Barack Obama’s latest remarks are being turned into more ammunition to keep dumbing down the American public.
Obama said: “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them… And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not… It’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or antitrade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations… When you’re bitter, you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community.”
His remarks have sparked a firestorm of accusations from his rivals that Obama not only displays a profound misunderstanding of small-town and rural values but that he is a cultural elitist. For instance, Hillary Clinton portrayed Obama’s remarks as reflective of an elitist view of faith and community. His comments, she said, were “not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans.”
What amazes me is that Obama is being attacked for speaking the truth. The fact that people retreat into what is familiar to them when they feel threatened is psychology 101. The fact that people search for scapegoats (an individual, a group of people or an issue to blame) when they feel oppressed is psychology 101.
I don’t read Obama’s remarks as elitist or misinformed. Americans are angry over the problems they face because of lack of integrity on the part of leaders. Americans are having a hard time figuring out the answers to our collective problems because politicians and the media feed them spin rather than education. Why wouldn’t they feel bitter?! Again, this is psychology 101.
The American people are no different from kids in school who are treated by their teachers as though they are too dumb to learn. Treat a kid this way and 9 times out of 10 that kid will act like s/he’s dumb. That’s education 101.
As along as the public is treated by politicians, marketers and the media like they are too stupid to deal with the truth, they will seem to be dumb even though that’s a myth. Spin dumbs down America (and any culture, society, religion or country). Education and true dialogue empowers Americans to be as smart as they really are.
Politicians, marketers and the media feed Americans spin rather than serving up true education. That is the real political issue — not Obama’s remarks. Obama was speaking nothing more than psychology 101. Those who are spinning Obama’s psychological astuteness into political attacks are helping to continue the dumbing down of America. They are no better than the awful teacher who treats students as too dumb to understand the facts.
It’s time for the American people to become angry as hell about the dumbing down being done to them… and to not take it anymore!
