "wholesome" and shun evil Socialism. Ask any US corporation, particularly those with constant access to US media.

Oh, and incidentally, what John Wayne-type movies didn't show was how forces conspired to overthrow the very democracy of good and wholesomeness from within. You know, the Prescott Bushes who sought to overthrow FDR. And the meddling in central and south American where we overthrew elected democracies in the name of democracy.

"Watergate," "Iran-Contra," "Stolen Election2000"--these kinds of things happen in other countries. You know, countries with Socialism.

In this country, we don't take no handouts! We work hard!

Lose a house?--you didn't work hard enough!
Lose your job?--you didn't work hard enough!
Lose your healthcare?--you didn't work hard enough!

Gotta work hard to succeed in this country, and if you fail, well, it's because you didn't work hard!

That's what John Wayne movies tell us.

Oh, and Canada? I'm in awe of your recent project of mining dangerous uranium on the north rim of one of our most-precious and scenic areas--the Grand Canyon! What chutzpah! Guess you guys work hard!

Now, if you excuse me, I think "Back to Bataan" is coming up on the TV...

[Echo In Light]

74. +1

[dionysus]

70. why do you guys have those stupid sounding accents?

if you're gonna be a jerk about stuff for no reason....
:shrug:

[treestar]

83. +1

[moondust]

72. It started 30 years ago

with the election of Ronald Raygun and an unwise prolonged shift of the political center to the right.

[zeos3]

75. Social control

"The essence of social control can be traced to influences over what people care about; what their values are, and what’s important to them. In the US, the messages of what to care about are very clear from birth: yourself, your status, your beauty, your wealth, your people, your country. While the focus is the individual, the values are all dictated from outside. We call this phenomenon “depersonalized narcissism”—the individual thinks and cares almost exclusively about “himself” but only in the externally, societally proscribed ways.

In reality, the supposed “self-interest” that motivates the individual in society is nothing of the sort. Instead, it is the programmed interest of those who have the power to impose their will upon the masses."




"Justifying our capitalist system is a strange economic concept that all individuals acting out of selfishness will result in the greatest good for the society as a whole. Think about that for a second. Does it make sense, in theory or practice? Is it in line with the values of any sort of religion? Why would selfishness be a good thing to base a society on?

US social control is much more sophisticated than outright authoritarianism. In fact, social control is so effective in the US mostly because people are taught not to be on the lookout for it. The forces of control have essentially kept us in a childlike mental state—helpless and dependant upon their authority."



http://www.truthmove.org/content/social-control/

[Edweird]

76. You're right,(mostly-we disagree about HCR). It's pretty pathetic.

[happy_liberal]

77. learned helplessness

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7929635

[warm regards]

78. Well, at least you are back in Canada.

:boring:

[Swamp Rat]

79. We steadily cultivated our stupidity, often making leaps downward aided by technology.

:D

[kgnu_fan]

81. It is like dinosaur - got too big without enough brain power to manage the system

Sad... but if you see anything that got too big without appropriate boundary, the whole system collapses...observe this in nature...

[treestar]

82. It must not be as bad as it looks

It's not happening to so many people.

It's not like the economy of Canada can never ever have its downs. If it does not, more power to you.

We borrowed a lot of money to put military hardware everywhere, maybe we have a sense that we overreached?

[RagAss]

85. Reagan....Next question please.

[ccinamon]

125. yep...Reagan...and his currying the wingnut christian faction...n/t

[ChiciB1]

176. That's Actually Ronnie RAY-GUNS To Me!!! n/t

[truedelphi]

86. I ask myself this question a lot. no one here is capable of thinking critically -

I just got back from a health clinic. Due to a new revamped system, my health insurance was not in force to day. Not my fault - perhaps the fault of whoever bought that new expensive system computer system.

Clinic receptionist informed me that I could not be seen, due to insurance card showing up as "invalid". What if my spouse calls in our credit card number to pay for my visit? I ask, trying to get medication I have needed since Friday.

"No, that would be against our protocols."

