posted by Sam Richards
The problem we’re dealing with in 2009 is that we’re not asking people to THINK. We are feeding them information and few engage in dialogue with people who ask “why” and “how” and “if what you are saying is true, then what about…” Rusty thinking is what happens when we don’t sharpen our understanding of the world by conversing with people who are inclined to say to us “please tell me more about what you think about that.” These are, more often than not, people who have ideas that are different than those we espouse.
Imagine not having taken the opportunity to ride a bicycle for thirty years and suddenly somebody asks you to take an old, rusty bike out for a cruise. How do you imagine that you’d fare? Thirty years without ever being asked to spin those wheels and now you need to perform with all eyes upon you.
So we have this idea that people around us are thinking, that they’re truly using their brains. But have you listened to the conversations going on around you recently? No? Give them a listen now and then. There’s very little back and forth. I’d like to even be able to say that those are just opinions that people are throwing about but it’s hard to even hear the random, shallow, sophomoric ideas as “opinions.”
Okay, so really, the video below was put on the web by people who are critical of Sarah Palin and the people who support her. I’m putting it up, however, because it says nothing about Palin or her supporters and everything about Americans with rusty brains — including the millions of Obama fans who would answer similar questions about him and his policies in the same sort of awkward ways because they, too, drink in “fast food news” without being asked to give their brains a workout and interpret it.
And now…on to the show. And please, don’t laugh at them unless you have answers to the questions that don’t make you sound like a lost soul.
UPDATE: I’ve been reading some of the comments and I have to say I’m not entirely impressed. It’s the standard muckety-much about “my generation” and “people today” rounded out by “but I have to be honest and admit that I don’t know anything about politics.” C’mon people, how does it FEEL to be woefully and utterly ignorant about basic social and political issues? Take ownership, ya’ll. Lay it out there. Don’t grovel in it…but say something about what it means for you.
This video is exactly the reason why I did not vote in the past election. I will be the first person to admit that I would not be able to answer the questions that the interviewer is asking but that is also why I am not out there saying that I feel very strong about political issues. I think that, especially with this past election the whole country was guilty of what you were talking about in this post. We were not really thinking, but instead just stating our opinions. I especially noticed this on our Penn State campus. Everyone was all about Barak Obama because we were supposed to be the generation that was for “change”. I can almost gaurantee that most of the people that voted on campus had no following about the election but still went out that day and voted.
So is this the right way to go about things? I know that we pride our country on being a democracy but sometimes I dont know if that is the right way. When I was watching this video I was sitting with someone and we got talking about this video. And I think that we both came to the same conclusion, that the American public is not smart enough to decide who is going to run our country. It is no secret that people follow the trends and want to fit in by not standing out and that is not a good way to pick a president.
I am not saying that I do not support Barak Obama, but I think that he won the election because he was a smooth talker, and his campagine was geared toward people who wanted to fit in and think they were changing something. When the reality is these people didn’t even know what it is they were voting to change.
One way that I think we can improve this downfall that I beleive is going on is to make everyone who wants to vote pre qualify to vote. You should have to eaither take some sort of test and mail it in or send in a list of at least five policies that you agree or disagree with in order to be able to vote when the election rolls around. I understand that this is going to take more time and money to accomplish but at least we will know then when the results come in that the people are getting what they really want. And another up-side to doing this would be that people would be doing some resarch on the issues that are a big part of what is going on in the world we live in. You have to take a driving test to be able to allowed on our roads, so why not have to prove that you know what is going on in order to vote?
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Oh, the irony.. Reply:
November 27th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Our president’s name is BARACK Obama.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
lol
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Anonymous Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 5:29 pm
How would you know if President Obama won the campaign just because he is a smooth talker if you didn’t pay attention to the election?
And, in regard to the requirements you think people should have to surpass, how about we put in a poll tax? What about a literacy test? Oh wait, no, thats already been done before. The voting requirements you’ve described would do nothing more than alienate huge voting blocks of people, mainly in low income neighborhoods. The intelligence of the American public is not what you should be calling into question, its the willingness of the public to listen and learn, that you should be calling into question. The apathy that you, and so many others, displayed by not researching the candidates and not voting in the last election is the problem with the American public right now, not our intelligence
Laurie Mulvey Reply:
December 16th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Mr. Obama?
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saro' il re Reply:
December 4th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
So we’re going to take away some more of our freedom? How are we deciding what makes you smart enough to vote. If you know who George Washington is? If you graduated from high school? If you can get a job that pays more than $35,000/year? If your skin isn’t too dark? Oh wait… that’s reminding me of something….
You can’t take away anyone’s right to vote. It’s unconstitutional and not what this country’s about. If you don’t want yourself or your fellow citizens to have a say in your country’s political process you might want to consider taking up residence in a single-party state like China or Cuba.
For your final point, how many times has pushing a button in a voting booth directly killed the person pushing it or anyone around them. Take that figure, and then compare it to the total number of people who have died in all auto accidents across the United States since the invention of the automobile. Now explain to me why we have a test for one and not the other.
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I find this video to be the most appalling example of left wing propaganda that I have ever seen. The bias of this video puts Fox News to shame. Every single question or comment the interviewer made was designed with the intent to exploit the ignorance of a clearly ill informed crowd. There is no doubt that the average voter is under-informed about the issues that come into question with regard to the presidency, but it is appalling to believe that these individuals could recall ex-Governor Palin’s foreign policy while standing in line for a book signing. The fact is, she was not in line for the presidency at the time and therefore her platforms were rarely called into question. If I turned the camera around and asked the interviewer what policies Vice President Joe Biden supported, I would receive the same awkward, ill informed responses that the citizens were giving. In fact, I’m surprised that Palin’s legitimacy is still called into question when the primary criticisms of the Obama presidency have been the inadequacy of Vice President Joe Biden. Hell, if I walked to a leftist gathering and asked the protesters about ANY of President Obama’s policies, I guarantee that they would stand slack jawed staring. Now I’m not saying that one side is better than the other; the truth is that everyone is under-informed and should educate themselves about the running of our government.
Now I would like to call into question the mood that was set by the placement of the individuals’ responses. First of all, I am most offended by the placement of the immigration debate adjacent to the question of Palin not receiving enough votes. The interviewer used two independent questions to coerce the responder into an apparently racist answer. The individual was merely remarking at the fact that, by legalizing all the illegal immigrants, Obama would manage to receive most of their votes. This sudden surge in the one sided votes would leave Palin dependent on receiving more votes from the current legal citizens, as the responder attempted to articulate.
The other main concern I have with this interview is that it entirely revolves around Sarah Palin, but does not justify itself by asking questions about Barack Obama. Sarah Palin’s followers have an excuse for not knowing her primary policies; she was never up for presidential election. Obama’s supporters on the other hand, should clearly know what his platforms are, based on the fact that his decisions make front page news. This makes me question the fact that a president, whose slogan was “change we can believe in” has apparently done nothing significant except win a Nobel Peace Prize for his “foreign policy potential”.
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Sam Richards Reply:
November 27th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Actually, I have to disagree with you on your first line. I’ve seen worse left-wing propaganda in my lifetime. Also, I think the interviewer is asking fair questions, including questions for which anyone who is thinking would/should have an answer. What’s sad is that a group of Obama supporters would have similar responses AND HE IS, AS YOU STATE, THE CURRENT PRESIDENT. This particular video has little to do with politics and it’s unfortunate that you took it in that direction. It does, by contrast have a lot to do with not thinking — which is how we end up electing the politicians who we elect. Oh well…
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Sam Richards Reply:
November 27th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
One more thing…it revolves around Palin because it’s at a book signing and they’re all waiting for her. Don’t know if that comes through…
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saro' il re Reply:
December 4th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I think that you’re taking this in the wrong context. Firstly, you might not have noticed but the people reporting this are called “New Left Media” so it will of course be colored toward the political left (which I think is stupid, read my post for more on what I think of the level of objectiveness in today’s journalism). I would, however, disagree that the bias of the video is more appalling than that of Fox News, whose slogan is “Fair and Balanced”, at least these people are truthful of their political stance.
Secondly, I think you might be assuming a little too much. We have no way of knowing what the reporter knows (again why mass media is stupid), because he’s the one holding the mic and asking the questions. I’m sure that some of the people publicly gathering for Obama would know quite a good deal about his political positions and would be more than willing to discuss them (as, of course, there would be for McCain supporters, as well as Biden and Palin supporters, not everyone is an uninformed drone after all).
(Below is what I think of the video)
This video should not act as a catalyst to cause political rage to boil up inside you. It should make you realize that there’s a problem in the way that Americans go about their lives nowadays. We’d rather pick a team and wave a banner than take a step back and find the good on both (or all) sides of the arena and make a sound system that works. Our country is so politically polarized that the elections and the social buildup to them is starting to remind me more of the Super Bowl than of possible changes in policy that will affect us and the world abroad. That’s just what I think though, I could be completely wrong
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This passage about “Rusty Brains”, brought up some very interesting thoughts about how people think and answer questions about Sarah Palin, Obama and their policies. After watching the video, I realize there is so much rusty thinking in the world today. The article defines rusty thinking as people not understanding the true facts of the world and, unable to elaborate on the subject. There were numerous of incidents in the video where people were asked to elaborate on their thoughts. However, these people would make up irrelevant reasons to their previously stated opinion. Sometimes they would just admit that they did not know. For example, the reporter asks the people about Sarah Palin’s policies and issues, and many could not acknowledge a single policy of hers. This is where the rusty brain comes in. How could people support a political candidate if they do not know or understand their policies? This then brings up another question, about the underlying reason why they support these candidates if it’s not their policies.
I feel that many Americans are proud of their country and act like they know what is going on in the political world. The news and freedom of press and freedom of speech contributes to this rusty brain. The news creates biased opinions and facts to society every single day, whether you believe it or not. Just be lucky that you are not in China or North Korea, where everything is censored and monitored by the government. Although, freedom of speech and press is good, it creates too many views. Americans are force to pick a side. Many Americans including myself are not politically inclined. Unless you are a politician science major that is always on top of the current issues, it is very difficult to understand everything. Therefore, people just side with a party and support their policies without even knowing them. This is where ethnocentrism kicks in. Like the example that Sam used in the beginning of the semester about rooting for your school football team and the other team is the enemy. In politics, many Americans side with a certain Politician. As Americans; we are infamous for our ethnocentrism. A citizen of America is deemed unpatriotic if they do not assimilate entirely into the fast-paced, get-ahead, pray to Jesus, eat apple pie, and kiss the flag goodnight culture that is this country.
American citizens, along with their presidential candidates, are constantly forced to try to prove their patriotism. We are expected to act and think “like an American,” and we want others to act and think like Americans, too. The implication of this dilemma is that if another country does not assimilate to our standards of “normal”, they become an enemy of the United States (e.g. Iraq)
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America stopped thinking for itself long ago. Probably when technology began or when it felt some sort of content-ness within its own borders. The people gradually let go once the country became stable. Concerns weakened with the stability of the country. The country flourished and eventually became what it is today, which is still going strong (though slowly getting weaker as we see with the recession and such). When something is going well people just tend to follow blindly even when decisions are made that take away some freedom and liberties that we have or skew it in the favor of our so called enemies in the middle east. Political leaders have full power of decisions with the nation knowing little of what is going on. It was obvious that the nation is rather clueless about the policies and the leaders that it supports. People blindly follow the party the claimed allegiance to (most likely adopted from their parents). The responses gained from the interviewees showed the lack of knowledge of the public. Sure it was probably skewed to make Palin’s supporters look uninformed, but I’m sure if you asked any democratic supporters the same questions about Obama they would be equally uninformed. It is true some people are up to date on the news and policies, but I would not say that is true of the general public. It doesn’t matter to what party your allegiance lies since both are unclear of the policies their party supports. Throw in a few key words like “immigration”, “oil”, and “terrorism” and you have an audience. The details get hidden away and blurred. The public is clueless and the politicians can run amuck with their agendas. Then something noticeable happens and people start complaining. There should be no complaining because more often than not the people supported that policy that now is working against them. They just did not read the fine print. I would love for society to become more informed with the world and politics, but it is not going to happen anytime soon. Our way of life will be ended by the time we care. It is comparable to Rome during the Pax Romana. 100 years peace in Rome, a time of no war (hard to imagine). Rome became a world power admired by others. Rome became content with it’s power and developed entertainment for it’s citizens. The coliseums we now see. Warriors, lions, slaughter… but fun to watch in the vastness of the great coliseum. It is comparable to the entertainment we have today with all our sitcoms and reality TV. We are so content with our entertainment we forget about the world and soon collapse due to our lack of knowledge.
