We're talking about ignorance undermining engagement in the democratic process of self-rule. If Americans turned off the television and got off their butts to work for something positive, together with their neighbors, they might be a little more hopeful. But sitting around listening to paid actors lie and derogate anything that could unite the people against the money power is not enlightening. These people are completely disengaged from self-government in their communities, their states, and in Washington.
The tv they consume (average 4 hours / day) is cashing in on them.
They are being sold to sponsors by media conglomerates who profit, along with the sponsoring corporations, from selling the biggest, most receptive audiences they can.
People are more willing, he said, to imagine a government that would lock up political opponents, or ration health care with “death panels,” or fake global warming. And if global warming is a fraud, is it so crazy to wonder about a president’s birth certificate?
“People just do not trust any of this,” Mr. Mack said. “It’s not just the fringe people anymore. These are just ordinary people — teachers, bankers, housewives.”
When your idea of a "political meeting" is brandishing firearms and listening to raving demagogues, who could you trust? Certainly not somebody engaged in deliberative reasoning, or constructive dialogue.
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