I demanded to see an administrator in the business office. I explained my spouse was a patient too, our doctor knew both of us. I apologized profusely for not having said credit card on me, but since I had no idea that anything more than $ 1 co-pay would be needed to day, I hadn't brought it along.

Finally the clinic agrees to take our money. And by doing so probably got at least sixty bucks more than they would from the insurer.


But you would have thought I was asking to take their money, rather than making an offer to pay out ours! And so it goes, life in America. Where everyone knows the latest app to text their friends, but few can think straight.

[whathehell]

115. NO one?...NO ONE in America can "think critically"?

That's absolute nonsense...When will people learn that no one respects self-debasers?

[truedelphi]

147. point taken. n/t

[treestar]

87. Sarah Palin can see Canada from her porch

Be very afraid.

[shockra]

90. When did Canadians become such assholes?

Club any baby seals lately?

I see your cowardly quota has been increased by 50,000.

[Daemonaquila]

156. Amazing, Dems acting like hateful Rethugs...

"Yer not American! How dare you say anything about America! Go away, furriner!!!!!!!!!!"

[Greyhound]

92. 1980, when they chose the corporate fantasy over the changes forced

over the previous three decades.

[tom_paine]

93. Cowardly as 1933 Germans, so you'd better watch out for us.

The how of it is a long story, but lets just say the aristocracy decided long ago to take back what they briefly parted with during the height of the Old American Republic (1945-1980).

THIS time, though, they had a deeper understanding of both behavioral psychology and statistical psychology than had ever been possessed by human beings before.

It took some time, a generation or two, but they finally made us into their image of the Perfect Subject Populace.

Which is to say stupid, docile, and gutless. Possessing of no history but what the TV tells us, which is written anew daily depending on what our Corporate Masters want us to be - but overall stupid, docile, and gutless is the way they wanted us to be and so is now the way we are.

However, stupid, docile and cowardly people enabled the worst and nastiest of world-destroying tyrants. Stupid, docile and cowardly people staff conecentration camps, and are quite brutal to those in their power.

Who knows where this will end? It might look as if the Tea Party is pushing us to an Uber-Right Nazi-like State, but the Tea Party itself is a psyops construct and fully under Corporate and Intelligence control.

[tomg]

179. Save for a slight quibble

over the date ( I would move the Old American Republic back to Roosevelt's election), your post absolutely nails it.

"Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, and America on a sesame seed bun"

[mdmc]

94. 1980 i think

[activa8tr]

95. ONE ANSWER TO COVER ALL QUESTIONS: Fox News!

To my way of thinking, Fox News did this to America, because, collectively, there are more less intelligent, more people who love America and the flag, and more paranoid Americans, all of which together watch Fox News, than people who "get it".. like 98% of DU members, who know Fox News is nowhere near "fair and balanced".

[Lorien]

136. It ain't just Fox News, it's all news

until we DEMAND that the Fairness doctrine be reinstated nothing will change.

[skeptical cynic]

98. I'd say the problem is infotainment and laziness, but...

I don't see that big a difference between Canada and the other 50 states.

I think Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) was recently detained at the border out of fear that she was going to say something negative about the Vancouver Olympics.

And there is that baby harp seal thing mentioned above.

And when we were in Canada about a year ago, we ordered breakfast and the egg yolks were a funny color.

But basically, I agree. Why aren't US citizens shutting the place down and demanding change?

[depakid]

105. "Do Americans even know how stupid and cowardly they now seem to the rest of the world? "

Nope- many take great pride in their wilful ignorance and disguise their cowardice in towering expressions of bravado.

[whathehell]

111. No, but I'm sure the "rest of the world" will be glad to Tell us while they've

got their hands out for our tourist dollars.:eyes:

Maybe we should ask the rest of the world how "stupid and cowardly" we were when they were begging us to come and save their asses from the results of their own destructive ideological excesses during World War II.

[depakid]

148. A bit of history for you..

America only got involved because the Japanese attacked them.