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This journal is right on the money. “Rusty brains” are an extremely common occurrence in our present day society and it’s something that doesn’t get talked about all that often. A lot of people have forgotten to think for themselves and really think about their own opinions on different issues. Instead, they just go with the flow and they don’t question things that should be questioned. It’s really a dangerous thing if people stop questioning authority because that’s when bad things happen. Interestingly enough, some people are actually offended when you ask for their opinion on something; they try to put it off as something that is “private” or something along those lines, when in reality, most of the time those people are finally realizing that they have absolutely no opinions of their own and they feel embarrassed, which results in them trying to mask their embarrassment as anger. I just think that a lot of people aren’t used to actually having to think for themselves; a lot of people are used to being “spoon fed” their opinions from others for the majority of their lives, so when they’re asked to think for themselves, they find that they are completely out of their element. It’s actually pretty embarrassing that Americans are kind of known for their obliviousness throughout the world. In all reality, Americans are some of the most spoiled, oblivious, and disrespectful people in the world. And it’s kind of easy to see why – we live in a culture where everyone looks out for themselves; a “me” society. We live fast paced lives where we hardly have time to eat breakfast, let alone think about issues that are pertinent to our lives. We don’t really let ourselves take a breather to really think and challenge ourselves to learn more about an issue. We want everything to be told to us quickly and easily, and if it’s hard to understand or requires too much thought on our parts, we’re not interested. I don’t know what the solution is to this problem, but I don’t think it is an easy or quick solution. It’s a real problem in our present day society, and more and more people are becoming ignorant and not paying attention to the world around them. The Sarah Palin supporters are just evidence of everything I’ve just said. And I totally realize that their blatant stupidity isn’t just because they’re Palin supporters – those responses would come from a number of Obama supporters as well. But it’s just really disheartening to hear people so ignorant and oblivious to the things going on around them. If you’re going to act like you know what’s going on, at least do your homework.
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As a political science major, we talk all of the time about why people vote in certain ways, and what we find, is that very little of it has to do with actual policies. With this in mind, it’s not shocking that these people couldn’t answer policy questions. We use our parties, our opinion leaders, and occasionally single issues (like abortion and gun control) to decide which way to cast our votes. We focus on the easy issues, like those mentioned above, rather than difficult ones such as healthcare or the economy. That’s not to say that there are easy solutions, but it’s much simpler to say I’m against abortion than to paint an in depth picture of what you’d like the healthcare policy in this country to be. The people shown in this video know that they’re conservative (the American brand, not true conservatism that Sam always brings up in class) and some of them know that they’d like to vote for a woman, and that’s all that they need. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not in any respect a fan of Sarah Palin, and I’m sure that some of my bias will creep into this response, but I feel like we can’t blame these particular Palin fans for not knowing much, as we as a nation are pretty ignorant. It seems to be pretty clear that most people are devoid of critical thinking when it comes to politics. One person in the video mentioned that he gets his information from Fox News- despite the temptation I will not go on a Fox News bashing tangent – frankly, I’ve never watched their actual news casts. I know that Bill O’Reilly is so full of shit it’s painful at times, but I can’t really blame a person for watching him and thinking he’s right, if it’s all they ever see. I guess I’m only making excuses for these people because every single one of us absolutely does it. I may pay closer attention than some, as it’s my major, but frankly there are many things that I don’t fully understand, and yes, I do side with my party on the issues. I don’t feel like picking a candidate and clinging to her is so different than blindly believing in a stance on an issue, just because a political party says to do so. I’m sort of resigned to the fact that we as a nation behave in this way after many heated arguments with many politically ignorant people. So what can we do? I don’t really have an answer. We’re way past the muckraking days of the past, and seem pretty uninterested in unbiased news reports. We watch those people who tell us exactly what we want to hear, which is why we stop paying attention and making our own decisions, and start leaning on biased media to decide for us. Whose fault is it, really?
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Sam Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Actually, Bill O’Reilly has some pretty insightful things to say. Sure, sometimes I think he’s full of hot air and empty thoughts…but other times he’s rather clever. Hmm…sounds a lot like how I think of myself.
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spl Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Maybe he does, but his inability to participate in actual discourse with his guests gets me every time…. “cut his microphone!”
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The lack of thinking phenomenon has been bothering me for a very long time now. I think the best way that it can be explained is by looking at the interests of today’s youth. I have watched as the toys and interests of kids for whom I babysit have gone from staging make believe households and classrooms and running around outside in the back yard to sitting in front of a screen that can do all the imaginative thinking for them. Only seven years ago when I started babysitting, the kids were interested in forming their own creative games. I would be invited to be a lion in the jungle or a student in a classroom. Now I am challenged to games of Wii bowling instead. I find kids are far more interested in playing video games and computer games that make creative situations for them rather than imagining for themselves.
I spent the majority of my childhood playing outside either on my swing set, play house or exploring the woods in my back yard. Never would I ever opt to play inside when given the option to explore nature. Why the focus has moved from discovery to simply numbing children to sitting in front of a digital screen, I’m not sure, but I am sure that we as a country have brought this mindless population upon ourselves.
My parents say that my generation is lazy and isn’t filled with thinkers, and yet we are far less digitally inclined than the generation behind us. If we are lazy, then what is to come of future populations? It frustrates me that people choose not to be curious and not to expand their knowledge and instead are content with living in ignorance. The people in the video are a prime example of today’s society. The sample is obviously very small, select and biased in the video, but you can still get a sense of what is going on in the US these days: conformity without any solid ground to support it. Conformity certainly isn’t always a bad thing. Socialization is what keeps our social structure functioning, but when people stop asking questions and blindly follow, that is where we begin to get into trouble. Hitler anyone? Hirohito?
While I’m not trying to imply that genocide is destined to result when people are uninformed and content with their ignorance, I am proposing that ignorance is dangerous. If we as a people allow word of mouth and propaganda filled campaign videos to elect the leaders of the most powerful country in the world without doing any investigation of our own, we are going to have a HUGE problem. Luckily for everyone, there are people who have broken the mold and the mindlessness and have fought the pressure to be herded like sheep through all decision-making processes.
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I love this post. This has been something I have been thikning for quite some time. The idea that so many people tend to “believe” certain things without actually knowing anything about it. Although the video definitely proves a very disturbing point, which is that most people don’t really know anything about what they believe, this point is not only applicable to republicans. I gurantee if you did the same thing at an Obama book signing you would recieve very similar responses. So instead of pointing fingers, we need to acknowledge that this is a problem. With the media and the technology we have nowadays, information travels at insanely rapid speeds. For example, if you want to know about anything, you can simply “google” it. Because of this, we are constantly being supplied with different information. Therefore, people begin to beleive that they can find out everything they need to know about topics on Wikipedia. No one does any research anymore. Most people assume that the information will be force fed to them and in most cases they are right. However, without actually researching cerain topics, people settle for being told what to think. For example, if the media tells us that Sarah Palin is this conservative republican that will cut taxes and curb spending, people will take it as truth without even looking into her policies at all. I found the video very entertaining. It is always interesting to watch as people suddenly realize just how misinformed and uneducated they are about certain topics. This also happens in other mediums other than the media. Political Parties are the same way. I can’t believe how many people let their political affiliation dictate what they think and believe about certain topics. The same is true for the church. In one of our weekly recitations I heard someone say something along the lines of, “I mean, I’m a Catholic so I guess I am supposed to believe that gay marriage is wrong, but I don’t know.” This really made me realize just how much things such as the Church or Political Parties seem to conrtol what people believe. People need to think for themselves. I agree that nowadays it seems that everyone has such superficial beliefs and sometimes it takes classes like this to make people realize.
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Soc 119
Journal 12
I didn’t have to watch the full video to understand exactly how I feel about this. I’ll be one of the first people to admit that I don’t know the answers to any of the questions the guy is asking the people. I don’t know pretty much anything about politics to be honest. I should probably know a little bit more about it since I do reside in this country, but in all honesty, I am just not that interested. I did vote for Obama in the past presidency, but I did know the basic facts about what he stood for. I don’t know in much detail exactly what he will do for this country, but I voted for him based on the vibe I got from him as a person. I do know that Sarah Palin is a little on the conservative side, which is something that I’m not entirely for. Based on those little facts, I was able to come up with the solution to vote for Obama. I don’t get into a lot of conversations about politics because I don’t know about it. I think the people in the video are somewhat of an embarrassment to me. I mean, why are you out at a book signing of Sarah Palin? I’m assuming you’re a hard core fan if your there supporting her so much. It’s one thing to vote for someone, but it’s another to go to book signings and meetings just to see this “celebrity”. Why are you there if you don’t even know what she stands for? If I’m going to be out there giving something my full attention and support, I’m going to know what I’m supporting. I feel like these people just see it as a trend of something that makes them sit in a certain category of society that they feel they need. They feel like they need to proclaim their support of Sarah Palin or whoever just so they can say they did. Most of the time it has nothing really to do with what she is or what she stands for. Maybe a little bit, but mostly it’s just a society thing. I do hear a lot of conversations about world issues today that are immature and meek. I would love to see society change, but honestly, do you really think that will ever happen? Most people will never even be aware of this problem. And most will not even care. In today’s world we are so wrapped up in our possessions and our relationships that we seem to lose touch with the world we live in. It’s sad, but it’s true. It’d be a miracle if we ever come together again. But then again, when have we ever really come together?
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Sam Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hey, you say you’re not really “for conservatism” but I’d be willing to bet that if I laid out some classic conservative principles and didn’t tell you they were conservative principles, you’d support some of them.
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I believe that the majority of Americans today have no idea about their elected official’s policies, backgrounds, or how they will be affected by the decisions that their government make. This video happened to be about Sarah Palin, but any official could have been discussed and the responses would probably have been just as weak. I do not think that the people interviewed were necessarily unintelligent, but they had no clue what they were talking about and reiterated what they remembered on Fox News. Not one person could explain anything in depth about Palin’s foreign policy or health care ideas or any of her policies. Every person claimed to support Sarah Palin but in reality they had no knowledge as to why they believed in her.
In these peoples’ defense, it is hard to answer political questions on the spot, but if they had been well informed they should have been able to come up with some better answers. The one man said that he watches Fox News a lot but that is one news source and Fox is a Conservative, Republican news source that bashes any other parties or way of thinking that goes against their beliefs. Therefore, if this man only watches one type of news then he will only hear one side of the political story and will become very narrow minded. Now, supposedly CNN and NBC are the liberal counterparts and people that only watch these programs are at the same risk for being closed minded about political issues. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with watching either channel but people have to question the validity of the information that they hear and think about the ideas instead of readily accepting everything that the anchors tell them.
I think that Americans have a civic duty to vote and with that duty they should learn about the candidates that they choose. I think that people should read daily newspapers and blogs, listen to the radio, watch the news and gather information from different sources so that they can make an informed decision that they feel represents their values. People have the right to vote for someone without having really thought about why they support them but in the end, that person may not be the candidate that will pass legislation in their favor. Also, people who vote without getting informed about the issues will look stupid whenever someone challenges their vote as shown in the video.
A vital part of the political process is an open dialogue between candidates, parties, and individuals. People have to talk and disagree about the issues of foreign policy, gay rights, war, health care, and immigration so that we can better understand these topics. These issues will not be solved easily because they are complex issues that affect many people and they need to be given time for debate. I often find that I learn a lot more about things whenever I talk about controversial subjects amongst people that hold different views than me. I live with two conservative Republicans and I consider myself a moderate Democrat. Therefore, sometimes we get into heated discussions about the wars, abortion, gay marriage and other things that are hard subjects to talk about because we disagree. Most people do not like to get told that they are incorrect and that they need to see something in another way but we have to get out of our way of thinking so that we can understand what it is that other humans think and why they think those thoughts.
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This video was definitely a wake up call to every single American and me. It’s scary to see how “out of shape” our brains are when it comes to political and global issues. Why is it that we don’t want to think for ourselves? When comparing our country to other nations, the newer generations in this society have been born with the silver spoon in their mouths. Today we turn on the computer or T.V. and almost effortlessly obtain any piece of information we want: both fiction and fact. Most people in the U.S. are capable of thinking for themselves and carrying on intelligent conversations; the problem is that we don’t want to. We’ve become so pampered by technology and an economically stable country that we’re too lazy to discover what is really happening in the world.
Thousands of years ago, humans depended on critical thinking to survive. By applying architectural ideas derived from the Greeks, the Romans became well renowned for their extraordinary structures as well as being one of the strongest empires during the early first century. Even with the advanced communication of information that we have today, it seems as if our nation still has not emerged from the Dark Ages. Imagine if our country, which is already the most powerful nation in the world, applied different ways in which its citizens could break down their pride and start to ask questions about the stats they don’t know about. In European schools, the country’s host language, English, and even a third language are requirement classes taught from early childhood and up. Why are some Americans complaining that English should be the only official language of the U.S. whereas several different languages are consistently being taught and encouraged around the world? It’s not the act of remembering superfluous information; it’s the principle that fighting our own ethnocentrism and utilizing our brains can improve our own lives and the world around us.
To me, it was pretty funny to see the ignorance of conservative Sarah Palin followers brought out through simple mind stimulation and conversation. Then after I saw it, I felt the conviction that if I were there I would be in the same boat as the interviewees. As an American citizen and a human being, that’s not something to be proud of. It’s tempting to blame another person or group for their stupidity, but we fail to find that in ourselves and everywhere else in the world we struggle with the same ignorance. We have the tools that we need to become better people. These tools can be sullied by opinions and lies, but ultimately we, as human beings, are the only ones who can use them the right way. We can’t have a president to take care of all our problems for us; we are all in this together.
