Archived Collapsing America: America's Infrastructure Decaying into 3rd World Status (investmentwatchblog.com)
submitted ago by pcdude
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Archived Collapsing America: America's Infrastructure Decaying into 3rd World Status (investmentwatchblog.com)
submitted ago by pcdude
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[–] Rottcodd ago
I would say that you have chicken and egg exactly reversed.
A lousy government benefits from a population that's shallow, ignorant and driven by emotion, since such people are much more easily manipulated than people who are deep, knowledgeable and reasonable. So a lousy government that wishes to remain in place and remain lousy has a vested interest in creating a population that's shallow, ignorant and driven by emotion, and that's exactly what they do.
It's not an accident that, for instance, the American public education system has been co-opted by the federal government, which has put regulations in place that effectively require schools to invest all of their time and resources into teaching students what to think rather than how to think. That's a specific policy intended to ensure the establishment of a population that's as shallow, ignorant and emotive as possible.
And yes - once the trend toward a shallow, ignorant and emotive population is established, that does indeed generate even more lousy government (and shallow, ignorant and emotive children), so it becomes a sort of self-sustaining circle (or more to the point, a downward spiral), so there is some legitimacy to reversing the cause and effect. But I think it's obvious that, ultimately, it's the government that's driving the process, as evidenced by the resistance it meets from the population and the efforts it goes to in order to overcome that resistance. If the cause and effect were the other way around, the government would simply be swept along in a veritable stampede toward lousiness.
[–] thunder_dan ago (edited ago)
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."