Otherwise, they would have been perfectly content to have let the rest of the world fall to the Axis. And then go communist, as it was the Russians who defeated Hitler- and would have done so with or without American involvement.

[BlooInBloo]

106. Uh, we've been that way for damn near all my life at least. It isn't new....

And you forgot "mean" and "bigoted" from your description too. :)

[whathehell]

109. Who is this "we"?....

You can speak for yourself....or perhaps for the denizens of Free Republic.

[nadinbrzezinski]

107. As much as I at times have my trobles with Chomsky

read him... and especially Manufacturing of Consent. The answer you seek is in there... partly

Then there is this Imperial Hubris, but don't bother us with the cost of such... just tell us we're number one.

I know this is a "simple" explanation, but really the land of the free is now the land of the cowards and ignorant nationalist shills.

[whathehell]

112. Speak for YOURSELF..and whatever sad company you keep..

I'm an American and am neither "ignorant" or cowardly.

[The Wizard]

110. Corporate dominance has killed innovation

And enough Americans don't like to think so as to give Republican fear and dogma a foothold.
As long as the Bushes, Cheneys and Karl Rove are free there is no basis of law and there is no justice.

[Kievan Rus]

113. TeeVee + crummy public schools + attitude of "it's cool to be stupid"

[Canuckistanian]

117. I hardly think that Canada can be excluded from your denouncements

After all, OUR manufacturing sector has been outsourced, OUR housing market has been ravaged by the banking system and OUR taxes are being paid to those who don't need it, too.

Mind you, these problems seem to be FAR WORSE in the States, PLUS you've currently got an insane, dysfunctional political system. But overall, we see the same problems.

Why don't we see daily riots in the streets in the U.S.A.? Why don't we see them in Canada, either?

[OnionPatch]

118. It's the media

The media tells us all what to think now. Only those of us who do real research and thoughtful analysis can escape the programming.

[troubledamerican]

120. Count Chocula & other breakfast cereals were sweetened with lead paint chips in the 1980s

[joe_sixpack]

122. So..... you win one hockey game and....

Sure, we might not be as sophisticated a populace as those watching reruns of "Beachcombers" while scarfing down some back bacon and Kraft dinners, and we might not exactly know the French equivalents of "free", "prize", and "no sugar added", thanks to your extensive education in bilingual cereal packaging. But at least we know better than to wear socks with sandals. Write me back when you guys learn how to make decent beer. :evilgrin:

[applegrove]

123. Harry Reid wrote a tremendous letter on HCR last week and it didn't

make the MSM from what I could tell.

[EFerrari]

128. Raygun.

That was a real turning point. This country decided to turn against labor, against its own most vulnerable citizens, against integration, against any other entity within its scope, for media consolidation.

And he was Joe McCarthy's spiritual child and now, the right wing's saint.

It's enough to make one vomit.

[VPStoltz]

129. They've been beaten into it by low wages, underfunded schools, and Wingnut propoganda.

[earth mom]

130. I wondered the same thing all through the * years, but even more so since Obama

when people bought into the fake hope & change that is proving to be nothing but shit served up on a silver platter.

[change_notfinetuning]

132. Ronald Wilson Reagan - He got caught on "ketchup is a vegetable", but got

away with everything else - like trickle down economics, Iran-Contra, October surprise, Grenada - you name it. He got young people, who had been questioning authority, to question nothing. Oh, we still question things - things like asking Clinton "boxers or briefs?", but not "if everything sold here is made in China, what will Americans do?" Or "why can pay-day lenders and credit card issuers do legally what loan sharks would go to jail for?"

USA! USA! USA!
We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!
Just say NO!
Morning in America!

Slogans, photo ops, sound bites and well-orchestrated PR replaced thinking and reasoned arguments.

Dumbing down America started with Reagan, plain and simple, but continues to thrive.

[Lorien]

137. Plus the Fairness Doctrine

they control the message. They hold the only megaphone.