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I think the video that Sam posted says a lot about our culture and our society today in the United States. He’s right… we don’t take the time to think about things. Many people will listen to ideas and pretend to think them over, but will end up agreeing with what was already said. I think that sometimes people are scared to have their own opinions because they might be “wrong”. Well an opinion is just an opinion. There is no right or wrong. One of the reasons why I liked this class so much was because you could disagree with what you were learning. The facts were all given to you straight and clear, but that didn’t mean that you couldn’t have an opinion that differed with what was being said. Some of the best classes that we had were the controversial ones that kept people arguing. By debating different issues we were forcing ourselves to think. We had to come up with thoughts that needed to be backed up with facts so that we didn’t sound stupid in front of 750 other students. I like that Sam tested the waters with some of the things that he said and the facts that he gave us. He forced us to think about things in a different way and not just how we’re “supposed” to think about things. I also think that the small groups that meet once a week were imperative to our thinking. They let us question things on a more personal level in a smaller environment so that we felt more comfortable talking. But things could get heated and interesting at times when debates would occur between students. They would actually learn something after the whole thing was said and done because they would listen to what one another had to say. You may not have agreed with the person, but since they were able to present their idea or opinion different from yours, you got a new perspective on whatever it was that you were debating about in the first place. I think there should be more classes at Penn State like Soc119. This class gave you all the tools you needed to learn, but you had to go further and actually form an opinion based on those facts. You didn’t have to agree or disagree with what was being said, but one way or another you formed some kind of opinion. And once you came to the idea, you found ways to back yourself and what you thought. This class has taught me to listen to others and take in everything that is being said. It’s important to listen so that you can learn. You have to know about something before you can form an intelligent opinion about it.
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This YouTube video is the epitome of the ignorance that exists not only with politics but with opinions on pretty much anything. I have no political knowledge really, I don’t try to take a stance on anything because I know my opinions or input have no real facts that back them up which makes them invalid. I just wish other people thought the same. I hope each and every person on this video is aware that their answers were both incomplete and juvenile. Partially this is the fault of how much we rely on the media and how as a population we’re so quick to jump into whatever put in front of us which is usually “popular” opinion.
The whole “rusty thinking” idea reminds me of a book called Feed that takes place a century into the future where human communication is done via a computer chip rather than through talking and writing. All information is exchanged via the “feed” and real human contact has become obsolete. If we continue to only think on the surface and continue conversations in the way many of us do, we may well be on our way to such a lifestyle. If we can’t communicate and articulate answers when asked to think it will be very easy to fall into the wonderful idea of a computer chip doing all this work for us.
Part of the rustiness can be accredited to laziness. There are so many other distractions in our lives today that thinking and intellectually stimulating activities are pushed to the wayside. Video and computer games are usually favored over reading books; the latter is the more helpful of the two. The library isn’t as cool of a place as the mall. Activities involving thinking and learning are considered uncool which makes it even more difficult to stimulate interest in essentially smartening ourselves up. Our society demands less thinking so people have become used to just floating by on what little knowledge that is gathered form listening to other people talk. There are enough leisure activities that require little to no effort mentally and they tend to be the more popular. As a population, we’re not used to thinking or learning or questioning information. From a small age, (through education and family values) we are taught to think certain things. The sky is blue the grass is green, these are things we would never question. We learn in school what is written in the textbook, we do not question or further expand our knowledge unless we are told to or have to and in some sense this is part of the reason we, as people, are bound to fall into the trap of believing what we hear and not questioning it.
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Without a doubt our generation (kids my age) have kids digressed in the area of socializing. I hear it from my parents all the time. They say that we rely on technology way too much. Text messages, Facebook, and so many other things are all ways we use to contact people without seeing them face to face. I can agree with everyone who says using these types of media are an easier then talking with someone. Or if it’s a quick question, instead of bothering someone you send them a text to figure it out. I think the younger kids in today’s world; it is harder for them to socialize with people. They really don’t know how because they are constantly using their phones or computer to talk with one another. So what happens when they meet face to face with someone? They don’t know what to do or say! Over Thanksgiving my cousin texted more on his phone than talking with his family that he doesn’t see all that often. It was kind of sad to see that, but there isn’t anything I can say. I can see where the writer of this piece feels that conversations nowadays are very short, and that there isn’t too much in depth things to talk about. I think it really all depends on the person. For me, I enjoy talking with people. I ask them questions to get a conversation started, but sometimes I don’t feel comfortable talking with a bunch of people I don’t know. If I am in a crowd of people I don’t know, I will pull my cell phone out to keep me occupied. This prevents me from going out to meet people. I guess what I am trying to say is that the author of this piece feels that in today’s world people don’t really have solid conversations. What I am saying in response to that is that I think it has a lot to do with the vast amount of technology in today’s world. I wanted to address the video of Sarah Palin and all of her supporters. I thought it was kind of funny because some of these people sounded uneducated. They were all for Palin, but really have no idea what she supports. One lady said Palin represented America, and the reported asked well what does that mean. She said it means freedom, and I thought to myself everyone is free in society. The reported kept pushing people for more in depth answers, but most of these men and women really couldn’t go any further. People thought she could change the healthcare, and the budget spending. When asked about what her proposals were on these issues, the men and women didn’t know what to say. Some responded that they didn’t know too much about it, or some other excuse. I don’t know if this video really represented what the author of this piece was trying to portray. The author wanted us to realize that there is hardly any substance to peoples’ conversations nowadays. This video, in my opinion, has more to do with people being educated, or lack off, and being informed on this topic. In conclusion, I can agree with the fact that people are not socializing with others as much as they should be one on one. I think people rely on so many other things, then just themselves, as ways to communicate with people. I am hoping that generations in the future will realize that socializing with people is crucial in order to grow up and learn about life.
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I agree that probably 95 percent of Americans have rusty brains. They are completely unaware of what is going on in the world today in terms of political issues and the policies that our president stands behind, also major decisions that our country is making. The worst part is that it is progressively getting worse; Americans are becoming less and less knowledgeable about what is going on in our country. It is absolutely ridiculous and when we look at ourselves from the outside point of view it is so pathetic and embarrassing. We look so stupid and when we watch it on TV like the clip about the Sarah Palin book signing questions we realize. The problem is the majority of people do not even realize that we are unaware of so much information because we are surrounded by people that are unaware. It is a common thing so no one really feels bad about it. I think that in schools we need to be more exposed to what is going on in America. We should be forced to learn about the different policies and the current events. Schools should start educating young children about it so that it will catch on and become consistent. Otherwise we are going to continue to be uneducated.
I am included in the majority of people that really has no idea about all the political issues, policies and decisions that are so important in our country. I think a large amount of reasoning is due to the fact that I was not brought up to understand the importance of having this knowledge. After watching this clip though, it makes me want to. It makes me feel like a complete idiot because yes it is funny to listen to people’s ridiculous and stupid answers, but if I was being asked these questions I probably would have similar answers. I agree with a previous blogger that this is a huge reason on why I did not vote. I do not know a great deal of the policies for each of the candidates so who am I to vote for someone that I do not even know exactly what they stand for. I probably would just do what most people my age do and vote for the same candidate as my parents. I think this is a huge problem because if people knew more about what the presidential candidates stood for it would completely change everything. I think a system that could be imposed is you have to take a test before you are allowed to vote about what each president stands for that way people would know the candidates that they truly wanted to run our country.
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“Rusty brains” I feel, isn’t just a new found occurrence within our culture but rather a seed that was sown many years ago and is just now starting to bear the antithetical brother of that mystical forbidden apple of knowledge; the abundant rotten apple of stupidity. Nowadays, people are content with relying solely on their gut feeling or intuition instead of asking thought provoking questions which elicit complex and substantial ideas. That’s why all of these people are so attracted to Palin in this video. She represents Idiot America in the fact that she looks good I’m talking milf..scratch that.. gilf potential here! Also, she doesn’t confuse the people with big flashy words but keeps it simple with the you betchas and quick fixes like cutting taxes because that worked so well with the Bush tax cuts right? It’s humorous in some ways but actually it’s rather sad to see all of her adamant supporters react so clueless when confronted with a logical and fair question on her policies. However, to be completely fair this type of video was also produced to show the ignorance of a few Obama supporters too. The general consensus is to just believe what you’re told and don’t think about it.
“Rusty brains” isn’t just an illness that plagues the uneducated, to a greater degree perhaps, but it can also creep into the so called college educated population. During my discussion groups and also during Sam’s lectures there seems to be an alarming degree of apathy and indifference concerning issues that are outside ones bubble, meaning they aren’t directly affected, necessarily, on a daily basis with these issues that require critical thinking. For example, in my discussion group whenever I bring up topics such as the wars or any significant worldly issue the majority of the students in the group remain mute but when the issue of dating or what it would be like to go without a cell phone is mentioned everyone somehow seems to summon compassionate responses. This is extremely frustrating to me and also has me losing faith with my generation. It’s this perpetuation of ignorance amongst even my peers that strengthen the mighty tree of stupidity that feed our population.
Does the fault lie solely on the average joe? I think not. If one were to read any of Noam Chomsky’s material I’d think they would agree. The “Manufacturing of Consent” keep the people nice and docile by means of glorifying non-issues and by leaving out critical omissions that might put a black eye on our country. Much of the population fall victim to media propaganda and stay loyal to the jingoism represented by the American flag, which in many ways, structured the Iraq war debate in a manner that brooked no dissent or analysis. I believe we’re doomed to repeat our historical atrocities as a nation unless the people start lubing up those “Rusty brains” with much needed critical thought and activism. But with the way things are going with the blatant apathy amongst those who would rather watch Gossip Girl than to read thought provoking figures like Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, or hell even William Buckley and Samuel Huntington , I’m beginning to lose hope.
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The video at the bottom of the blog entry, in my opinion, illustrates a phenomenon that happens not just in the United States but probably everywhere around the world. Most people are very ignorant and uninformed about several issues yet will have an opinion for you ready at any time, with blind support. I’d be willing to bet this happens everywhere, making it a human phenomenon and not just an American thing to be ignorant of certain subjects. And just to be clear, just because so many of us do it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to give bullshit opinions. In this case, politics is the issue and it’s such a large one because of how close huge elections finish. At any election millions of blind supporters cast their votes; blind supporters like the ones I saw in the video. People who talk about issues on which they don’t know a single thing about always sound pathetic and it’s something that will always make me cringe inside. The Palin supporters in the video had absolutely no idea of what they were talking about, and I can guarantee none of them (of the ones shown in the video) knew too much or anything at all about any other candidate from any party. Simply put, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t open your mouth, unless you don’t care about making a fool out of yourself.
This video reminds me why I don’t consider myself a Democrat or a Republican. I hate the two-party system simply for the partisanship we see at any time where there’s a hot/controversial political issue (essentially all the time). A lot of people follow and support an entire party’s platform often only because they agree with one issue, or simply because they were a Democrat/Republican since a young and innocent/ignorant/brainwashed age and always will be (similar to what we see with religion). This is just how it is in the US with politics. Many people are attracted to either party maybe because of religious beliefs or another irrelevant issue in politics and support the party and its candidates every single election blindly, without ever re-evaluating why they are a Democrat or Republican to begin with. The ending product of the partisanship is terrible in my opinion because elections are not even a contest to see who has the best policies for this country but rather who can convince and maintain the larger number of blind supporters. As you can see in the video, people who were previously drawn to the party will always support the Republican (or Dem.) in any future issue without ever knowing what it’s even about. These are the people (a huge percentage of our population, too big of a percentage) that ruin our political system. They contribute to the Republicans vs. Democrats war, and everyone gets carried away in the war itself to the point where so many people don’t even really care about the issues anymore, but rather simply for who wins.
I simply don’t like when people support or hold any opinion at all over any subject you can think of without having the smallest amount of knowledge in the subject. It’s often perfectly fine to not know anything about the subject, and when you don’t, don’t even waste your breath because you’re just talking for the sake of doing so. I did a lot of bashing just now but I’ll admit I’ve caught myself speaking bullshit. It happens in a bunch of different topics, such as sports. Sports-talk comes up very often under casual situations where it’s easy to state something that may not be true at all. As a kid, I always had an opinion on the hot sports topic, just like most other kids. Even if the sport I was talking about wasn’t one of my favorites or one I truly cared about, I’m sure I’ve said some stupid shit without really knowing for myself. Now, whatever the issue, I at least try to keep my mouth shut if I have no knowledge of the topic that is being discussed.
