This may come as a shock, but most people I know think that Americans are, in general, idiots. I don’t mean idiots in the technical sense of having low IQs, but in the everyday sense of not understanding basic ideas, not reflecting on one’s own hypocrisies and falling prey to blatant logical errors. Although smart Americans do exists (I know several), the majority are perceived, by the international community, to be about as deep and thoughtful as the plot of a Michael Bay film. Here are some reasons why:
1. Stopping people from bringing too much shampoo on an airplane when you can arm a militia at Walmart.
2. Choosing to waste the world’s resources, thousands of your dollars and years of your life sitting in your car, worrying about dying in a pileup and screaming at the bastard who just cut you off, instead of just living closer to work and taking the bus.
3. Being in favor of wars and against euthanasia, because people who want to die shouldn’t be allowed, but people who don’t want to die should obviously be killed.
4. Bill O’Reilly.
5. Other assholes who pretend to be journalists to advance their own radical viewpoints.
6. Calling any intelligent person who runs for office an elitist, because it’s clearly better to have an brainless alcoholic who knows nothing about the economy, foreign affairs, war or the environment run the country.
7. Wanting big house and lawns, only to complain about cleaning the house and mowing the lawn.
8. Allowing the country to be run by the National Fascist Party, who for marketing reasons call themselves “Republicans”
9. The position that America must have a huge nuclear arsenal to protect itself, but any other country who tries to build nukes to protect itself (from America, no doubt) is “a terrorist state.”
10. Fixed News, who call themselves “Fox News” and wage an unending war on reason while Pirate Lord Murdoch makes real journalists walk the plank.
11. Believe in talking snakes (Genesis), flying bodily up to Heaven, Women shouldn’t wear gold or pearls (Timothy 2:9), don’t covet your neighbor’s slaves (Ten Commandments) and so on.
12. Anti-rationalism and anti-science – anyone who rejects ‘reasons’ and ‘evidence’ is based on this evidence, an idiot.
13. Reality TV
14. If you say something bad about Jews, you’re an anti-semetic racist fuckhead, but if you say something bad about Muslims, you’re patriotic. Meanwhile, the real-life Lord Dracula was an agent of the Pope.
15. Constantly yammering about how great America is when it’s only number one in carbon dioxide emissions and number of prisoners.
16. Thinking that people are evil because they fight back after you invade without provocation, topple their government and start building military bases throughout their land.
17. Thinking that buying lead-coated barbie dolls from china with money you borrowed from Japan will magically fix your economy.
18. Not noticing that all the “enhanced security measures” implemented by your government under the guise of protection are surely intended to control their own populace.
19. Being against stem cell research and vaccinating girls against HPV, because obviously the talking snake wants people to die of Alzheimer’s and cancer.
20. Believing that peace can be spread through violence as if life is an action movie and all Americans are played by Sly Stallone.
And finally,
21. If you are one of the 40 or 50 million Americans who can’t afford insurance, and your child gets leukemia, your little boy or girl will not get needed treatment and he or she will most likely die. But you still think that “socialized medicine” is somehow a bad thing, and besides, you’re too busy complaining about the price of a tank of gas.
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Take back #13.
As an american, I wholeheartedly agree.
You should write a list of why some Americans think Americans are stupid.
Bravo!!!
Great list, although #2 is not always that easy.
to add to number 15: The US is also number on in disease, and, get this, MENTAL HEALTH problems. I heard that somewhere.
@Tony
I dunno. I just listened to Rush Limbaugh this afternoon, and he seems to think it’s because we’re liberal. I guess it must be true.
[...] recently did a great piece on why the world thinks we’re all idiots in the good ole’ US of A. One primary reason that he left out is that we are idiots. Our [...]
I am from America, and i guess you could call me an “American”.. but you you say “YOU” in the context of somehow grouping me with others and tagging all these 21 reasons of why “WE” are idiots together. I didn’t cause these things, and if it were up to me, i would like to see all these things changed. Everyone would. I wouldn’t even call this a conspiracy or blame it on the people in charge.
I really like what you said in the post entitled: “The New Stupid”.. you stated that: “believe the government, corporations, religious leaders and so on are comprised of thousands of individuals with heterogenous agendas, all consciously or unconsciously trying to manipulate different segments of the public. This menagerie of Machiavellian bullshitters has convoluted and unpredictable effects.”
I think these 21 issues that you talk about are the cause of these “unpredictable effects” and you cannot blame “us”. Most Americans are not interested or fully informed in politics or social issues.
I must admit.. i love all your stuff and i agree with most of it. But lets face it, your kind of stretching it a bit in this post. A lot of these 21 issues seem like mindless rants (no-offense).
@Matt, I’m not American. Hence “you.” Obviously, no one with half a grain of sense will assume that all members of a very large group are identically stupid. And yes I am ranting. People have a responsibility to stay informed. Every time I visit the US I am shocked at the anti-rational/anti-intellectual sentiment among many of the people I meet. It’s frustrating and frightening. I hold each individual responsible to not be fooled by the pathetic tactics of those to try to manipulate them. Most of these things are caused by individuals or by the emergent behavior of groups. The fact that some things are caused by more than one person does not negate the individual’s responsibility.
That said, I was embellishing a little for entertainment’s sake
All I read through that was a bunch of anti-christian rhetoric. Your a dumb fuck. There isn’t one child with leukemia who would be refused treatment. Anyone who cant afford health care is already getting it through my tax dollars, and CHRISTIAN peoples donations and organizations. Where is the Muslim organizations when the kids need help and donations??? Oh thats right they only help other Muslims.I agree with portions of your argument but the rest is just an idiot who has no clue rambling. Oh by the way, the reason the Iraqi people originally hated us was because we didn’t get rid of Saddam in 1991 when they were begging us to. Now they hate us because we DID get rid of him. And we are only there because they are so stupid and barbaric that they cant manage to run their own country without killing each other. Bottom line is people hate America because we have it good, and we have the power in the world. If we gave in and changed all of our policy’s the rest of the world would just find another reason to hate us. Only thing you said that makes perfect sense is number 18. The End
@Todd, 1) It’s “you’re a dumb fuck,” not “your a dumb fuck.” 2) kids do die because their parents lack insurance – for example, see http://www.prohealthcare.org/wellness/health-news/children/abused-babies-death-risk.aspx. I thought everyone knew this happened. 3) most of my points were not about religion, 4) America went to war in Iraq to look for nukes, create an ally in the middle east, divert huge amounts of money to defense corporations and to acquire a reliable future supply of oil. It had nothing to do with how the Iraqis were running the country, and I defy you to find any government official or report that says the primary reason for war in Iraq was Saddam’s poor management skills. 5) If you think people hate America because you have it better than them, you may want to take a vacation to Canada, France, Iceland, Norway, or one of the many other countries that consistently rates ahead of the US in the United Nations report on the most desirable countries in which to live: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/photogalleries/country-pictures/index.html?email=Places14Dec07