[democracy1st]

134. K & R

[Lorien]

135. Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which led to Pravda 24/7

the mainstream media has a very unified message that encourages citizens to be quiet, meek, uniformed, fearful consumers. or at worst authoritarian foot soldiers for the ruling elite. Toe the line. Never question. Breed. Consume. Remember that America is the "Greatest Nation on Earth".

[daleanime]

138. Sure as hell didn't happen over night....

and it will take a lot longer to fix, if it can be fixed.:hurts:

[SourFlower]

140. We have children being taught that humans rode around on dinosaurs.

Once you begin that process, you can get people to go along with ANYTHING. I'm just as appalled as you are.

[rpannier]

141. Watch Televison

You'd think 100000 children had been kidnapped today and 600000 of them were molested and/or murdered

You'd think that 15000 young, blondes are missing somewhere

You think everyone of your neighbors is probably the next Jeffrey Daumer

You'd think that fringe lunatics with idiotic rantings were actually the mainstream of thought

You'd think that every person whose ancestry isn't from Europe is secretly a terrorist or a cultist

Well not every European...Gotta watch those Slavs, Mediterranean and Nordic types -- Nordics are all Socialists..
Oh and the French, gotta beware of them French and Irish and Scots.
Oh yeah...the Germans, they're always trying to take over the world
Did I mention the Dutch -- Drug users
Belgians, them too. They're just wanna-be French
Austrians...They're just Catholic Germans

[polly7]

142. Geez why did I bother to read this thread?

Probably 1 Freeper posing as a Canadian, or ONE stupid Canadian (yeah, we have our share) posts nothing but flamebait and it turns into a kindergarten fight.

:crazy:

OP, nice ......... way to bring out every stereotypical insults on both 'sides'. And to all those who lumped us all together as the flaimer did to you despite pretending you're above it ......... kma.

[puebloknot]

143. Here's a hint: "Amazing Grace" served up twice on Sunday and once in the middle of the week! nt

[davidthegnome]

145. Hmm

I think there's a great many people feeling helpless. There's also the fact that our number of registered voters is kinda... smaller, than it should be. The middle class shares the same problem. Many large protests have been held - there will be another on March 20th. It's certainly not that we don't care - it's just that in recent times the protests haven't been all that effective. Riot? You know, much as I would like to, I have this terrible aversion to tear gas and big police men with clubs.

I suppose I could be a dumb coward, all things considered. Yet I am not sitting here implying, even in generality, that any other Nation is full of dumb cowards, it just strikes me as a dumb thing to do. Is telling us that we're dumb cowards (even generally speaking) really going to inspire progress? Isn't it actually more likely to annoy people or make them angry? Or perhaps that's the intent, make people angry to inspire them to action. We've all simply heard it too many times before, it's far more likely to inspire people to be annoyed with you.
We've got loads of problems, some bigger than others, we could certainly do better - and many of us are trying.

As for how we seem to the rest of the world... most of us are more concerned about the reality of how things are, then how we are seen by those living in more righteous, civilized Nations. While we appreciate your concern, we dumb cowards simply can't match your level of intellect and courage.

We'll try harder, really.

[Golden Raisin]

146. No simple answers but some

components are a (deliberately) underfunded educational system which over the last 50 years has produced a horrifyingly dumbed-down, docile population. A corporate-owned, powerful media juggernaut of 24/7 rightwing propaganda shamefacedly passed off as "news". Modernday bread and circuses to anesthetize/hypnotize/divert the masses (live coverage of car chases, "Dancing With The Stars", a plethora of "Reality" shows in which the participants compete for gold medals in crassness, vulgarity, violence and stupidity, top-story saturation "news" coverage of missing white girls in Aruba while Constitutional rights are being taken away, etc.)

[OneBlueSky]

151. high fructose corn syrup? . . . n/t

.

[Joe Bacon]

152. Millions of people are waiting for Jesus to come back

Use my family as an example. They are convinced that JC and his Sonshine Band are coming back to rapture them into heaven any day now. In fact, they're glad to believe things are getting worse. The worse things get, the more convinced they are that the rapture is at hand.