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America, a country where everyone is more intelligent than the next nation over. This video shows how many people in the country think. They go off of what they see on the news, many times that’s all. It’s quite obvious that we need to dive deeper into the information behind candidates in an election. I don’t know the numbers, but it seems to me that the majority of voters don’t know the true ins and outs of a candidate’s policies and plans before they vote for them. The truth probably is that most voters go off of racial background, religion, looks, or just what they hear on the news or read in one stupid newspaper article. The Roman Catholic Church considers it a sin if you vote for someone who is pro-choice! I have to admit that during the 2008 election I didn’t know very much at all about the candidates “plans for healthcare” or “views on abortion.” I had a general idea of what they each brought to the table but as far as really studying it like needs to be done to make a quality decision on my part; I didn’t do that at all. To tell you the truth, I voted Republican simply because I’m a Catholic and was against abortion. However, I didn’t seem to have the time to dive deep into the issues and stances that each candidate took being that I’m an engineering major here at Penn State. The last thing I wanted to do after coming home from class, doing more physics, and calculus, was read up on Obama’s plan for healthcare. What I did was I took the most important issue to me, and made my vote based on that. I know that wasn’t doing my duty as an American but I simply didn’t have the time to do the necessary research. However, the people in this video and most of Americans do have the time. They need to do their part and truly look through the issues that most affect this country and decide which candidate, overall, can do the best job of making this nation better overall. Another reason why I think I didn’t read up very much on the candidates is simply because it doesn’t really interest me. I’ll sit around and have arguments with my atheist friend about God or about how and why people interact or how a nuclear reactor works because it interests me. I think the same is the case with many of the people in this video. That or they’re just too lazy to do it. In the end, does it really matter? I mean look at the people who are choosing the president of the United States. Why should I care about my vote when 10 other idiots like that are going to vote? Or am I just one of those idiots? The bottom line is that we just need to do the best we can as Americans to make a good decision. That is fulfilling our duty as an American citizen.
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I cannot laugh at this video because I too am clueless about what goes on in the world, specifically politics. Many people open their mouths pretending that they know exactly what is going on in the world but in reality, it’s all an act. It is kind of sad to me that we are the ones deciding on who is going to control our country when a lot of us are oblivious on what these people really stand for.
I will be honest here and say that I did vote in the past election but if someone asked me why exactly I voted for the candidate, I probably wouldn’t sound too knowledgeable either. If I were asked any of those questions about Sarah Palin, I would not know how to answer them. What I don’t understand is why these people are at a Sarah Palin book signing when they know absolutely nothing about her. You would think they would be more aware of what she stands for if they are standing waiting for an autograph. Weird….
Personally, I voted for Obama based primarily off my parents and what I have heard in the news. I did put some research into my decision but based off my decision primarily off who Obama was as a person. I think this is one of the biggest issues. Our society consists of many followers. People believe everything they hear and will go along with others.
With all the media and new technology, people no longer have to think for themselves. It is easy to be dumb these days. Rather than reading a book, society decides to sit on their couches and watch the TV. Rather than children playing board games and using their imagination, they are intensely focused on videogames. As for the media, so much is said that it is hard what to believe. I remember watching the news and heard that Obama stood for a specific thing. It is hard not to believe what you hear that that small news clip changed many voters.
I do not know whether we should put the blame on ourselves or the evolution of technology but something needs to change in order to regain knowledge and intelligence. What saddens me is that this dumb phenomenon is just beginning. I heard a statistic that over 30 percent of children ages from 9 to 15 does not know who the president of the United States is. Are you kidding? In addition, along with being dumb I probably could not tell you where all the states are that make up the United States. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE SO THAT OUR COUNTRY IS NOT BRAINDEAD ANYMORE.
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Reading the Sarah Palin article point out the obvious signs of what is happening to America! Everyone who was at this book signing was very supportive of her and the work she has done. However as soon as the questioning went to what she is working for everyone suddenly had no idea. Their change in their voices and as the questioning continued their started to upset many people. People started to get more forceful with their words. Almost indicating that there is something wrong with why they think the way they do, simply it was just someone wanting to know more information to figure out why they feel a certain way.
If you have noticed over the years and even in conversations being held all of the time around us no one is deeply engaged in a conversation. Are not in-depth at all. People tend to just get enough information on the surface and then make all of these connections deeply to their heart, when that might not be the right idea that is trying to be presented. This happens all of the time, which is funny how people try to exert their freedom of speech, when they try to make many statements very personal. However, many of their opinions are pointless and do not supply any help just added cluster. Like in a e-mail when there is so much spam, you just delete them instead of read all of the pointless ads. It would be completely different stories if people knew enough about the information to make a decent argument. This way people could actually learn off of one another, many people do not even know where their sources are coming from, some from the Fox news and other from Church groups. I find many of these especially church groups will reveal the information in which they want people to judge off of, they are not the whole story. It is just angled to get the people they are with. This particularly could lead to irrational decision and because they would feel supported in doing so since they are surround by people who are following the idea. Pointless. It makes me wonder how many people do this when they are about to vote for someone in office, and when anyone who is voted into office, they are always looked down upon. There is just so much more information to blame on that person rather than letting them know changes can not all happen at one time. Knowing that if they were in a switched position they would not be doing anything better, or they could be in a group to help to start the change instead of just complaining.
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It is absolutely true that in today’s day and age people are not using their brains, but rather they are relying on their opinions, which were most likely formed by news that was skewed one way or another. The ignorance displayed in this video should not provoke us to laugh at these ill informed individuals, but rather it should make us cringe, as these people represent the knowledge of our entire country, including you and I. People who supposedly supported Barack Obama, or McCain and Palin in the most recent election, most likely were not well informed on their policies and did not closely follow their campains, but they just chose one candidate based on the hype surrounding them or what they thought the candidate stood for. People like to think that they know what they are talking about and just throw around their opinions like they are absolutely true, when really they have not given any real thought to the issue and probably did not do any research on the topic they were talking about. We throw around big words and raise our voices to try to get our point across, but most of the time, we have no idea what we are really talking about. We would rather get into a heated debate than actually take the time to think about an issue and really determine our views. It does not seem like there is much hope when it comes to improving the knowledge base of Americans, when we are constantly being bombarded by the media’s biased views and opinions. We choose what to believe when we choose what news channel to watch, what newspaper to read, and what people we believe. Before we get the chance to think for ourselves, other sources have already formed our thoughts for us. The only way to stop this vicious cycle is to truly make a conscious effort and take time to ponder things over for yourself and then discuss your non-biased thoughts with someone who has chosen to do the same. Although it is impossible to know everything and be well informed on all of the issues going on in today’s hectic world, it is extremely important to be knowledgeable on the subjects that you choose to discuss and become passionate about. It is not right to enter a debate or claim you know something when in reality you just heard it on t.v or read it in a blog. No one expects you to have all the answers, but when you are passionate about something that you really know nothing about, you are only making yourself look more foolish and contributing to America’s ignorant reputation. We must motivate ourselves to use or brains and actually think before we speak.
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The article about Rusty Brains is really true. First of all, I am a political science major here at Penn State; so naturally I understand that the video clip of Sarah Palin supporters is a pathetic small glimpse of how uninformed and ignorant people can be about politics. The problem is that we are spoon fed our news and subject matter through a ton of different media filters. Add this onto the reality that a Republican or Democrat can choose which biased news station to turn on and feed that ideology, and the result is a mess of stubborn ignorance. Another great portion of the blame belongs to the nature of people. Some people are “born” Republicans or Democrats as if they have no other choice in the matter. They accept that they come from a long line of tradition in that thinking and are proud to stubbornly parade their opinions without having the material to back it up. If people are not inclined to think, ask questions, and check facts then no wonder the majority of the population sounds flat out retarded when talking about something like politics. Most people don’t have a clue what they are talking about. I find it very hard to believe that so many diehard Sarah Palin supporters did not know one policy that she supported or even reasons as to why they liked her! This definitely is not a Republican issue limited to the supporters of Palin, every party has its loyal followers who claim to know their politics until they are actually confronted with a question. I have friends who voted for Obama because he was black. I also have friends who said he was “hott” and that he was way more “cool” than his older opponent John McCain.
People are not challenged by the media and most importantly are not challenged by other people. Many avoid situations and conversations that will force them to really evaluate what they think and why they think a certain way. A person may seem to know a lot and be very comfortable spitting out a few stats about a subject matter (especially politics) but typically they still only grasp an elementary understanding. It is embarrassing that there are so little times that people are truly challenged to use intellect and reasoning. No wonder our brains are rusty like Sam suggested. Technology has made information so accessible, condensed, and viewpoint based that there is hardly a need to go about learning information the old fashioned way through discussion and research. The forums for such discussions have almost altogether ceased since the invention of technology. Instead of personal direct contact, people dodge conversations with cell phones and portable games. Television has silenced many conversations in which some sort of enlightenment could occur. It ultimately is up to the individual to take the initiative to become more knowledgeable about any subject matter.
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Our country is in some serious trouble. I hate how adults always blame it on the youth because the adults are actually just as uneducated and uninvolved as many young people. During the 2008 election, unlike many of my peers I voted for Senator John McCain. It amazes me how so many people got involved with the 2008 presidential election on either side. It was so refreshing to see such a political revival during the election. However, it’s been so disappointing to see the lack of follow through after the election. So many students at Penn State sported posters and pins supporting Obama, yet now, they have no connection to political news and policy. When I asked my friends if any one wanted to go to the health care debate on campus earlier this semester I was met by snickering and being called a nerd. Why? I have no idea. I just figured health care is a pretty big deal these days and people who were so involved with the election would like to go. Guess I was wrong. American politics is becoming another form of entertainment.
It is interesting how one of the people interviewed in that video talks about how America is no longer an exceptional nation. No wonder. Supporters on either side of the political debate are more interested in taking sides like their favorite sports team than focusing on issues.
Over Thanksgiving Break I was able to see former First Lady Laura Bush speak in Pittsburgh. Sitting around looking at the packed crowd I quickly realized that I was one of ten people under the age of 30 and that I only saw one minority person– an elderly Asian man. After the speech my mother and the rest of the middle aged, affluent, and white crowd were so pleased with Mrs. Bush. However, when I discussed it with my mother I pointed out that she really just talked about how terrible 9/11 was and how America is so special because of our experience with 9/11. It seemed like she was just up there making people feel nostalgic about the ‘old times’ before terrorism came to the forefront.
Politics really just seems like an entertainment that strives to make people feel good about themselves. If you do not have a solid background in politics or history, grasping and understanding the policies of a candidate can be hard. Our government is surrounded by such red tape and bureaucracy that it is no wonder that many Americans struggle to vote on issues. Instead, accessible means of information are used to make decisions about candidates: youtube, facebook, news media outlets, etc..
I think the country will be ok though. When the first presidential debate was on television there were a lot of questions raised. Now we’ve moved to youtube users asking debate questions. As our country moves forward with technology and culture, I assume that politics will adapt as such.
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This post addresses an issue that personally drives me crazy. I don’t understand how people can be so obnoxiously supportive of someone that they don’t even know much about. As one of the other response posts mentions, I think this definitely happened on the Penn State campus for Obama last year. While I don’t doubt that some people were very informed in their decision on who to vote for, it seemed to be that voting for Obama was just the fad that people happened to be following at the moment. I know this was true at least for my roommate, who proudly wore her Obama sticker and watched the news all day and wouldn’t shut up about it, but then when I asked why she voted for him she actually had no answer whatsoever. I personally didn’t vote, because I didn’t feel I knew enough to really make an informed decision, and I don’t think it would really hurt others to consider that option as well. I fully support the movement for everyone to vote and have their voices heard and what not, but if its an ignorant vote and you don’t even know what you’re supporting or why you’re supporting it, I really feel like you’re better off keeping your mouth shut and your vote uncounted.
It really is sad that those people didn’t know the answers to the questions that were being asked of them, although I don’t think I have much room to talk. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to answer those questions, but I guess the difference between them and me is that I’m not running my mouth and bashing others when I don’t know what I’m talking about. However, that still makes me guilty of having a rusty brain. I think our culture makes it very difficult to do anything but drink up the fast food news. If every day there was probing conversation that really made you question what you were saying, maybe this phenomenon wouldn’t happen anymore. But because this doesn’t usually happen, people are able to go happily along knowing only the bare minimum that has been fed to them by our culture. This truly is sad, but again, I am fully guilty of it so I don’t have much room to judge.
I think what’s even more reprehensible than having a rusty brain is having a rusty brain and not keeping your mouth shut. Sure, you can share your opinion, but when it comes to an argument, if you don’t have solid information to back you up, please just be quiet. And I think people should really step back and examine why they are supportive of what they’re supportive of. If you don’t agree with the policies, then why support the person? And if you don’t know the policies, then there’s no way you can know you agree with them.
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I really enjoyed this topic and completely agree that anymore, people are not thinking. So many people go off of what they see on one news channel, from their parents, friends, coworkers etc. and don’t even do the research themselves. I’m definitely responsible for doing this myself- which is why I felt too uneducated to vote in the last election. Everyone says “vote or die”, “vote, vote, vote” is engraved in our minds but is it responsible to vote when you are uneducated? I don’t think so, but its clear that many people disagree with me. Half the time, people convince themselves that they think they know what they are talking about when they really only hear/know half the story.
