Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Americans are idiots

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:5/4/1999; 5:46:02 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 5/4/99
Msg #:5595 (In response to 5592)
Prev/Next:5594 / 5596

Yes, yes, there are some Americans who are not idiots. I like to think I am one of them.

I just wish more Americans would *think*. The Internet is the only medium where they have a chance to hear the truth because it is unregulated and so inexpensive to create content for.

Watching the "coverage" of the Littleton massacre has given me an idea of how most Americans felt about the impeachment coverage. There are few lessons to learn here, not many, certainly nothing justifying all the air time it's getting. Wedged between the Littleton soundbites are films of bombs going off in Yugoslavia, killing hundreds of people presumably. There's violence and media, produced by the number one media outlet, The Executive Branch of the US Government.

The problem is that the US adult population, not necessarily voters, are the number one political force in the world. And they have a collective emotional age measured in the single digits. It's as if the world were being run by a bunch of spoiled lazy brats.

Now, to our European and Canadian friends who were so critical of us during the impeachment, I wonder how you all feel now that your governments are fighting a war in alliance with our government? Do you still feel that people, like me, who called for Clinton's resignation were so off the wall? I remember Dale Bumpers' speech in the US Senate, where he said that we should let Clinton serve out his term, in pain and humiliation, after all there's not much damage he can do in two years. Uh huh.

I am horrified that the only political leader in the US who makes sense to me is Pat Buchannan. He puts it quite well, I think, the US is spending the leadership it gained by prevailing in the Cold War. Couldn't we have done something great here? Couldn't we have made politics and economics work better than bombs? And Buchannan is a fascist. If he ever gets power here, watch out. If you don't like the way Bill Gates runs the software industry, you'll truly hate the way Buchannan runs the US.

Some psychologists say the violence in video games trains young people to be better killers. We think that's a disconnect, but aren't we setting up today's young people to be soldiers? Training them to die for their country? (Really. There's no way this is going to happen. When the US population gets the clue that kids are going to die the poll numbers will change dramatically. So far it's just a TV show. They're rating it. Once it comes home, having been thru this once before, I'm sure they'll feel differently. We don't truly have anything at stake in the Balkans. Not the American people. The government might, but Clinton is a jerk and everyone knows it.)

The Littleton thing is small potatoes. Every day in America, ten children are killed with guns. Murder is very commonplace here. One outburst of violence is just a media event, it's not news. Instead of regulating the Internet, the American people should just wake up and think and take responsibility. That's the real problem.

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