Unwashed masses really are out of touch...
 

So I did my Saturday morning Men's Breakfast thing this morning at the local greasy spoon, and the TV in the background was playing the morning news loop. Some sex offender is out of jail, and we're quoting opinions from arbitrary people on the street. An 8 year old almost drowned in his neighbour's pool. There was a big accident on the bridge yesterday afternoon. A legislator is thinking about building another bridge, still.

I overheard the news for quite some time, with no references made to anything national or international, no topics of any real interest to anyone. It couldn't have been the local section of news, because it just looped over and over again for more than an hour. I finally commented to the group: "We have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is a massive investigation going on into human rights violations on the part of US soldiers in Iraq. Hamas has dismantled Israeli bodies and hidden the component parts, sparking massive outrage, worse then it's been in quite a while. Syrian president refuses to expel terrorists from Damascus, in accordance with US demands. And it's an election year -- we're supposed to be picking a president in November, maybe someone who will make educated decisions about these things that are going on in the world. But the front page news is about some kid that none of us know who almost drowned yesterday?"

That was scary, but the thing that chilled me to the bone was the fact that nobody else cared. I looked around the table at a bunch of blank faces, deer-in-the-headlights "what are you talking about" looks. Nobody else was reading the news, nobody else was paying attention, and nobody really cared.

So once again, I'm just venting; I figured this group would understand, mostly being relatively well-read and up-to-date on the happenings in the world at large. My discovery of the morning is that the populace is, for the most part, completely out of touch, and worse, doesn't really care about that fact. Wow.


Dan

"My discovery of the morning is that the populace is, for the most part, completely out of touch, and worse, doesn't really care about that fact. Wow."

It's sad. But at the moment, I think a lot of people are overwhelmed and retreating into safer territory.

There's a great book that deals with what we have come to call "news," but which isn't really... it's called "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and it helps explain why information of value takes second place to information of no consequence on the news.

IMHO, the really frightening fact is that when U.S. media deal with international news, they rarely talk about more than one or two countries. If you watch BBC news, for instance, they will deal with all newsworthy events wordwide. And this is typical in most other countries around the globe.

The Super Bowl is the opiate of the masses...to keep you fat dumb and stupid...primarily so you like a cow keeps on consuming...to keep you sedated not to upset you....Most people don't want to hear the truth...the BAD NEWS...and the bad news is that your life style can no longer be maintained at it's current levels... your jobs are being out sourced, your country is spending itself into BK, and most of all we have become the pariah nation in the world with our jingoistic foreign policy adventures....Oh yes children go to sleep...everything is going to be allright....Father in Washington will take care of everything...

tabs: "...to keep you fat dumb and stupid...primarily so you like a cow keeps on consuming...to keep you sedated not to upset you.."

I saw that movie. It was called "They Live."

and to think that I have held this man in variable esteem. I recant all my ill thoughts. Not only does he have a firm grip on what's happening in our world, he's talking pure genius now...

Here, here!

Pay heed my fellow men!

U mean they stole my ideas and made a movie out of them....I'm aghast....

This quote is based on of a layman's review of They Live:

"Carpenter's "They Live" is based on a clever scenario idea: Mankind is dominated by human-looking aliens, who are blended inside the social system unnoticed. The aliens occupy all the leadership positions, while they broadcast hidden subjugating messages ("obey", "conform to authority", "sleep" etc.) to the humans who are given only the hard-labor jobs. Everything runs smoothly (for the aliens) until a down-and-out construction worker stumbles across a means of seeingt what's really happening and stages his own revolt."

Was that your idea, tabs? Or are you an alien overlord yourself?

Well Mother always did say she was just babysitting for some other parents!

Thank G the internet isn't like that! :rolleyes:

Infotainment versus real news...really sad isn't it Dan? It seems that to get real news you must go back to the tried and true method of reading.

That's pretty true. That and "news is local". Honestly, the reason people are so ignorant to the situation is because they can turn it off at the switch of a button. There's no bombs being dropped in their town or machine gun fire in the middle of the night. So long as they turn the T.V. and radio off it's as if there isn't any war going on. It's pretty sad, but then again, IMHO the american public is in a sad state right now altogether.

