all you've got if you can't read a book

click here first, then listen. then read

The following is a very insightful comment posted on a NYT discussion board today. It moves beyond politics, as well as the vitriolic assholery that passes for sociopolitical discourse today and the non-solvable (due to supersaturation) gun violence problem. The issues raised by the author of this post may lead one to consider the possibility that America could descend into fascism if current trends continue.
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Here's the elephant in the room: most Americans are poorly educated at this point in time, especially anyone under 30. They are most likely to embrace slogans, conspiracy theories, and to look for scapegoats because they are incapable of real participation in a democracy which involves constant pursuit of information and its analysis. Also, because of this lack of skill and preparation to be real contributors to society, they are unemployable in the new world economy and so in their chaotic lives, lack the time, and resources to be self educated even if they wished to be so. Finally, as Nature will have her say, they end up having children, and a whole new generation cannot get a leg up in our rapidly changing (not for the better) society. As we ignore this problem, of course they will be victims of an elite who will both fear them and try to use them and their precious votes to stay in or grasp power in our election cycles. That's where the dumbed down, inflammatory rhetoric comes to the fore. And if a good willed politician tries to communicate what's really good for them, their well tended anger makes them see it as condescension and elitism. A nice "win/win" don't you think? The past 35-40 years in American education is a disgrace compared to what we once had. My 84 year old parents had better educations in high school (one didn't even finish) than people I meet now with Masters' degrees - which I too, have. They had the good common sense to know when they were being HELPED in the Great Depression, rather than thinking they were being insulted; they could sort things out without always using the mirror of personal identity which is all you've got if you can't read a book.