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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Russians Know Our Secret.....
and they used it against us. They knew that we're a nation of 12 year-olds. Just check your Facebook feed or the comment section of any newspaper web site. This is a country of school yard bullies and gossips. Name calling children who giggle and point at the objects of their ridicule. Our culture is obsessed with who's kissing who, just like a bunch of middle schoolers. We get our information from the adult equivalent of cartoons in the form of cable news, twitter feeds and Facebook posts. We don't want to do our homework and will take every short cut or dodge to avoid studying or reading up on important subjects. Being children, we think the future doesn't exist so we don't have to plan for it. Right now we're paying the price for our immaturity. By the way, this is by no means intended as an insult to actual 12 year-olds who know better.
The Russians knew that's who we are and were able to use it to their advantage. And now we have a president who reflects that character to a T and is just as easily influenced and manipulated-maybe more so. That's why we need to grow up and grow up soon. I don't give a rat's ass about Stormy Daniels or any of Trump's disgusting personal behavior. It's just a side show. We might as well be sitting around singing Don and Stormy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Meaningless distraction. All the while our pockets are being picked and the future we are ignoring is being sold-not necessarily to the highest bidder.
Try picking up the latest edition of the Federal Register to take a look at what Scott Pruitt is doing to environmental regulations, what Ryan Zinke is doing to our natural resources, what Betsy De Vos is doing to our educational system. Look at what Trump has done to our relationships with the world's other nations. Watch one of his "rallies" as he stirs up the other nasty kids on the playground. That's where the real issues reside. It's a horror story that will rival any Steven King novel-only it's real. Children of the Scorn.
I don't know if we have it in us as a nation to come back from the abyss that we have entered. We're going to find out in the next couple of months. No better place to start than by Mueller untangling the web of corruption and deception woven by Trump and his cronies. But that being said, don't count on the cavalry riding to the rescue. We need to do this for ourselves. We need to vote, we need to advocate, we need to stand up for what is right and to fight for what is right. If we don't, we will never put this sorry chapter in American history behind us and we will always be vulnerable to having it happen again.
snowybirdie
(5,232 posts)generalize that all Americans are letting this happen. Many are fighting, but fighting fair. Unlike the other side who have forgotten morals and ethics. Karma will eventually righten the ship of state. Sooner rather than later hopefully. Don't despair and keep fighting and voting!
Pluvious
(4,314 posts)Our great Country has been under attack, by adversaries,
both foreign and domestic.
TIME FOR A...
Laxman
(2,419 posts)and if I'm in a doctor's waiting room or at the mechanic's or some other establishment where it's not a question of taking my business elsewhere, I immediately go to the desk to either get the remote or ask that something else be put on the television.
Dread Pirate Roberts
(1,896 posts)Any decent schoolyard bully has a better repertoire of names.
A Running List of Donald Trump's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Nicknames
https://www.popsugar.com/news/List-Trump-Nicknames-Insults-44477176
PatSeg
(47,560 posts)Its bad enough that he recklessly insults people, but he's not even good at it. You'd think that after years of practice, he could come with better ones than that.
TygrBright
(20,763 posts)rock
(13,218 posts)The population that the politicians (predominantly republicans) have cultivated for the last three or so decades. Mainly, one that is ignorant and uneducated, particularly in politics. This allows the non-creative and inept politicians (again predominantly republicans) to obtain elected offices by making the results of the elections largely random throws of dice. These days a moron could run for POTUS and stand a fair chance of winning the office.
Dread Pirate Roberts
(1,896 posts)I just don't get it. Maybe I do and I just don't want to acknowledge it. I live in the middle of what seems to be otherwise decent people who are just plain ignorant and think they're geniuses. Try to explain the Mueller investigation and their eyes glaze over. Say "Benghazi" and they light right up like Pavlov's dogs.
rock
(13,218 posts)that a large portion of the US population does NOT have critical thinking skills. This is a major failing of our education system.
dameatball
(7,399 posts)Or if you prefer: Parcheesi!
dameatball
(7,399 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)"FAILING" - Which was begun intentionally in the 1970s and made great leaps forward (or backward) under reagan.
Dread Pirate Roberts
(1,896 posts)has been perverted to cater to the memorize and repeat style of learning. We have a generation obsessed with the grade they get, not with what they learned (or failed to learn). Critical thinking skills are not fostered. This is very dangerous. Especially in a complex world. Especially in a rapidly changing world. Critical thinking skills will allow adjustment to new circumstances and assessment of complicated fact patterns. Without adequately developed analytical capabilities......well, things are grim.
poboy2
(2,078 posts)for anyone who will listen. Often times even when we try not to.
No, no secret at all.
But yes, they played to that undeniable fact.