This video made me pretty sad to see these people know nothing about the woman’s policies that they are all standing in line for. Its not just Palin fans, but obviously Obama’s fans as well. It’s society these days in general, who get so caught up in a battle, they barely know what they are even fighting for. Like Sam said, I can’t laugh or judge because I myself could not answer those questions. Watching this opened my eyes to how blind many people are when they discuss politics. No one likes to “loose” so they push so hard for something that in reality, they may not even believe in. It would be really interesting to see who would have one in the past had everyone who voted been educated from both sides and made their choices from there. Maybe the outcome would be the same, but it would be comforting to know that the people in power are there because everyone who THINKS and votes puts them there.
By no means am what I about to say justifying the people in the video, but I cant help but also wonder why these people love Palin but do not know what she stands for. I think that partially it comes from the media and picking to listen to only what they want to hear. It is very easy to watch a certain news channel and hear amazing things about either party. People tend to fall in love with these idols and then stick to them without looking at the other candidates. Its sad, but I think its reality. Its also really scary too, because I am sure the government knows that people listen to what they hear on television and all over the media, so they are sure to give you the information they want you to know. Its extremely dangerous and when people stop thinking and letting others think for them, it leads America down a slippery slope.
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The people who were interviewed for this Sarah Palin video are pathetic. It makes me laugh that the people who came out to her book signing actually know nothing about her, about her policies, or about what she is actually trying to do. They say she is trying to shrink government which is completely not true. By pushing her anti-choice (pro-life) and anti-gay marriage agendas she is actually increasing the size of government. They say she makes them proud to be women, which I think is preposterous. As a woman she should understand how important it is for women to be able to make choices. The tax cuts she wants to offer, that the interviewees were referring to, are for the rich. This does NOTHING to help small business owners. They claim to want all spending cut. Ignoring the fact that this is completely impossible, and preposterous, how about the social security benefits they receive? What about their medicare? What about unemployment benefits? What about military funding? I could spend the entire four hundred and fifty words citing all of the incorrect statements these people have made, and calling them out on how uninformed they are, but that isn’t really the question Sam was asking with this post. This is the kind of thinking that is setting America back. Instead of actually attempting to learn what Palin’s foreign policy is, what her health care plan is, how she plans to cut taxes and still decrease our debt, these people just echo the catchphrases they hear from Fox news and their pastors. I don’t think it is even the RNC putting these things out, in fact, she pretty much goes against all the ideals that the traditional Republican Party held near and dear. This video is embarrassment, and the worst part is, the people that got interviewed didn’t even realize what dumbasses they sound like. One lady said the main stream media was killing America, but I bet if you asked her she couldn’t name a single news source that isn’t “mainstream.” Where would she get her information if not from her pastor, who she cited as her main news source? I’m sure he’s a really credible and up to date source of information. And, they all bashed President Obama’s policies, but do any of them actually know what they are? He has done nothing to re-legalize partial birth abortions, and he hasn’t touched our immigration policy. I don’t understand why these people don’t read the bills that have been approved, why don’t they attempt to find credible sources of information, instead of parroting the sound bites they hear on their way to pick up the newest copy of Idiot’s Digest. Their brains aren’t rusty, they’re incapacitated
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Hahah, I didn’t know 75% of those answers either but I laughed anyway. Leave it to a dude in a Steelers jacket and a bunch of people wearing Ohio State colors to tell you what’s going on in the world. But seriously though people are TOLD by the media what to think and it has gotten so bad nowadays. This video is a perfect example of bias news reporting that goes on in this country. Certain news outlets fabricate the truth so that side they are most affiliated with looks better. Fox news is a perfect example. when that one guy said he watches Fox news all the time his “opinions” made perfect sense. I’m sure there’s media outlets that are just as bad as Fox news but that cater to the left side of politics but I’m usually pretty left wing so I’m really not sure what those are. Bias reporting is doing more harm to our country as it goes on because people won’t be able to discern the truth from rumors and fabrications. It also seems like that with bias reporting nobody takes time to look at the actual issues and not what other people think of them. Not one person in that video knew anything constructive about Sarah Palin or the Democrats. All they could say was that “she’s a real American” and her policies were “good” and the Democrats’ were “bad for the country”, or they were promoting “Leninism”(haha really, was that guy serious?) I would tell these people to start paying attention to reliable news outlets but I’m not sure what those would be. For all we know everything is skewed in one way or another. This is something the people of this country need to figure out for the future before nobody at all knows what they are talking about. I almost think all the political reporting should be scrapped right now and started over fresh. It would be good to just hear what the policies and views politicians have on things and not others opinions and views on them. Just who, what, when, where. So you can read it or see it for yourself and go “Oh nice, I like this” or “That sucks, no thanks”. I don’t think that would be too difficult. Although news station ratings may plummet. I’m also going to admit I didn’t really pay too much attention to the actual issues of each candidates in this election. I’m usually under the impression that since my parents usually vote democrat and they’ve always said they cater towards my demographic more that generally it would be better for me if I voted the same way. Just like these people I should start looking at the actual issues and facts and then make my decision for whoever candidate I think is best. But that will be hard will all the biased media floating around. Maybe its better that I don’t watch any news at all like I’ve been doing. Until the media changes that may be the only options. Either watch propaganda that spins truths or have an unbiased although clueless opinion of politics.
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In various discussion groups and interactions I have had with people throughout my life, I am often baffled at how very little people dig deeper. What gets me the most is the radical people who can’t think outside of the box; also who have their facts wrong. I’m sure that I’m rusty in several ways, but I feel that I question what is around me far more than others. If I am uninformed about a topic, then I don’t really comment on it; I don’t root for it by standing outside of Sarah Palin book signings unable to justify why I’m there.
I think that the biggest problem with rusty minds is that instead of people asking other people ‘why’ and ‘how,’ we neglect to ask ourselves that question. We should always do that. I do feel hypocritical though; I’m not extremely knowledgeable on politics, I’m ill informed. I haven’t taken the time to brush up on current affairs and I feel that being in school can distract me from that…even though it really shouldn’t. It’s my goal to get out of my little world once I’m out of school. Regardless, if there is something that I don’t know anything about, I admit it. I especially am baffled by people who are so passionate about something or someone for one little reason and neglect to consider other aspects.
For instance, abortion. People who are radically anti-abortion seem to overlook inconvenient causes of pregnancy such as incest and rape. Or what about women who are trapped in situations where they couldn’t take care of a child? The man ran off. It’s easy for men like that. Another thing that I don’t understand is extremely religious people. Christians especially; well, I know most about Christianity so that is what I’ll focus on. While I think that the bible has good intent overall, how do people follow it so blindly? It almost infuriates me. This is the questions I want to ask them…who wrote the bible?…MEN, right?…just like you and me…people. Who told them these stories?..other men. The bible is a book written off of stories which were probably verbally passed down for years until someone decided to write it down. Just try to play a game a Chinese telephone with twenty people in one little sitting and see how distorted a phrase gets. People live their lives strictly by this book, I can’t believe that they don’t think their way out of it. I’m sure Christian’s question God and/or the bible at some point, but I wonder what these people outside of the Willard building think. Do they really think that everybody who has premarital sex is damned? Because the last time I checked, marriage wasn’t that sacred either.
Anyways, the world’s minds are rusty. Mine included in some aspects. Everyone is rusty in something/several things. But we should all try to de-rust ourselves as much as we can.
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I just have to say that these people just sound ignorant to me, like I’m not good under pressure like that, but they just truly sounded ignorant. I personally don’t know all the policies under President Obama, but at least I don’t go around pretending like I do. I don’t even watch the news that much but most of the stuff those people said really made be like, huh… are they serious? Sure they may be “rusted brains” but if you’re going to a rally or whatever for Sarah Palin, or whoever you support, shouldn’t you at least brush up on you facts you know about them. Get the latest information about the abortion policies. Don’t go around saying that people are aborting babies as they’re being born, that just sounds dumb. Then when the interviewer says, are you sure about that because I’m pretty sure Obama is against late term abortions, don’t go no you’re wrong and say I’m sure I heard it several times somewhere. It really irks me when people pretend to know what they are talking about when really they have no clue. If you don’t have your facts straight then shut your mouth. If I hear someone spewing bull shit I make sure call them out on it, so they can feel as dumb as they sound. I get so worked up over it. Then they brought up the fact that Russia was Alaska’s neighbor, they obviously didn’t see Saturday Night Live making fun of the fact that she made that statement. Sure you’re close to Russia a foreign country, but I wouldn’t really call it your neighbor. I think Canada would be more of a neighbor, or like how Mexico is California’s neighbor. It’s so cold up there it can’t take much to keep all those crazy Russians from coming over there. Why would they leave their freezing home, to come to another freezing place, Alaska isn’t even directly connected to the United States, so I don’t know what good it would do them. I do think that people do need to talk about these problems more, so that their brains don’t become all “rusted” because if you’re put on the spot you will be made to look like a fool. You will only be able to call upon old rules and regulations that were set up, things that have been long changed. It won’t help you at all, it will just help you get people frustrated and angry at you. So basically if you want to say something make sure it is correct, and ask questions if you aren’t sure, it will help people to not think you were so ignorant… and who knows it could even help out Palin and her candidacy… but probably not.
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Seeing this video makes me feel less guilty about not voting in the most recent election. It seems to me that the two main components in this race Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, (sorry John McCain) are viewed by the people as rock stars or celebrities. During the video it seems as if no one knows a damn thing about either of the political leaders. Besides the fact that they stand for “freedom” and “rights”. No one knows what these politicians are actually going to do they are basically just spouting off the same lines they hear on these political ads that trash the other candidate and praise their own.
I think what this reflects among our people is that even those who think they care, have really no idea what they are voting for. But, look at the candidates. They flip-flop over so many issues trying to please certain groups of people, or large donors. I mean me personally I have no idea what Barack Obama stated that he would accomplish, but I’m positive that he hasn’t even made a dent in his promised results. And, I would say the same exact thing if John McCain had ended up winning the presidency. That is just the way it is with politics though, people will do whatever they need to do to win. It doesn’t matter what the cost is or who you hurt in the process, as long as you end up on top it’s all good. I know it may be my duty as an American citizen to vote, but honestly I don’t think I will ever honestly have faith in our government. I don’t know if I really want to be a part of all the corruption and lies that are American leadership.
Back to the video, this video seems to be very pro Barack because it is designed to make most Republicans seem like bumbling fools who belong in a trailer park with their cousin. They are quite clearly mocking these people by asking them why they love Sarah Palin and then asking them policy questions to which they appear to be dumbfounded. The same political bias could be put on the democrats if they had some white reporter go into a predominantly black neighborhood and ask people who are Obama supporter’s questions about his policies. The truth is an everyday citizen isn’t going to know every detail about their political candidate. We have lives, the people who know all of this, well that’s their job. To know what candidate stands for what and their policies on how to fix it. In conclusion, I don’t know what to say really. It just seems like a very biased opinion on today’s politics, which unfortunately I kind of believe.
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I have to say that it is very much so unfortunate to watch that video clip and not be too surprise about it. I have to admit that I’m do not know much about the answers to questions that were raised but I am not the one of the people who stands in line for Palin’s autograph’s either. I feel like a lot of people are sometimes just in it for the fun and they are truly ignorant about the issue. I was not able to vote on the last election but that is because I am not yet allow to vote. Because I could not vote, I failed to inform myself all of the political issues. I really did not know that people who seems so into the issues and seems like they have so much opinion about it is yet so ignorant about it. I think that Americans sometimes forget the real reasons the real purpose of voting. It seems like people are voting because everyone is doing it and it is something that is exciting at the time so they should jump on to the band wagon. This is very sad but absolutely true. Sometimes I wonder if it is too cruel/socialistic/communistic to limit the voting to only the people who knows what is really going on with all of our policies and issues.
I do think that the public as whole is very much so ignorant of the issues that are going on; however, I also think that all of the propaganda and speeches are only twisting things around to make them sounds good instead of actually informing the public with the right information. I think that taking away the rights to vote for some because of their ignorance will not be fair based on numerous circumstances and we will build a caste system for our society. At first I was thinking about testing the citizens and only the one who knows the issues can vote and that will give our citizens more incentives to learn about the issues that all of us are struggling with. However, I thought about it more and realize that this plan will not work because then only the rich with education will vote and the poor will be left behind. Also this statement is not completely true and there are exceptions, I do feel like minorities will suffer on this one because most of the poor urban areas are where most minorities located and whites are located in the suburban areas. Thus, I think that the best way to solve this situation is to come up with a system of education that will inform our public about the current issues as well as passing laws limiting what politicians can do or say when campaigning.
