I've always loved history. Learning how people coped with problems in the past will help you cope with today's problems. In World War II the US was in danger. Real danger. Our leaders were wise. They valued intelligence. They turned to scientists and engineers to create the guns, planes and bombs needed to defeat the Nazis and the Japanese. Our country valued science and intelligence.
It's now more then 70 years since the end of World War II. Our country escaped the war relatively unharmed and has been the pre-eminent super-power in the world since then. As the greatest generation dies off, the lessons of that time are being forgotten.
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| Mars Vanquishing Ignorance, Antoon Claeissens [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
As demonstrated in the run up to the 2016 election, some of our fellow citizens are tired of being ignored. They want their ideas to be thoughtfully considered. Despite facts, they believe climate change isn't real, evolution isn't real, abortion causes cancer, the earth is only 6000 years old, solar and wind power won't work, etc, etc.
We now have a parallel social and political system, propped up by right-wing media, where society's losers have devalued intelligence and assured themselves that their ideas are just as valid as the educated elite. I'm reminded of crying Fox viewers the day after Obama's re-election in November 2012. They were just certain Mitt Romney would win because their TEEVEE told them so. And when he didn't, like naive children, they wondered why. But instead of questioning why their "news" channel lied to them, they continued to watch and believe in the continuing Fox Fantasy.
They have elevated ignorance to a paramount level and so now you get president Trump. These are people that can't or won't change. They can't or won't compete. I've known people like these. They want the world to be the same as it was in the 1950s and 1960s.
These fellow citizens fail to realize they are being ignored because they have stupid ideas. It took me a long time to understand the motivation behind many of these ignorant people. They vote against their own healthcare. They vote against most economic and social progress. It's baffling why they consistently vote against their own self interest. It's because their affiliation with their tribe (aggrieved white people) is more valuable to them than facts. You could drop them off a building and they would deny the existence of gravity if they were told to by their "leaders".
This is the same reasoning a suicide bomber uses. If we let the losers of society rule us, if we keep allowing the ignorant to control the political process where will it end? It will end with the destruction of the United States.
Just because you don't believe in something, doesn't mean it's not true. Like World War II, this country is faced with so many real, serious problems. We are going to need the best scientists and engineers to help solve them so this planet can survive. We can't afford to ignore facts and cater to the whims of the least intelligent of our neighbors. They will have to be dragged, kicking and screaming into the future.
If allowed to go unchecked, conservatives would destroy this country before they will compromise. These losers will have to be completely and utterly crushed at the ballot box. They have to be so completely defeated so their stupid ideas never gain a foothold again.