I wonder what they will do when Israel nukes Iran and then gets counternuked in return. What will they say when JC pulls a no show?

[leveymg]

153. They bought a year's worth of peace with false Hope.

After that wears off completely, it's back to the COINTELPROs and political dirty tricks against the opposition. Those that are still working have no time for revolution. Those who aren't have no organization or means to carry one out. Business as usual - the Robber Barons figured it out in the 1880s, they can pay half the working classes to kill the other half -- that's why we're so docile.

[Aleric]

154. Comfort

We are the new Roman Empire. We are comfortable. Why should we upset that? Oh, sure we could make things better but that would take work and we wouldn't even get paid for it.

[druidity33]

155. OH YEAH... well, we can KICK YOUR ASS

with all of our weapons and glory!

erm.....


that's all i got.

:(

[RedstDem]

157. Thats an easy one

Since Reagan turned our govt to the right, a main target for cuts has been education, as educated people are less likely to vote republican and are harder to control. So it makes sense for conservatives to attack education, and they will continue till there's nothing left.

thats what your seeing.

horrifying isn't it?, this attitude has been transferring over to the Democrats as well.

[wizstars]

158. TELEVISION...

...and too much tofu.

We started letting the teevee thing do our thinking for us. It was downhill to Reagan & Limbaugh from there.

TV turned our brains to mush with sitcoms, and tofu did same to our bodies.

[swilton]

160. Richard Hofstadter

ANTI INTELLECTUALISM IN AMERICAN LIFE - to summarize briefly, written in the late 1950's early 60's looks at America's past for the answer - it's religious influence on society, its decentalized settlement fostering a culture that regarded formal education less than traditional family values; the tendencies of families who feared educating their children would lead to children smarter than their parents led to actual resentment of education by the populace at large.

I see much of what Hofstadter wrote illustrated in today's society...The Scopes Monkey Trial was a challenge by creationism against the teaching of evolution - happened in the US south in the 1930s - that same challenge is still going on today...Even our own senators are global warming deniers...Military service rather than intellectual acumen seems to be a litmus test for our political leaders; rather in the case of George W. Bush, the criteria was whether or not we elected someone you could have a beer with other than his opponent who laughingly was portrayed as a nerd.

Back in the 1930s, the neoMarxists and political scientists fleeing from Germany to this country questioned why the socialist revolution begun in the east did not convey to North America...Their answer was the movie industry - the 'common man' could go to the theater and live out his frustrations vicariously with movies such as The Wizard of Oz and It's a Great Life, et. al. rather than, as in other countries, taking his frustrations out in the streets.

Saddly I agree with you - consumerism has replaced our intellectual curiosity.

[paparush]

161. Last year on DU, there was a post - "The Source of Stupid has been Discovered"

Its a HUGE image containing a collage of Fox News Headlines and scrolling texts.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5331986

[xiamiam]

162. tv, media, hogwash disarmed critical thinking..nt

[Lerkfish]

163. Better question: when did Torontians become so heartless and cruel

as to take people thrown out of their homes, and then charge them usury to live in the same homes? How evil are you canucks?

(equally valid argument)

[h9socialist]

164. It's not so much stupidity . . .

. . . (although I'm sure there's plenty of that) as it is "tunnel vision" and myopia. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent a fortune in convincing the public that major corporations are the "people" and that business is GOOD, and anything that seeks to regulate it is bad. This mental feebleness was particularly rampant during the Reagan years. (Reagan being one of the greatest historical disasters of all time). The recent collapse of financial capitalism roused a lot of people out of their Reaganist stupor. However, sufficient numbers of petty bourgeois half-wits still extoll the virtues of unbridled private property, to keep myopia alive and well in the U.S.

[scentopine]

165. Our leadership is dumb and cowardly so naturally

we are as well. We have behaved as a nation of collective sociopaths, incapable of empathy or guilt, showing no remorse for the human suffering we have caused around the world.