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It didn’t occur to me to consider how ignorant some people allow themselves to be and without proper knowledge of things they make decisions that are unjustified. Sadly almost every person does this maybe varying in the subject matter but we do make impactful decisions without proper reasoning. In the case of the rusty brains issue I most defiantly have to agree with the argument. We accept one side to be true without looking into the other. We hear some type of finding and then stick to it. We rarely as people step outside our boxes to find the truth, to see what real issues and changes will effect us in either harmful or beneficial ways. We as people in most cases just someone else word for it and in worst cases we take the chopped and screwed information provided by the news. In stead of researching things ourselves we depend and accept what majority of those in our same boxes accept. When we know that we are all individuals with different takes on things and different needs. I’m unsure why we in this day still are allowing ourselves to be this way. I guess we are tying to remain in our comfort zones. I cant be angry with those people that were interviewed but I can be annoyed with their ignorance and bias with having proper support for their reasoning. I can be disappointed in them because they say they are Americans and believe in America’s so called promise however some of there comments were un-American. I questioned who they considered to be American I questioned who do they believe deserves the American promise. It seemed to me that these people are building false hope in a person who deep down inside they know nis someone unworthy of it. People are just afraid of change people are afraid when a person really wants to do right by all. I can understand that because most of these benefited from living in this world or better said this country when discrimination is present, when equally opportunity is said but not actually done. This can allow these be people to be afraid of change because that are certain if a country without wrongs is one they will still benefit from. I guess Sarah Palin doesn’t support change. Maybe she represents a person who will reinstate the past beliefs and foundations and reinforce the rules that help keep Americas’ people separated whether it be by class or race. We need to educate ourselves about the things we supposedly support. We need to have solid facts to supports our reasoning especially when it comes to supporting the people who will govern us. The world needs to stop being so gullible and naive.
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This video and blog post is one of the best examples of how ignorant and closed minded a lot of the people in the United States can be when it comes to their views. Granted, the video that was posted along with this blog may be very biased but it still demonstrated a lot. Now I am not saying that I myself has a lot of knowledge about the politics going on in America today, and I am sure if I was asked many of those questions about Barack Obama’s policies, or Sarah Palin’s plans to change things I would probably be at a lose for words in an interview as well. It seems like from the look of this video many people support who they do for all the wrong reasons. For example, during the election everyone knew that Barack Obama was all about the “changes” he was going to make in America. To many college students I knew I think a lot of them supported Barack Obama because he seemed like a fresh and excited idea. I can make a bet that if asked, almost half of the college students on the Penn State campus that voted for him in this past election would not be able to tell his policies from his running mate, John McCain’s, policies. It may be best to give the people in the video the benefit of the doubt and say that if they are so strongly supportive (so they say) of Sarah Palin then they must know a good amount about her, but some things just do not add up.
I think things like this happen in the United States far too much where people are just misinformed on a subject, or just do not find the time to learn about the subject. I think a lot of this problem comes from what the media portrays the most and where the audiences focus is. It seems to me, as a college student, that when something happens with a celebrity, even if its the mildest thing, everyone knows about it. For example, the recent news story about Tiger Woods, I bet 9 out of 10 college students could tell you the story in detail, but maybe only 2 or 3 could tell you what it going on with politics these days.
I think it also has something to do with our generation being some what lazy when it comes to news about politics, I think a lot of us just do not seem to care. Whereas when my mom and dad were my age they knew a lot more of what was going on with politics. I think this could become a big problem because if people do not learn about what is going on then bad decisions in government will be made and we will have no idea why. I think the media needs to put more emphasize on the important things going on in the government and people need to make more of an effort to listen and learn about those things.
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This video is actually really sad. It definitely does show just how little Americans know about politicians and exactly what they stand for—not that I completely believe politicians know themselves. I do admit that I am one of those people who is not involved in politics and does not know anything about them. Honestly, all I think is republicans are bad and democrats are good—not such a good way of thinking without having a reason to back it up, but hey, it is something I will try to work on.
Anyhow, this is a great video that indicates the amount of knowledge most Americans have. The funny thing is that there are so many people out there who are hardcore democrats, republicans, or specifically Palin, McCain, or Obama supporters, who all speak so strongly about the person or group they support; yet, they barely know anything about he or she. Not good. I feel that this is a part of why America is so screwed up—or actually, it is probably the main reason. People have all of these strong views on things and are so stubborn as to actually do some real research. They stick with what they have heard or have been told to believe instead of being smart and branching out in order to find out the “truth” for themselves. These people are politicians who have control over the decisions that our country makes, which are pretty freaking big decisions, so wouldn’t it only be smart to do research and really make sure that you are voting for the person who would help your country move forward, which will also help you as a person move forward?
As I write this, I realize I somewhat sound like a hypocrite. No, I did not vote, because I was unable to, but I still should have researched the candidates and their views, opposed to just hearing about them from others. Although, I kind of believe I would always lean towards the candidate who does not appear to be some psycho (i.e., a military veteran, I feel that the war messes with their head, or hardcore religious person who is trying to convert the whole darn country). That is totally beside the point, but hey.
Those Palin supporters were waiting in line to get their book signed; this book, which I am assuming was about Palin and her life and her views. Evidently they bought the book, and wanted it signed by her because they believed what she was saying and what she stands for. But wait, they can’t reiterate it themselves? Hmmm, something sounds fishy. This makes me so upset because it always turns into something deeper like “oh, they’re just trying to make Sarah Palin and her supporters look bad” or “what about Obama supporters” and etc. The main problem is that people who support either side are stupid, for lack of not wanting to use a better term. People need to step it up, do some research, and try to understand these politicians and what direction they will most likely move our country in. Let’s get smart America. I know I’m willing to…and if I am…there’s no reason that others should not be.
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I find this to be so true, that many people really don’t make good conversations backed by diverse facts and personal opinions that they have not recited directly from a one-source/one-sided story. I know it is relatively easy to believe information just from reading or listening from a particular source, like if someone is very much influenced from the news from Fox News versus someone who is influenced from only watching CNN. I personally only watch CNN when I do watch the news, but I also get a lot of my well-rounded knowledge from other sources too. Information I receive from my economics classes, my International Business class, books I am required to read about globalization and economics, my family members, the public, etc, all have an influence for how I develop I stance to speak about different issues regarding our country and the world. I definitely could read and learn more independently about specific issues around the world and specifically the kinds of plans and policies that the Obama Administration wants to pass and the opposing arguments. However, the video clip shown is really disappointed and frankly annoying that there are so many people who have no idea what is really going on with the politicians that they are supporting. I was not surprised after watching the video that there are people who just support a candidate for no so clear reasons because even when hearing conversations from people around me, from family and friends too, there is always those who lack the essential information and insight that is really crucial to understanding important topics and actions. It is actually pretty scary that there are people who are so absent minded and really fake about how they support a candidate, and this applies to anyone and anything that someone might support, from Palin to Obama, to abortion to animal rights. On the brighter side regarding the video clip, I’m glad those people are at Palin’s book signing event because hopefully they’ll actually read her book and will then have a better understanding for what she and her policies are all about. When I first began to read what this post from Sam was going to be about, it immediately reminded me of how I am preparing to study abroad next semester in Barcelona. For example, during one of my informational meetings about going abroad, students were reminded to read the newspaper like the New York Times daily, and make sure that we are very familiar with what is going on in the United States , the world, and the country we are traveling to. Informed that most people living in a different country really know a lot about what’s happening in their country, their country’s history, and about the policies of their government…unlike that many Americans don’t know as much about current events and even about what’s going on in our government. For myself, I definitely want to be very familiar with my country of course so that when I am abroad I can easily hold an in-depth conversation about my personal opinions about what I think should be implemented and what policies are being passed and are up in the air.
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This blog hits a point about our modern day society that is very sad and scary. People have moved so far away from reason and survival through our busy lives. Its so strange how the media and things we hear shape our lives so greatly yet we hardly know what were talking about. Most of those people came out with strong opinions of Obama or Palin and then could not back up anything they said. I am guilty of this, however, I have never been able to vote in an election but I have chosen a candidate that I liked based on very little information. From this and the other things I have learned since 2008, I will definitely be a more informed citizen and voter. But aside from politics, our society is run by people being influenced by the media and advertising. It is sad because people do not even consider how these opinions they hold because of others play into their values and morals. Currently, I am advertising major and the whole industry is quite manipulative. Advertisers create images for products or candidates in politics that they believe will apply to society’s desires. However, the product or person does not usually fulfill these images: it is just a campaign. People feel the need to justify themselves and their purchase or vote with passion, even though they were never given facts and figures to help them make an informed decision in the first place. It is confusing to me because so many people argue over politics however; few really understand what they are talking about. I feel like most of the people interviewed were influenced by Sarah Palin’s image in the media rather than her true opinions of issues and that are why they could not answer questions about actual problems in the United States. Yet they could say all these powerful words like freedom and guarantee if Sarah Palin was president that she would ensure everyone just that. This kind of language proves that these people are being effected by campaign commercials but are not looking much further into the people who could and do run our country. This is one of the reasons I have debated switching my major from advertising. Although it is affective, it is not informative. It is not getting people to really think critically. And in times like these, we need too. We need to think about our leaders and resources and how we are going to handle ourselves in the global world. Advertising is only as good as the most persuasive ad. These images do not change opinions and tap into our true inner selves, which we have distanced from in the past centuries. The only true way to change is to change wholly as a person. To align our values of freedom with our ability to be free from the media. To care about our countries future but also consider its past. As a society, we are not seeing the whole picture. We need to start before everything is out of our hands and we are at a loss because we weren’t alert when it was important.
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This video definitely puts an exclamation point on one of the main problems we are facing here in America: ignorance. I am a strong believer in being up to date on the latest news that is affecting our lives everyday. I participated in this past Presidential election for the first time, and do consider myself up to date and knowledgeable on the issues. I firmly believe that it is our right to vote, and it is our duty to become intelligent voters, and not just follow our party affiliation. Prior to participating in any election, one should have specific reasons why they are voting for whomever they are voting for; and party affiliation should not be the only reason. I feel that our nation is becoming too divided over Red and Blue states. Although I do find television news networks as Fox News and MSNBC entertaining, I do not feel that everything said on these networks are law and 100% the truth. Too many people are sitting in rush hour traffic listening to Rush Limbaugh boil over about statements that are absolutely false. It is time for American’s to take the bull by the horn and start doing their own research and reading about candidates. See for yourself who you agree with. Ever since I have been voting, I have tried to look at where I stand on issues, and think for myself what I feel should be done. After this, I look at the candidates and their proposed plans. Whomever I feel I agree with most is the person I vote for.
Now I realize that there is no way I can know what is best for our nation, however, I do feel that it is easy to stay up to date on what is going on in our world (and not just what’s going on inside our Happy Valley bubble). The university offers free USA Today, New York Times, and Centre Daily Times to all students. Pick one up and browse through it. I guarantee once you are aware of the issues taking place in our world, you will begin to gain an opinion for yourself (and to your surprise, it may not always agree with your party affiliation). I also want to make clear that this is taking place all over the nation. People do not take time to think for themselves, but rather let other people decide for them what they will agree with and disagree with. I stand by the fact that reading (whether newspapers, books, magazines) will increase one’s knowledge about issues greatly. Opening up a newspaper or magazine allows you to stay informed on issues and allows you to have answers to WHY you support a certain candidate.
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People often wonder why elections in this country seem so close. You would think it’s because the candidates are so well matched, however it’s more a result of the highly competitive and divided, not to mention largely uninformed, residents of this country. This video is an example of such behavior where we see people choosing sides and backing someone who they know little to nothing about. Not only that, but when asked to give their opinions on the person’s views they bashfully and awkwardly admit that they are unfamiliar with them or they ramble on about nonsense making themselves look even worse than had they not answered. It’s seems preposterous that this could be the case right? Wrong. It is such a highly increasing problem in this country that spares no gender, race, age, or political affiliation. The people in this video may have been Sarah Palin supporters who seriously lacked any knowledge of her views, but that is not the focus of the problem, it is merely a smaller component of the overall dilemma. The video presents the views of a highly unrepresentative set of people and no doubt the same problem would have occurred had the focus been on supporters of Barack Obama or a variety of other topics.
The true problem is not with individual topics but with the overall American population. People just don’t think for themselves these days. They are so obsessed with what other people are saying that they don’t formulate their own views and instead assimilate to the way of thinking of those they choose to listen to. Instead of doing their own research and forming their own opinions they hide behind the words of others which eventually fail them. On the off chance that they manage to falsify an opinion far enough to interest someone enough to hold a conversation with them, they are almost immediately caught out by questions that they don’ t have the answers to because the opinions weren’t theirs to begin with. It seems as though in modern society people either have a hardcore opinion or none at all. This is more so due to the fact that those with strong opinions want to voice them. Their opinions then influence those who are undecided in their views or who have none at all which continues the current problem of uninformed people making decisions and supporting things they are not properly educated about.
So what is the answer to this dilemma? It seems to me that people have to go beyond research and beyond forming opinions. What is the use of having an opinion if you never voice it? They need to get their opinions out into the open and stop hiding behind labels like Republican or Catholic that they feel will voice them instead. Once people have their own true views and are expressing them there will be the opportunity for some real conversation in which people question each other and pick each others brains.
