Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Sun Jul 20, 2014, 07:00 AM Jul 2014

How Dumb Do You Gotta Be?

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/jaime-oneill/57022/how-dumb-do-you-gotta-be

How Dumb Do You Gotta Be?
by Jaime O'Neill | July 19, 2014 - 10:04am

The Tea Party people are awfully broadminded and accepting of differences. For example, you don’t have to be stupid in order to be welcomed to their ranks, though they do prefer it. It just makes things so much simpler. Since they’re largely underwritten by the Koch brothers and other energy oligarchs and corporate masters, it helps matters a great deal if you come to them willing to deny science and ignore increasingly urgent warnings about the health of our planet and the effects of carbon-based fuels on the most essential components of life. The Tea Party folks don’t want to waste time debating anything that gets in the way of their agenda. So unthinking assent is a pretty high value in those who want to share their energies and their warmed-over opinions with other slackjawed Limbaugh clones and Fox “News” consumers. Critical thinking? They never heard of it. Ditto, thinking.

If you’re intent on being a member in good standing of the Tea Party, you’ll have to get used to nodding sagely at things said by some of the dumbest politicians the world has ever known. You’’ll have to either agree or remain silent when people like Louie Gohmert of Texas, or Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota offer up the latest view from LoopyLand, explaining women’s reproductive systems in entirely idiotic ways, or conjuring arguments for unrestricted gun access that would seem moronic in any other country but this one, at this time, with the posse of nimrod politicians put in office by a) inattentive voters, b) gerrymandered districts, and c) big special interest money that has no interest in the welfare of the people, but has big interests in selling guns, or polluting our groundwater, or carrying out a broad agenda of mischief we’re all doomed to pay for as the accounting comes due and the reckoning is exacted.

No, friends, you don’t have to be stupid to be drawn to the Tea Party, but it’ll make you far more comfortable once you get there.

Now I can respect your right to believe any damn fool thing Bill O’Reilly tells you to believe, but I am under no obligation to respect the fact that you do. Dumb is dumb, or it used to be before the whole country dumbed down so much that George W. Bush began to seem like a credible leader to a whole spectrum of mouth breathers, paving the way for even dumber guys like Rick Perry, and a whole posse of people so dimwitted that no responsible mother would ever leave them to mind their children for a few moments, let alone try to sort out vital national and international issues.
2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
How Dumb Do You Gotta Be? (Original Post) unhappycamper Jul 2014 OP
How dumb are ya? Enthusiast Jul 2014 #1
Dumb, yes packman Jul 2014 #2
 

packman

(16,296 posts)
2. Dumb, yes
Sun Jul 20, 2014, 09:58 AM
Jul 2014

but also frightened by just about everything. They are holding on to their way of life-meager and pathetic as it is- with their min. wage jobs or largesse from the gov. , with their fingertips. The abyss lies below if they let go or if someone stamps on those fingertips. And they perceive aliens, welfare abusers, and you and I stepping on those fingertips. The abyss lies below and they fear what is in it . Fox very cleverly tells them what they need to fear to exist. A conservative lies very much in the "here and now" and has nothing but trepidation in the future and what-could-be .

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Congress»How Dumb Do You Gotta Be?