Bandits Exploit Both
Part 2 – Ignorance
TRUMP and his backers knew exactly what they were doing when creating the MAGA movement. The Stupid fell for the propaganda and hype while the Ignorant did not believe that Trump could take power again. They did not believe, despite all the warning signs, that an authoritarian government could take over in the U.S. The ignorant believed that Trump 1.0 from 2016 to 2020 was a freak moment in history not to be repeated. The ignorant believed that after his four years as president were up, Trump would just fade away.
That is where the ignorant people were wrong.
The term ignorant, as I am using it here, simply means having a lack of knowledge, awareness or understanding. Everyone is ignorant about many things, because no one can be knowledgeable about nor understand everything. That is normal. However, if a citizen hopes to have any true influence over who will lead the nation and the policies that will be implemented, then that citizen needs to make a sincere effort to be informed. Because THIS SHIT IS IMPORTANT!
There are many people in the U.S.A. who do not know the three branches of government and the function they are supposed to perform. Many cannot even find the United States on a world map. Where is Iraq? Where is Afghanistan? Where is Ukraine? Who are the Palestinians? We send people off to fight in wars, or throw billions of dollars to other nations in support of their wars. Yet, most people do not seem to be engaged enough to learn the real reasons for these conflicts, whom we are choosing to murder, and who is benefitting from these horrific acts of violence.
Why is there so much ignorance about political and world affairs in the U.S.A.? Why so much apathy and complacency? Why are so many people disconnected from reality? I blame an underlying sense of hopelessness on the one hand and hope without action on the other. Hope without action is when you hope (trust) that someone else will fix the problem. “Hope for the best,” but do nothing.
Modern life for many people in the U.S.A. has become too hectic, too stressful, too frustrating, and too empty. People stopped reading real books and reliable newspapers. People stopped having deep political and moral discussions. People stopped joining community and fraternal organizations. People stopped asking tough questions. People stopped demanding integrity and honesty from their leaders at all levels. People are going about their daily lives in survival mode “hoping for the best,” not really paying attention and remaining ignorant of the looming threat.
Yet, Trump’s rise to power and his return to power with the 2024 election would come as no surprise to those paying attention. There were plenty of warnings decades prior to 2016, but it seems not enough people were listening. In America: The Farewell Tour (published in 2019), Chris Hedges points to many of the warning signs that would make America ripe for an authoritarian/fascist takeover.
America, says Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Chris Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of profound hopelessness, a bitter despair, and a civil society that has ceased to function. The opioid crisis; the retreat into gambling to cope with economic distress; the pornification of culture; the rise of magical thinking; the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of suicides are the physical manifestations of a society that is being ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy.
Donald Trump rode this disenchantment to power.
The Democrats certainly were not listening, not reading, not paying attention when they offered up Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden. Two very weak candidates with the same old rhetoric and policies. Even Obama was just a place holder continuing the policies of George W. Bush. NO REAL CHANGE. War and more war. And the rich got richer. And more people ended up homeless. These Democrats continued to tell their followers to have faith in an America that never existed for most people. They continued economic policies that make no sense in a dying empire. And they offered no genuine answers for the problems plaguing the U.S.A.
Many Democrats remain ignorant of why the MAGA movement is so powerful. Democrats figured they would win simply by being the lesser of two evils. Yet, over 85,000,000 eligible voters simple chose not to vote at all in 2024. That is how out of touch the Democrats are with the frustration, anger, hopelessness and desperation of U.S. citizens. More eligible voters DID NOT VOTE AT ALL, compared to those who voted for either candidate.
People remain ignorant for a variety of reasons. They are: apathetic, busy playing video games and living an an alternate reality, too busy raising children or taking care of elderly parents, and too tired from working at stressful, unfulfilling jobs. Or they are complacently happy with their own life situation and not concerned about how that could change.
Many people think they are “informed” because they watch the popular 24 hour cable news talking heads or check out their favorite social media sources. Both of these options are prone to profit motivated bias, superficial reporting, manipulative language, and outright lies. Yes, the “conservative” news sources are the worst right now, but the others are subject to the same info-tainment dynamic.
FOX News, MSNBC, and CNN all feed off of each other, creating an environment of outrage and fear that serves their bottom lines, but does not serve the public interest.
Because so many people remained ignorant, by choice, or by circumstance, they believed that an authoritarian government could not happen in the U.S.A.
A prescient novel by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1935. Written during the Great Depression, just as fascism was sweeping Europe and Nazism was taking root in Germany.
The story follows the rise of a rather bumbling “populist” American president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press.”
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Can it Happen Here?
With the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, many people on both the left and right began to see the possibility that Sinclair Lewis’ satirical novel, It Can’t Happen Here, could be coming true.
This collection of essays, published in 2018, seriously explores the question – Can authoritarianism really take hold in America?
If you have been paying attention, then you know that the answer is YES!
To those who thought this could never happen in the U.S.A. Wake up! Ignorance is NOT bliss when you are losing your freedoms, your job, your healthcare, your home, and public civility. Ignorance about the most important forces creating the world we live in allows the Bandits and the Stupid People to set the agenda and literally rule the world.
Unlike Stupidity,
YOU CAN FIX IGNORANCE!
Educate yourself about important matters.
Read real books.
Get your news from reliable sources.
Observe. Think. Analyse. Question.
And ACT.