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Is it any surprise that in this age of instant gratification, we boil serious issues down to a pithy headline and take mere soundbites from speeches? It’s like we can’t be bothered to dig deeper because we’re always in such a rush. I certainly don’t think it’s only Sarah Palin supporters who can’t articulate the facts about their candidates’ platforms. I think the majority of Americans have no idea about policies past what they hear on pundit-driven, biased cable television. The video from the Palin book signing shows that politicians rely on emotional appeal – and perhaps also a certain glamour or unique quality (Palin was painted as a renegade; Obama as a change agent) – rather than any kind of policy promotion.
I think it is unrealistic to expect people to know or understand exactly where their candidates stand on the issues more than the standard “for” or “against,” but I also think, then, that it is personally irresponsible for these people to be voting when they are so uninformed. I realize that some people vote strictly along party lines, and I respect that, but for the most part, I think one should only vote if one can provide real answers to the questions that were posed in the video: What do you mean when you say your candidate will “make a difference”? Where does your candidate stand on certain policies?
I believe in exercising my right to vote, and I voted in the primary and the general election in 2008. However, I did not vote in the recent election. I felt that I was woefully uninformed about the candidates in State College, through no fault of theirs, but wholly my own. I suppose I could’ve voted straight for one party’s candidates, but although I lean one way, I am an independent and my stances on various issues land on both sides of the political fence. Thus, I would not have felt comfortable only voting for candidates based on their political affiliation and not their actual views on the issues. If you’d asked me any questions about them, I would’ve sounded even less knowledgeable than the people in the Sarah Palin video. But then again, I wouldn’t have known about any candidate enough to like him or her enough to show up at a campaign event (or book signing) to be interviewed in the first place.
I think the media is easy to blame for the general ignorance of the population. We’re attracted to its flashy graphics, its loudmouth commentators, its obsession with celebrity (I get it, Tiger Woods crashed into a tree, can we get on with the actual news?). But shouldn’t we blame ourselves for being sucked in to the superficial? The people in the video didn’t really seem embarrassed that they could say nothing more than the line or two of rhetoric they’d heard (“lower spending” or “foreign policy”), but I am embarrassed that I am just as unaware. We are lucky enough to live in a country where information is nearly free-flowing. And yet, we are satisfied with what we’re told by our favorite anchorperson and don’t feel the need to question anything; we think that news producers will give us all we need to know about the world in a 22-minute evening news program. Why don’t we think more? Because we don’t believe we need to. That, or we’re afraid of what we’ll discover when we do.
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I believe one of the more prevalent issues we have at hand, here, is the fact that americans clearly don’t know how to bullshit anymore. The only topic that I’m not firm on, ironically, is the cap and trade questions. Taking into account that cap probably refers to spending caps or pollution caps, and trade is pretty obvious, we can deduct that it’s either a way to control spending or pollution. I will take a guess that it’s spending, but I don’t know that for certain. She brought up the subject, so hopefully she knows some more specifics than that. Now, after a brief wikipedia search, I have discovered that 50/50 doesn’t turn in my favor, and the term actually refers to a method of pollution control. Damn. However, I’ve just learned enough to at least look good for the camera, because I know I have a stance on pollution control. Work with it, or don’t answer the question.
To be completely honest, though, if someone had asked me about that just ten minutes ago, I would have gone off on a rant about how Cash for Clunkers wasn’t the best way to implement stimulus money, and how Obama needs to start showing more signs of progress as he hits his one year mark. Then I would have gone home, wiki’d it like I just did, and realized how much of a moron I would have been. Then i would have intravenously threaded logical fallacies together until I figured out a way that my original response made sense with the actual topic. However, THIS journal response has saved me from that fate, and now I am at least partially informed. See, I think it’s when people call me out on it without publicly humiliating me that I start to learn. In any other circumstance, I’ll just stay as ignorant, or I’ll start BSing my way into a deeper hole than I started with. And I’m not using “I” as an analog for and example of what all *those* people would do. Legitimately this is my stubborn, leftist pattern. Or is it rightist? Or maybe just… human?
This is why filming this video was a double edged sword. On one hand, plenty of people in that audience will probably go home and see the truth. However, because of the fact that it was made public, and they were made to look like fools by their opposing force, they’ll either be good humans and learn from their mistakes, or (more likely) they’ll tart ranting about how unfair the questions were and continue using dumb logic to worship a political figure. Long sentence. On the other hand, because of this video, I’m sure that there have been countless people who’ve questioned themselves privately, and became more educated in the process. Whether it was fear of being caught in the same situation, or a genuine thirst for knowledge, they’re now above most of their fellow voters. So, is the video good or bad? Some suffer at the cost of other’s enlightenment? Hmm….
Also, any decent points supposedly made in the video are rendered illegitimate because they have the power of the editing. They only show uneducated people, and they only display the footage of them making a fool of themselves. I think this is what a post above, to which you disagreed, meant when they said it was unfair. The simple fact that they didn’t show the opposing side makes it tilted and skewed to begin with. Truthfully, there were probably people in that crowd that could buy my family, sell us on ebay, and then buy us again, just to increase their feedback score. There were people in there who got a 6.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale. There were people in that crowd who truly just wanted to see what Palin had up her sleeves, and maybe make start their political research early for the next election. Unfortunately, we just hear about “too much spunding” and all the uninformed bimbos who do exactly what 80% of america has done for several centuries– Wait, we’ve barely been around for a COUPLE hundred years? Damn…
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Yeah, that video was uh, pretty frightening. One on hand, it’s terrifying because these are the kind of people that would turn out in droves in vote for Palin if she ever decides to run for office again, and people who are that woefully ill-informed shouldn’t ever be in any kind of position where they make decisions that could impact other people’s lives. On other hand, it’s terrifying because these aren’t extraordinarily stupid people, they’re common folk. And if the majority of America’s thought process mirrors theirs, then we’re in some pretty deep shit.
It’s extremely unsettling that the one area in which the common citizen has the most power is also the area in which they are the most uninformed. I get that there are a lot of factors that go into having established that (one of the biggest being sheer laziness), but I really feel like most of the blame has to be placed on the nature of politics and what it has become in this day and age. It’s largely an image thing. Politicians try and project an image to voters that they may or may not truly represent, and voters accept it without question. People say, “I’m voting for Obama for CHANGE,” or, “I’d vote for Palin because she stands for what’s REAL in America.” Newsflash folks, she’s entirely manufactured just by virtue of her being a politician. And if people really think they can change our entire country by voting for one man, they’re dreaming. If people REALLY wanted change, they’d get off their asses and mail their Senators and Congressmen and demand it. If people REALLY wanted change, they’d go out and vote every time they had the opportunity and not just in presidential elections.
The larger issue here is, as Sam pointed out, people wallowing in their own ignorance. Yeah, it’s easy to pick up a newspaper and find out what’s going on, but when it comes to politics, most people are too ingrained in their own way of thinking to be swayed by anyone else’s. So here’s my remedy for the situation: actually TALK to people that you disagree with. LISTEN to what they have to say. It’s pretty easy to say why you like someone, but it’s even easier to say why you don’t like someone else. So you voted for Obama, find out what would have made McCain/Palin a much, much worse choice. So you’re a diehard Christian, talk to someone who isn’t, find out where they’re coming from and strengthen your own faith. The easiest way to be sure of your convictions is to still have them after someone’s finished attacking them. The easiest way to form real opinions on issues is to discuss them with someone who disagrees. That’s my take on why people fall into the habit of not thinking. They’d sooner have a battle than an actual discussion.
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First off, I am glad that others before me have similar feelings as I do – that this IS propaganda from the left wing. I honestly thought that I might have been the only one – since, on this campus, sometimes I do feel like I’m the only one. Not sure if that’s because Democrats are just more vocal, or there just are that many of them. Anyways, it seems that the purpose of this video was to “prove” that Sarah Palin followers follow her blindly. There is no way you can generalize that from asking a handful of people from a book signing in Ohio. Sure, there are tons and tons of people (on both sides of the political spectrum) who don’t think, and just believe what they her on the news. I think it’s unfair to pin it only on Republicans. Yes, some people interviewed really didn’t know that much about her. However, they like what they see to begin with and now they are in line for her book that will no doubt open their eyes to more of her ideas. Instead of making fun of some of these people who don’t have any knowledge about the topic, shouldn’t we be applauding them for buying the book to learn more? Isn’t that what this is all about?
Furthermore, there were some people who did know what they were taking about. Some referenced cutting government spending or decreasing the size of the government. These are both conservative ideals that Palin does support. Some noted that Palin represents Americans. There is nothing wrong with them saying this. We do live IN America and the majority of us are Americans. I know American is called the melting pot since we have absorbed many other cultures onto our land. However, when the nation was created it was for the purpose of creating a new way of life – the American way of life. Of course we have to think of Americans first because this is America. This is not Mexico, Europe or Asia. There is nothing wrong with doing what’s right for Americans IN America!
All in all, I think Democrats are just as likely to have the same types of responses to these questions for Obama. The Obama campaign was a bandwagon campaign in my eyes, I believe more people voted for him just because of “change” and because he is “black” (aka half black) then because of his actual policies. And looking at him now, almost a year after he was inaugurated, what has he done? Absolutely nothing. His approval rating has dropped to 48 % or so, which is a low for him. Maybe now people will see that his promises were empty as well.
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Anonymous Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
If they’re buying her book to get more information, they’re pretty much screwed. The AP did a fact check on her book and found myriad instances where she flat out lied.
Also, maybe its been so difficult for President Obama to “get anything done” because the republican party won’t collaborate with him on anything. They vote against bills because they want to see him fail.
The only part of this post I can agree with is when you say “[the people at the book signing] like what they see to begin with,” yea, her big tits and make-up coated face. Maybe she should just stick with “who’s nailin palin,” she does a lot more good for the world that way.
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Dwight K. Schrute. Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 am
That is incredibly rude and sexist. This is why we do not have more women in politics; After all, they’re just tits and a pretty face. You disgust me.
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The Iron Lion From Zion Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I laughed…
maybe word choice was a little blunt, but the point that she’s just a pretty face without much political prowess is a valid point in my opinion. also, i googled nailn’ pailn an was rather shocked by the results
P.S. don’t blame the republicans for the lack of change. Democrats have majority in the senate and the HoR
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I read this, and saw the video…and I flipped. I can’t believe it. These people are all willing to wait in line for a chance to meet Sarah Palin, but not a single one could say five words about her policies, her ideals, or where she would take the country if elected. Let’s face it, it’s not a bad leader that’s going to screw the country over, it’s idiots like these who will vote without a clue about what they’re voting on. These are the people that vote and then get mad when the elected official doesn’t do exactly what they want. If you never knew what the politician was like to start with, you have it coming.
I got lucky in high school. I had a teacher – probably the best I’ve ever had, no offense Sam – who forced us to think, every day. It was NEVER enough in that class to simply say that this was this for that reason. We had to explain every detail, figure out why we felt the way we did, and truly think about the material. I’m extremely grateful for that experience. I learned not to take facts at face value and to figure them out on my own. I learned to find the sources, and then form my own opinion; I learned not to take what the inevitably biased media tells me and automatically accept it as truth.
So to see people act like this and “speak their opinions” is utter ludicrous to me. None of them had a single valuable item to contribute. It was all, we’re being attacked, Palin will save us…but we don’t know what they’re (or who they are) and how she’ll do it. Granted, this video was obviously anti-Palin supporters, but the same can be said about the supporters of any political candidate. Why? Because we’re not required to do any personal thought anymore. All we want is the quick and dirty, 30 second blurb on what’s going on, without any follow up or explanation.
Personally, I think this is pathetic. People are willing to stand in line for hours for a handshake, signature, and a photo op, but to take the time to look into the issues is too much. How someone can find hours of free time to stand outside a book store but can’t read a paper and follow the news is complete hypocrisy to me. Pick up a paper, watch the news on more than one channel, and make sure you’re getting your information from a reputable source. It’s not hard to do. If you can find the time to waste outside Border’s you can find the time to make some Google searches.
People need to grow up, quit accepting and reiterating the hand-fed information, and form their own opinion. But the only way to do that is to ask why…and who’s going to do that when the news will tell you for you?
