Idiot America: Book Review

   Before even reading a book with such a title, many would already claim to feel as though they are surrounded by idiots.

   Having said that, Charle's P. Pierce's book helps to explain why this country has fallen to such a stupendous low when it comes to intellect, religious & scientific views and, of course, politics.  It delves into the lameness of most people's 'reasoning' for what they believe, why they believe it, and how they vote.

   Pierce even takes a brief moment to give reality TV shows (and the unrealistic drama '24') the mockery that they deserve. 

   I mean, what have we come to when a Supreme Court Justice (Anthony Scalia) cites '24' as a reason to support torture?  How did we appoint someone to such a high court who asks, while deciding landmark cases, WWJD, What Would Jack Bauer Do?

-Side note, how ridiculous was it when politicians and news pundits were saying that Jack Bauer would have found the terrorist behind the failed Times Square bombing in, get this, 24 hours... not the 50 some odd hours it took REAL PEOPLE.  What kind of blurry fake world do they live in.  It would be one thing if they were kidding.-

   Jack Bauer nonsense aside, Pierce shows how much of America votes from, what he calls "The Gut."  Which is to say that it doesn't matter what the facts are, just what sells and what is convenient or makes us feel comfortable.

He also introduces The Three Great Premises to show how people buy into crap that is just that, crap:

"Since (right-wing) populism has at its heart an "anti-elitist" distrust of expertise, talk radio offers the purest example of the Three Great Premises at work.

A host is not judged a success by his command of the issues, but purely by whether what he says moves the ratings needle.

*First Great Premise: Any theory is valid if it moves units.

-If the needle moves enough, then the host is adjudged an expert.

*Second Great Premise: Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough

And if the host seems to argue passionately enough, then what he is saying is judged to be true simply because of how many people are listening to him say it.

*Third Great Premise: Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is measured by how fervently they believe it."

- Charles P. Pierce,Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free

    I will leave it at this:  It's a great book filed with various topics from Terri Schiavo to 9/11, global warming to the Iraq War, and elections down to creationism... to name a few.





   

 

This Infuriates Me....

Sean Hannity is right when he says "Journalism is Dead" after this election...

FoxNews is considered the only "bias" news source to the general public...ha

Watch the entire video if you can before your blood boils.....I realize that they probably wouldn't have changed their votes if they knew the answers or that it was a "random" sampling of people. But the broad spectrum of questions makes you wonder why they know the answers to certain, relatively less important, petty questions versus the more important ones.

Reminds me of religion....blindly following a movement to feel better about themselves....the word is change instead of god....I honestly see no difference...



http://www.howobamagotelected.com

Religion & Ignorance Go Hand-in-Hand to Ban Same-sex Marriage

* I re-wrote this and added a video at the end, I was angry before, I think this better represents my feelings now*

California - The California Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Equality in Marriage is overturned by the religious, the less educated, and the right-wing.


As the exit polls are showing:

The Less educated-
People with only a high school, or some college education voted to ban same-sex marriage.

The More Educated-
Those with a college degree or postgraduate degree voted with the California State Supreme Court to keep same-sex marriage equality.

Religion-
Those who declared themselves to be followers of a religion voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ban.

Those who declared no religious affiliation voted 91% in favor of equality.

Those who attended church weekly voted 82% in favor of banning equal marriage rights.

Those who never attend church voted 85% in favor of equality.

White Evangelicals and "Born Again" voted 80% in favor of a ban.

Location-
People in Urban areas voted against the ban.
Those in Rural areas voted for the ban.

Presidential Supporters-
McCain supporters voted 82% in favor of the ban. John McCain favored state by state bans, as he even appeared in a state advertisement before.
Obama supporters voted 68% against the ban.
--------------------------------------

Arizona and Florida voted the same way with very similar exit poll results.

So if you haven't gathered it yet: The less educated, the religious, and the right-wing have decided that I am not an equal person - deserving of equal rights (marriage comes with about 1,200 rights depending on the state you live in)- RIGHTS that are supposed to be guaranteed under the United States Constitution as confirmed by the California Supreme Court.

Did you know that you can get married by walking into City Hall and signing papers, nothing religious required? It's 100% true.

Did you know that the government cannot make a law based on a religous view unless it serves a substantial government interest? This is also 100% true!

Anyone who understands constitutional law... (like say... The CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT)... knows that this ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.

I challenge anyone to provide a legitimate reason as to why the government would ban same-sex marriages. Legally speaking it cannot be based on a religious reason.

Hint: There isn't one!

If anyone ever wondered why I dislike religion and ignorance of the law THIS is just one of the many reasons.

In California the less educated, closed-minded religious people (note that I didn't say all religious people are closed-minded) who live sectioned off and away from the vast majority of (open) homosexuals and the diverse people in the cities... for some reason... think that they are allowed to judge, run, and ruin people's lives.

Thousands of same-sex couples are now suddenly no longer legally recognized as equals in California.

Those who voted for Proposition 8 were religious, less educated, and living in their made-up dream world where homosexuals aren't people, but sinners. They worship a god whose existence they cannot even prove.

If these people cannot even tolerate, much less accept me, why should I tolerate them? Why can't they just leave homosexuals alone?

At first I felt defeated today. I will admit that I even cried. But I'm not going to give up. And maybe because I refuse to give up, someday, I will be treated as an equal human being in the eyes of the law.

I do not need your acceptance, I just want the equality guaranteed to me under the United States Constitution.

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO (CLICK)

Don't Vote!?!?

I don't care who you are voting for, so long as you are well-informed.