Try getting some small civic project going, like a petition to get crosswalks & stopsigns or lights put at a busy intersection where school children cross daily. People just don't want to get involved with even simple, doable things. They just want to continue their little lives unbothered and are afraid they might have to do something that requires them to make a decision or statement. I guess that's why so few people run a country of so many.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like the state of public involvement in events is pathetic. I suppose this topic can die now, I just thought I'd pose the question to the people that I most routinely see exercising situational awareness.

Dan

Remember, by definition, an IQ of 100 is average. There was a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower that it had come to his attention that half the people in the country had below average IQ. (Actually he should have said 1/2 the people have below the median IQ.

Yep, mean and median are not the same. In this case, since it is a perfect bell curve, the mean and median (and mode) are the same number 100 so you both are correct.

When you sit down and think John Kerry is the alternative to GW...I gota say no way....

Now whether or not GW is right is his policies...time will only tell.

1. The Conserative Right in America has for years railed that American Foreign Policy is mamby pamby..that we give far too much away.... GW has practiced tough love or the compassionate conserative with regards to foreign policy...it sure has set other countries howling in protest...but when you take care of your needs first the other guy will always whine about how selfish you are....

2. The media and Liberals...along with the Baby Boomers have bin dissing America for years...telling us we are the Ugly American....or another variation on the theme is that we are dysfunctional because it's all our parents falult....Yeah maybe Mommy and Daddy were the shi+s but there usually is some good in evrybody....and it is a convient way of not taking responsibility for youselves.

A. BY the same token Conseratives tend to look at America through rose coloured glasses, refusing to look at the dark side of the equation.

3. I always have to ask myself a question, Why would GW and the Repblican Party support defceit spending? They are the limited government balanced budget proponents...The most likely answer is that something scared them silly....and that has to be 9/11. U all know I believe that the media tries to keep the American media sedated with Sprts Events etc....so they aren't going to tell you how bad 9/11 and it's after effects truly were.

In this case I can see why interest rates were lowere to less than 1%, and the government pumped money into the system. But I don't believe that running long term deficeits is anything but a short term fix and are systemic problem that needs addressing.

If the vast majority of americans were not brainwashed consumer cows, they would certainly not put up with all the the crap that this administration has been serving them since 9/11. Let us just recapitulate a little bit, to see if we all agree:

1. They claim that there is no global warming, and that it is not a solution to lower the gas consumption. Yeah, sure.

2. They claimed that they went to war with Iraq to find WMDs, but those were never found.

3. They suggested that Iraq had ties with Al Quaeda, wich was totally untrue.

4. They claimed that they went to Iraq to free the Iraqui from being tortured by Saddam, but did just the same. And don`t get fooled, the orders came from the highest level. Theses were not just a few `black sheep`.

5. Kerry, the alternative to Bush, is just the other face of the same token. Altough I would prefer him to Bush (Who would like a Moe to run a country ?) I know he will serve the same masters.

So, I conclude that fat does not only slow the body: it also attacks the brain.

Aurel

Hey Aurel if you were told the truth about 9/11 and the aftermath by the media you might be singing a different toon....and Bushy might be looking so bad to you....

One of the things I look for is balance in ones opinion..if one can say I don't like that policy, but he's doing pretty good over there...I see some delibration in making ones opinion....but if onesays it's all bad with no redeeming qualities...then I become suspicious

"I know he will serve the same masters."

Yeah, probably. I think we're talking about really similar bloodlines here. I think I read that GW's grandmother was a bridesmade at Kerry's grandmother's wedding.

At least when Kerry went to Yale, he ended up being valedictorian instead of getting 'Cs.' And he volunteered for duty in Vietnam instead of pulling strings to hide in the National Guard. So in that way, he broke from what is expected of his class.

"Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Yeah!" -- CCR

Ouuuuu U Liberals make me sooooo mad.....LOL