Americans ARE smart.

[lildreamer316]

At least; smart-er than we used to be.
BEFORE you jump; let me explain.
I was answering another post about us being like children in the backseat of a car (good analogy by the OP dsc; post here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5408767&mesg_id=5408767 ) and a thought occurred to me. To restate a bit:...point being; we are growing up; all of us. Teen-aged years in the house of America. Rebelling against the conservative parents; trading in the old way for the new. It really isn't all that unexpected; it is just that the parents are being VERY VERY stubborn; ultimately to their own detriment.Eventually they will have to realize that they have to trust that they raised children with good values;and let us loose into the world.They need to LET GO. We are just like any other kids---tell us what we can't do; and we will do it just to spite you; and to prove that we can. The world has changed; things don't work like that anymore.

This made me think that YES! we are VERY much like teenagers here! Follow the analogy through. As I said, at some point the "adults" have to let go;and trust that they gave the kid a strong sense of self and values to guide them in the world. Well; that is what has been happening. I know that research shows that VERY SLOWLY but very surely; crime rates are going down; people are beginning to move foreword in many ways on their own. An example is the gay marriage movements; the short-lived victories in California; the Massachusetts victory.People have come to these things on their own; in their own time. Why else do we see the Religious Right fighting SO HARD? HEY! They are fighting so hard,and PUSHING the issue, because of one simple fact: THEY ARE LOSING CONTROL OF US. They try to cover it up, but it is the truth. My chosen form of belief is one of the fastest growing in the nation; and many people choose now to practice whatever they believe without the help of an organized worship service.
Look around you. SURE, there are PLENTY of IDIOTS and MORONS who can't see there way to the bathroom without authority telling them when to go,but you know, EVOLUTION is like that--and like it or not, evolution IS inevitable. The "establishment"; if you will, is working SO HARD at keeping us in the dark, because they know that we are smart enough (at least half of us!!) to see our way to the truth if given even the SLIGHTEST bit of information. It may be WAY too slow for our tastes; but the proof is in the pudding--see how MANY of us "got it" in the first place? At a guess, at least 40,000 here (trying to take into acct. those who "saw the light" and those who are registered but do not post for whatever reason). And that's just HERE.
Another example of this is the Middle East. They are, if you will, in their early adolescence or older child days. Again; please DON'T JUMP!! That statement is only a description of their BEHAVIOR, not their mental aptitude.What other kind of behaviors do you expect from a child that has been brutally kept in a way of life dominated by harshly patriarchal and stone-age values? They have been in the dark for ages as a population! They have tried to progress, and at this point, can see no other way to get the attention and progress they need and want than to lash out violently! I hesitate to tie this to their religion in a general sense, but I will say that the way the religion has been INTERPRETED has been very detrimental in many cases.
Look at Europe. Sure, there have been recent riots in France. The above paragraph explains why this happened; a mistake of an older sibling not paying enough attention to the real social problems the younger one was having, until the latter resorted to violence to get their attention. Sound like any families you know? Other than that, they are a bit of a glimpse into our future. Sex is not such a big deal there; violence is not as prevalent, etc.etc.etc. I am speaking in the overall big picture here; please keep that in mind.
The conclusion I am trying to come to: we need to realize that despite all the controlling they are trying to do, it is inevitable that they will lose this fight. They cannot stop us from growing up; getting a clue, getting a grip. The "collective consciousness" has been raised. Flower children of the sixties; you really WERE on to something. Really. It just takes the patience of...well...Rosa Parks.And probably several lifetimes.........
Sorry so long.

[marbuc]

1. Nice commentary

with a little work, this would be a good Guest Opinion piece on your local paper's editorial page, or whatever forum you wish to submit it. Americans may be smarter than we used to be, but we have a LONG way to go.

[undergroundpanther]

2. Un canny

I was just telling my partner the same sort of thing this evening as we were heading home,after stopping by our favorite pagan shop to yell heyoo at the people we know there,and Oh,I needed some herbs!
Yes it does seem consiousness is changing.
Now I dunno if it's evolution or that people are realizing abuse and domination is WRONG.That people are looking at the effects of abuse on kids and saying,no I will not treat my kids as I was treated. Kinda like waking up from a slumber of ethics brought on by the domination of the old,rich,white,patriarchy,manipulating,abusive types of people and hierarchy created "rules" and"norms".Think about it in the 1940's spanking kids was the way you raised kids.Today we have people like Alice Miller and Lloyd DeMause and sites like NO Spank making people REMEMBER what being shamed humiliated and powerless feels like and how it destroys relationships and people.It reminds people why domination by a bully is an inauthentic power,that is not to be tolerated.





Massive denial of the origin of humanity's problems in the traumatic abuse of children is, then, one and the same as the massive denial of the psychological origins of social behavior. They are two sides of the same historical coin. Both are rooted in the fact that our deepest fears are stored in a separate brain system that remains largely unexplored by science and that is the source of the restaging of these early traumas in social events. Only when the contents and psychodynamics of these dissociated traumatic memories are made fully conscious can we understand the waking nightmare that we call history.

To achieve this understanding, we must draw upon all the resources of neurobiology, experimental, clinical and evolutionary psychology, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, history and the other social sciences in order to provide a fully scientific theory of society.75 To begin this synthesis, I will first review recent advances in the understanding of the neurobiology of trauma and its storage in separate neuronal networks in the brain.

http://www.psychohistory.com/