The Case Against Democracy

These people vote.

Sayin'.



No, but seriously, I don't hold ignorance against people. Ignorance can be cured, and ignorance is okay when you recognize it within yourself and seek to eradicate it through knowledge and experience. The problem here is this abundance of ignorance intentionally spread by the Republican Party and attached to a sense of pride and nationalism. This sense of certainty and righteousness coupled with no functioning knowledge is so dangerous and frustrating to listen to because it is a form of ignorance that cannot easily be cured. This is ignorance that, when refuted, redoubles in certainty and righteousness.

And yes, there are plenty of followers on the left guilty of exactly that kind of ignorance and righteousness.

What makes the worship of Sarah Palin so worrying to me is that her ignorance is something her followers are proud of. Like George Bush before her, righteousness in the absence of knowledge or experience is somehow understood by her fans as an asset. One of the interviewees nearly says as much: being right is more important than anything else. Which, okay, maybe he has a point. But in this context, being right isn't a matter of gathering all the relevant information and making a sound decision about what's best for everyone. It's about *feeling* right. It's not about Truth, it's about Truthiness.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Truthiness
www.colbertnation.com
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I think Jon Stewart best described the left's mystification about the popularity of Sarah Palin. We don't hate her because she's a woman or because she's strong. Lefties love strong women. We're crazy about them! Perhaps pathologically so. (I know my romantic preferences trend towards testicle-crushing superwomen.) Our problem is that she presents herself as proud of being a functionally illiterate Republican talking point machine.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Daily Show: The Rogue Warrior
www.thedailyshow.com
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The world is a complicated place with a lot of complicated problems, and we need to work together to find the best solutions to these problems by gathering factual information and coming to an informed consensus about the path that will benefit the most people the greatest amount. And ideologues, on either side of the aisle, who refuse to learn and collaborate because they already know the right answer, an answer they got from their guts, are bad for America and ultimately, bad for the world. They are the drunk drivers of human civilization, and as long as we keep electing them, we are all riding shotgun.