We have rewarded wall street with trillions of dollars because our democratic and republican leadership is using wall street as an example of American success. So naturally we want to emulate them.

In order to protect wall street, we are only too happy to sacrifice everything. The lifestyles of the 10% uber rich will be protected on the backs of the other 90%. And we are happy to carry that burden so our rich may be examples for the rest of us.

Its a beautiful system and neither democrats nor republicans (both converging into a single party system) are demonstrating any desire to change the system.

We reward the healthy rich people (and the purity of their individual accomplishments with no help from anyone else) and punish the sick, poor. If we didn't punish the sick and poor and hold them accountable - well, we'd all just sit around getting sick and eating bon-bons and watching soap operas. You know how it goes for all of lazy working class. So I thank our leaders for beatings and over time my morale will improve.

That's the magic of the market at work. Your country may be happier and healthier, but the top 10% is no where near as rich as our top 10%. And our military activities have resulted in the deaths of an estimated 900,000 men women and children, displaced a million more, created +10,000 amputees, destroyed the infrastructure in two countries. And we did that in only 10 years. A bargain at about 1.5 trillion or so.

Ha - so we win!

[srf Rantz]

166. the vast right wing conspiracy

ok everyone get all touchy and critical of the Canuck when he points out the truth we all know and bitch about endlessly here ourselves. whine, blubber, toss back the ol' schoolyard "sez you!"
circle up the firing squad!

but his question is one I've puzzled over for decades myself.

and its a key one.

and my subject line is more than an ironic joke.

but my honest answer to his question.

now simply using the word "conspiracy" pretty much shoots myself and my argument in the foot from the get go, thanks in large part to the "vast right wing conspiracy" itself for making that the case.

ok, then, how about "Class War"?

damn, nope that's been ridiculed successfully by Limbaugh, Beck et al.

look people, the fact is, since FDR and the New Deal, certain members of the rich and powerful have sought to roll back everything he accomplished to build the middle class and raise the standard of living across the board in the United States. whether or not there is a "conspiracy" in terms of dark hidden rooms with specific players making decisions and calling the shots, or not, is not important.

"THEY" HAVE declared "WAR" on "US" and they're kicking ass.

http://ampedstatus.com/the-economic-elite-vs-the-people-of-the-united-states-of-america-part-i

And even more ironically, IMHO, I think it was the last time we did take to the streets en masse in protest of the evils we saw in our society, in the 60s, that really kicked them into overdrive and made them start working together to assure that "never again" would they let something like those movements get traction, much less reach anything like that kind of momentum.

And still more ironically, despite the fact that I was one of those idealistic kids marching in the streets against war and stuff, thinking I was actually advancing our cause, it was the backlash against our behavior that in many ways gave them the political edge to take and hold power for the next, ie. the past, 40 odd years.

so taking to the streets isn't the answer either. plus they're ready for that. plus it will never happen, thanks to TV, Fox news, rw hate radio and a million other factors touched on in above comments, many of which are direct results, once again, of "the vast right wing conspiracy."

*sigh*

No, this does not mean we roll over and take it. No, it does not mean that protest, peaceful or otherwise is pointless. No, it doesn't mean we just shut up.

It means we have to outsmart them. We have to think "outside the box."

We have to start coming up with ideas, on places like this board, instead of the endless flame wars.

Sorry to get so preachy, but really folks, I'm just sick of the sophomoric behavior so often displayed here, and 'god' knows I've done it too, hypocrite that I am.

Ideas? Anyone?

[ShortnFiery]

167. We're not. However, we need to GET A HOLD of the M$M and break up their monopoly. eom

[City Lights]

171. Boiling frog syndrome.

Our corporate masters are slowly boiling us alive.

[SlingBlade]

172. Humm. Looks like the Canadians have been reading D.U

And have seen the pile of shit the corporate whores have left here shilling for
Obama's Insurance Industry at the cost of true reform.

Not surprising, You'd think at a place called Democratic Underground that this is the
last kind of shit you'd be reading here. You's be wrong too.