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To be honest, I feel like an ignorant American when it comes to some things. I’d say a lot of the time I probably AM an ignorant American. I also feel like I am surrounded by ignorant Americans a lot of the time. I literally feel myself cringe when, during an argument or discussion, I find myself spitting out the sound bite of information I briefly heard on the news or the headline I read on Comcast.net before checking my e mail. I hate that I do that… to be honest I don’t do it as much as I used to. Older and wiser, eh? It is truly sad that sometimes I know so little yet think I know so much. Well, I’m being somewhat hard on myself. I know a lot more sometimes than I think I do; I’m positive I know a lot more than most people I am surrounded with, yet there is SO much more I could do to become more informed, more able to freely discuss something. Watching those people in that video made me wince with embarrassment for them/myself. To be honest, I feel like I would have similar responses if you asked my why I voted for Obama. Ignorance knows no political parties. We are all (well not all) under informed. Ok, actually no. I would know at least a little more than a lot of those people did about Palin… yet I wonder how those answers would change once she was made a political canidate? Probably not by much considering the crowd. But I mean it’s a little unfair to fail to recognize that at the time of the interviews Palin was merely a governor. What do I know about MY governor? I am a good bullshitter though, better than some of those people who stumbled with their words. I mean, I know it’s overused to say that politics are uninteresting. To me they seriously are. But you wouldn’t catch me getting on camera at a fanatical book signing, pretending as if I know what the hell I’m there for. If you’re going to pretend to be adamant about something.. at least know what the hell you’re raging about. I really hate it when I’m trying to talk about something with someone (a topic I TRULY am knowledgeable about) and their words are so clearly regurgitated from what their dad said at dinner or they heard while flipping the channels. Of course, I am guilty of the same thing sometimes.. but perhaps that is why it gets under my skin, because I can regognize it at once in others. It’s also really annoying for me to hear how kids often just emulate the ideas of their parents. In probably 99% of the people I have come across, kids are identical in their ideologies as their parents, on topics from politics to religion to race relations to social matters. I think a lot of people my age have only one source of information about that subject… parents. Regurgitating information from others is not thinking. It’s the opposite. As Billy Madison once offered; everyone in the room is now dumber from having heard it. Ha ha.
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This hits home. I can hold the everyday casual conversation really well. I mean I do it everyday. But when it comes to the things I have been learning about the last four years of college, I can only talk so much. Furthermore, when it comes to politics, I know absolutely nothing. I blame the majority of my lack of insight on the school grading system. I, along with every other student, have been taught to do what you have to do to get a good grade. You do the minimum, you memorize information just for the test and then you forget about it, until you have to learn it again in another class. As long as your grades are high, that is all that matters. I truly wish it was not like this. I had to go through most of my schooling to realize that I should take advantage of the information being presented to me and not worry about the grade. I am now faced with the real world and I ask myself, what is it that I know? What are my skills? Similar to these people who are being interviewed, I can only skim the very top of most subjects.
I walk past a school a couple times a week. This school is not a traditional school; at least it was nothing like my high school. Every day there are different students, maybe four or five of them, outside. Sometimes they are eating lunch and other times they are just sitting there. I wondered why they were there and how does the school keep track of them. Most of the kids at my school would have left for the day if they had an opportunity like that. This made me think. These kids could leave if they wanted, but they choose to stay, to learn. If only it were this way for everyone, to want to further their education, not because it is what society deems best but because they want to be their.
I think the desire to learn during school would continue on throughout life. This desire would cause people to ask the questions like, why they believe what they believe or what made them come to a certain conclusion. Instead, people do what they think is socially acceptable and that is it. They do not dig deeper unless they have to or they are forced to. If we were to change the way the school system worked, where you only went to school if you had the desire to better yourself, then maybe insight and thoughtfulness would increase. I know personally that I usually can not answer a question unless I have prepared for it in advance or I have a decent background in the subject area. With my knew found desire to learn for me instead of the grade, I started reading the New York Times and plan to continue broadening my horizons.
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Watching this video, made me really realize how people do not think before they make a decision or back something up. All of the people that were interviewed in this video said that they idolized Sarah Palin and would love to see her as the next president because she could make change and her policies were great, but than when they were asked specifically what policies they liked, they couldn’t even name one. They were baffled. Have of them didn’t even know one policy that Sarah Palin had supported or conjured up to benefit the United States. How can these people actually say they like Sarah Palin when they don’t know anything about her or what she wants to do. It’s like saying I like oranges because they are healthy, but not knowing why they are healthy or what is in them. Or for example saying that you don’t like some kind of food when you never even tried it and you don’t know what it tastes like. None of these people are thinking.
This series of interviews of all these people was about politics, but none of people interviewed seem to know anything about politics. How can you support a political party and a political figurehead and be so passionate about it when you don’t even know what you are passionate about? People are ignorant to basic issues our country has today and everyone claims that they want change, but do they even know what they want to change? Do they even know the current policies and issues? It is hard to take these people seriously when they have no idea what they are talking about.
I can honestly admit that I am not too sure about politics, but before I voted I did my research to figure out what I wanted to support. I didn’t just vote for the best candidate, I actually looked into their policies.
Ignorance is something that our country is notorious for, whether we would like to admit it or not. The citizen of our country, young and old not just one generation, think they know what is good for our country but they never really think about it. Asking people to think seems like a chore in today’s society when it shouldn’t be. People think to find stuff out and benefit themselves. If you aren’t going to think about everything that runs through your head and why you like Sarah Palin, than you are only hurting yourself. I think there should be a world wide challenge for people to just sit down and think why they feel the way they do about certain things in their lives. Than maybe the ignorance will fade into optimisms.
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This video actually really frightens me. I too am guilty of not paying attention to what is going on around me. I tend to just rely on the government and “those people” to fix things and know what is happening in the world. Sometimes I feel like who am I to think that I can make a difference in the race issue or the sex issue or any issue for that matter. I seem to just leave it up to the “important” people. That is a completely disempowering state of mind. Writing and thinking about it right now gives me some bad feelings in my stomach.
Constantly I put the responsibility to make the world a better place on political leaders and people in power. In that I allow myself to believe that I have no part in the shitty state of the world. It is always someone else’s fault. Until I can see that I do hold some responsibility for the bad things that go on in the world nothing is going to change. It’s just like the slave example. I own a cell phone and this computer that have parts that were made by slaves. That makes me a part of the problem. It disgusts me to think that people are forced to work with no pay in terrible conditions, yet I still contribute to this atrocity. Why? Because I think that someone else is responsible. If I blame them then I don’t have to look at myself.
I like to think that I am not a very apathetic person, but from what I am seeing in myself right now the apathy is completely out of control. I can’t even blame it on ignorance because I am not ignorant. I know that horrible things are going on and I know that I am a part of them. Right now I am at a point of guilt and shame. I feel guilty because I don’t care and because I don’t do my part to better society. Yeah I’m becoming aware and that’s where it all starts blah blah blah… I’ve been feeding myself that line for a long time too. For me it’s not only about becoming aware anymore it’s about taking some kind of action to better the wrongs that I see going on in front of my face, literally. I want to find some way to move out of this guilt and into a state of empowerment where I truly believe that there is something I can do to make this world a better place. It is very hard to leave the “but other people don’t care so does it really matter” shit behind. This is stuff I’ve been thinking about for a while and never really had the guts to admit. It’s actually kind of sweet. Peace yo.
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It is absolutely pathetic how ignorant people are when it comes to politics these days, myself included. Eight years ago, my dad ran for and was elected District Judge in South Wilkes-Barre which is located in Luzerne County, a county dominated by powerful, politically connected families. My dad, the underdog, went up against the political machine and pulled what the newspapers called the “biggest political upset in Luzerne County history”. Six years later and ran for re-election and won. This past year, amidst a corruption scandal, popularly called “kids for cash”, that rocked the Luzerne County courthouse my dad ran against 16 other candidates for two open seats for Luzerne County Judge and was once again victorious. You would think that being around politics for approximately nine years of my life I would know everything there is to know. But unfortunately I must admit I know next to nothing about politics.
At age 18, I registered Democrat because that’s what my parents were registered. All my life when I asked the difference they told me that Republicans were rich people from the south who only cared about themselves and other rich people, and I believed them. I mean they’re my parents, why would they tell me that if it wasn’t true? (Not going to lie I still somewhat believe that) So I grew up always knowing I was going to register Democrat, and when I did I did not think twice about it. To date, I have voted in two primary elections and two general elections and voted for mostly Democratic candidates unless otherwise instructed by my parents. Before every election I ask them who to vote for and I never questioned them I just did as told without looking into the candidates first. Now looking back, I feel really stupid for doing that. Not because I don’t trust my parent’s choices but because I am 19 years old and I think by now I should be able to read about candidates and understand what they’re “promising” to do for the citizens. Especially since I grew up around elections and my dad always encouraged others to find out as much about him before deciding who they were going to vote for.
Despite my blatant ignorance in politics and after reading this article and watching this video I have come to accept, I have decided that it is best to keep my mouth shut when people ask me about what I think about what candidates are promising. I mean, I laughed at all of those people on the video, but I don’t know anything more than they about foreign policy or taxes or health care reform etc. But I also don’t go around talking up candidates when I don’t understand what they are promising to do for us as citizens. Realistically, at least 95% of the women on that video idolize Sarah Palin because she is a woman and probably 75% of the men on that video only like Sarah Palin because she’s “hot”. The same goes for a lot of Obama supporters who only voted for him because he is black. If you are going to go to someone’s book signing, or rally, or whatever, and someone asks you a question about why you are there don’t babble on about how you agree with their stance on foreign policy when you don’t even understand what foreign policy is. It just makes you look stupider than you are. Go there and say that you are there because you like Sarah Palin or whoever and because you want to support them not some bullshit reason that you heard on TV. You don’t need to broadcast your ignorance to the world. I accept that I am ignorant when it comes to politics but if I plan on talking about a candidates promises and talking about whether or not I agree with them, I am going to educate myself first.
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Unfortunately, our world today is geared toward rusty brains. We are so consumed with our daily lives and activities that we do not have time to engage our brain in meaningful thought and discussion. And sadly, our society as developed in a way that supports that and even “helps” us out. Nowadays, people work long hours and then have to come home and work some more, take care of children, pay bills, etc. There is no real free time anymore. How many people go on vacation and take their work with them? You’ve seen the guy on the beach with his Bluetooth. Everything is rush, rush, rush. Our fast-paced lives do not leave time to watch the news or read the paper with a critical eye. We catch bite-sized reports on our way to get coffee in the morning. And it does not just affect politics, it affects just about everything. No one takes time to read through all the fine print on anything or question things, unless maybe, a particular issue adversely affects them personally. The result is a rusty brain that just produces, at equally fast speeds, a response to any type of stimuli, in this case Sarah Palin. You can see the rusty brain phenomena right here at Penn State. How many people go into lecture, pay attention to the professor’s point of view, and never step back and analyze what has been said? Is it biased? Do I agree? We just blow through life much too fast anymore. And American society is right there to keep us speeding on our way. Fast food, fast email updates. The media is one of the guiltiest. It takes a complex issue and compresses it to a soundbyte, leaving valuable information and/or opposing opinions out. And we all know how biased the media can be. We then base our “opinions” on these things without getting the whole story, or analyzing motive and whatnot. We completely leave out the analyzing part, and though it is not completely our fault, we have very hectic lives (I mean seriously, when you have a 20 page report due tomorrow and work in an hour, who could blame you), but we really need to process important things that affect our lives. We let our brains get rusty because we do not use them efficiently all the time. We really just need to slow down, breathe, and take more than a second to process information, events, data, etc. I think Alabama said it best:
I’m in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why
America seriously needs to chill and stop letting it be so easy for things to influence us without thinking about it ourselves.
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To be honest, I’m not sure that much of what I learned in SOC 119 was radically new to me. I knew about race, I knew about discrimination and racism. I knew about LGBT issues and pretty much knew where I stood on the racial awakening scale. Thus, whether it is good or bad, I’m not sure I’m taking much new knowledge away from this class. What I can say is that I most definitely enjoyed watching Sam do his thing. He is a very effective teacher if you like him, and even more so if you don’t. I’m grateful that a class like this with a professor like this exists because like Sam said, I think everyone should be challenged to think a little differently about race and other important issues.
One of the coolest things for me was in the small discussion group we had. I was shocked by how many people really had no experiences with race or racism. I never even thought all-white schools existed. This is why it was cool to see other people say that they had learned to think a little differently about some of these issues.
On another note, I’d like to address Sam’s query of ignorance. I’m in an anthropology class called Global Processes and Local Systems and this semester we were challenged to put on a program to educate people about globalization. Like the Sarah Palin clip, we did a video about how little people know about the IMF and World Bank. Both globalization and politics affect everyone’s life all the time, so you would think people would have an idea. But I think it is unfair to blame these people with rusty brains. These people (myself included) have been enculturated this way to not care about the validity of what is said or why things work and why they are the way they are. We are taught to listen and regurgitate mindlessly. In some respect, like the attached string metaphor, they are not responsible. However, every time I am confronted with my ignorance I like to try to do something about it. It was because of all the stupid reasons I heard people were voting for Obama that I actually watched debates and read articles about his projected policies. In truth, though, it was hard. I don’t give a crap about politics. In fact, I try most times to distance myself as far as I can from politics because I believe they are often corrupt, invasive, pointless, or too removed from my life. It’s a tough struggle. The problems we and politicians face are so big and so tough to tackle that I believe at times it’s not that people have unconsciously have rusty brains, but that they put on blinders as a coping mechanism. Ignorance is bliss, right? I do think people need to at least try to understand the world around them and think critically, but often this requires time and effort that most people do not believe to be worthwhile.
Once again, too many problems, too few solutions : (
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