When the Corporate Whores tall ya that's the best your gonna get, And you go shilling for it HERE

The country is fucked fucked fucked !

That's all folks, Turn the light out when ya leave.

[ChiciB1]

173. Count Me In... BUT I Would GLADLY Get Out And Protest IF I SAW A REAL

"INTELLIGENT" MOVEMENT WILLING TO GET OFF THE GROUND!!! As it is, and I suppose one could call this an excuse, where I live and the STATE I live in doesn't exactly give me much opportunity to join ANYTHING remotely resembling "intelligent movement!" Add to that fact, I LIVE in Florida!! I KNOW what you are talking about regarding the "buying of CHEAP property" too!

Right up the road, a couple I came to really love & enjoy, hit upon hard times. He was an area supervisor of one of the larger pizza chains around here. They bought their home here at a somewhat inflated price, but not as outlandish as some. He then decided to branch out and buy a franchise of said pizza corporation, and then quickly thereafter THE BOTTOM FELL out!! The house was large, but older and they did about $100,000.00 worth of renovation before the FALL! A very sad story, and I lost one of my best friends because of it too!

His franchise went belly up, and they could no longer afford the home. Her mother passed away and they were forced to move into her home away from here. FORTUNATELY they have a home to live in and aren't on the street, HOWEVER this house here that cost $299,000.000 in the beginning was put up for sale at least a year ago. It's worth that much too because of the renovation and the location, the Gulf is right up the road and a golf course is near by. The price was dropped to $269,000.00, then to $199,000.00 and now finally they have a bid for $175,000.00 and because it's a "short sale" the person bidding is waiting for the outcome of the offer. There are now TWO liens on the home and this couple lost a dream! I must say they are taking it better than I, but what CAN they do??

I live in a smaller home about a block away, but FORTUNATELY have been here a long time and feel very lucky to have only a small mortgage and able to stay here. I live on a larger than normal lot and know in time my home will gain value again, but there are many homes here undergoing hardships.

Another person up the block just got divorced and tried to sell their home for $400,000.00 and ended up with $278,000.00 because the wife couldn't afford to live there anymore. I think THEY LUCKED out with $278,000.00, because the house needed some work too!

While politics around here SUCKS, I do like where I live. It's a nice quiet, friendly place with many wonderful neighbors. But some good friends have had to move and I miss them. New people who are NOW RENTING at an INFLATED price have taken their place. A single woman up the street just moved in about 6 months ago and is paying $850.00 a month and I don't know HOW she does it. My husband and I own 5.5 acres of land further south and had put it up for sale some time ago, but some of the offers were so small we just said "no way" and decided to wait it out! We didn't take one of the signs down and got calls later and what the offers then were even WORSE!! We bought it when it was undeveloped out there and didn't pay an inflated price, but now it's a little city so as long as we can pay the taxes we will wait it out! We had hoped to be rid of it by now though!

Yes, SOMETHING needs to be done, but until this country STOPS it's APATHY it won't change all that much! I feel a lot of angst and actual fear much of the time, but as I said... I'm still one of the luckier ones! And we are not even upper middle class by any stretch of the imagination! We just happened to buy land when it was cheap 20 years ago and have weathered the storms so far!!

I try very hard to look on the bright side, but I've NEVER seen this country I call America at such a low ebb! I've always tried to live within my means, been frugal and budgeted a LOT, but we had what we needed and our children didn't do without much. They had to work, but that's the way it was. I'm thankful my husband worked for a Union company, otherwise we wouldn't have what we have now!

Not the America I grew up in for sure! But then, we BOOMERS... well you know, we SCREWED it all up! So they say!

[3324SS]

177. Today on the News 80% of people are OK with Body Scanners

at airports.

I got this from a poll and quick mention on the AM news in Boston, channel 7. so no link

If people can't figure out that body scans are nothing but an invasion of privacy and it would not keep a motivated person from taking out an airplane, then freedom is gone in America thanks to people being irrationally afraid and ignorant.

Ignorance now rules in America!

All hail the Corporation!

[go west young man]

178. It's called unregulated capitalism and I think we can all see now

that in this system the cream of the crop doesn't rise to the top. The crap does. All in the name of an easy buck and greed. We have no manufacturing base now, bad TV, collusion in most industries be it cable, radio, banking, oil and gas, power, telecoms, pharmaceuticals. We have a nation on psychoactive drugs. We have a media that strives to keep people in the dark. We have endless war and no way to stop it. We have a system of government that is a hoax. The thing is so broken that the only ones who can fix it are the same ones who broke it. It's a terrible paradox. They will never fix themselves. Voting to change it will take longer than a human lifetime can span.

The Op does make a sad point. The only revolution coming is from the Tea bagging idiots that run the ship aground (and theirs isn't much of a revolution). The real revolution should be coming from the left but we are constantly being downplayed even by our own side as in this health care debate. The wind is taken from our sails time and time again and we constantly put false hope in the next dem leader who serves to undermine everything we stood for. Obama has failed us all. It's time to wake up. The Canadian is right we are dumb as fuck and it's time to admit it. Only then can we grow.
All the posters who become defensive and point the finger back at Canada are missing the larger point. WE DO SUCK AS A COUNTRY.

We kill innocent people to fuel our war machine. We steal other countries resources. We initiate coups in other countries. We lie. We undermine what the UN is supposed to stand for. We are hypocrites. We are religious nut jobs. We are guilty of breaking the Geneva Conventions. We torture people. We are 38th in the world in infant mortality! 38th! We suck.

Even at DU we see tons of Dem's who are so centrist they might as well stick an R to their foreheads. We've a long way to go and personally I think we could use a new DU. One called Progressive DU. Like it used to be in 2003. It has now turned into Repube Light and I have nearly had enough of it. Someone would do well to start a new one. Our large tent has become filled with a large amount of shit.

[3324SS]

180. REC 10,000,000 times!

EOM

[Bragi]

181. Kick

(Checking out how the Greatest Thread feature works. This thread has enough recs to be listed 3rd, yet it has disappeared off the list. I'm wondering what's up with that.)

[ThomWV]

182. This needs another kick

[glitch]

183. It started with the assassinations of our progressive leaders in the 60s

The history of the USA from then (acutally Truman-Eisenhower) to today is a fascinating and painful subject, but an excellent dire warning to other countries, ESPECIALLY close neighbors.
To paraphrase a line from Saving Private Ryan: Learn This.

[fascisthunter]

184. DING! (nt)

[Bragi]

186. I have to agree with that

When the military-industrial complex of whom Eisenhower belatedly spoke combined with organized crime to murder the sitting President of the world's most important democracy, and got away with it, they committed possibly the gravest offenses against democracy ever in world history.

I was alive back then, and I think that event, and the subsequent murder of Bobby and King, were the most important political events of the 20th century.

And it has all been pretty much downhill since then...

[glitch]

188. Yeah. We've seen a lot of damage done in our lives, not just to our people and our politics

but also to our environment. I think a lot of people are keeping their heads down, and sometimes I don't blame them. Sometimes I do.

[Orsino]

185. Prosperity.

When we equated riches with The American Dream, we were done for. We now worship wealth, and hang on its every word. It is our alpha and our omega, and its word is the law of the land.

And we like it, goddammit.

[COPE2]

187. ship

america was always a sheepish country. it had very religious origins, so by nature they just went with the flow and did not question authority. if you look at the number of people who believe in god in america, the numbers are quite high. if they were so independent and daring, many of them would have ventured off into atheism, but they havent because it isnt safe to do so in america. america also has the highest number of people in prison, so it is a country that knows very well how to keep people in line, and the minute you step out of line, you will suffer in the abyss like the rest of them.

[kgnu_fan]

189. We need to learn and grow and teach each other, don't give up

[county worker]

190. Because we pay for your national defense along with ours.

[avaistheone1]

191. k&r