The main stupidity of Americans, from the standpoint of the interests of humanity, is that it has become the center of bourgeois, capitalist and individualist ideology, the command center of anti-communism. America is the main military and material obstacle to ending capitalism. I make here an anti-elitist, rank-and-file human being protest against the rulers of the world, who have boxed in the masses in the U.S. as the Bourgeoisie's main social support base. It would be hard for most working class Americans to avoid being in this "role", but this shouldn't stop us from calling a spade a spade from an objective standpoint.
Of course, there are exceptions among individuals, as with people on this list, but when we speak of "Americans" , concretely, the mass U.S. population, not entirely by its own doing, has become the bulwark against one of the most fundamental advances that the human race _must_ make "right away". The need for ending capitalism is becoming a real emergency.
The is the best way to use the word "stupid". Stupid about what ? Stupid about what is best for humanity. It is not so much about abstract intellectual function as about historical,political , economic and social understanding. I think we can say the great mass of Americans are failing, getting a D- grade at best, in their understanding of history.
CB
From: John Thornton <jthorn65 at mchsi.com>
>>Carl Remick wrote:
>>
>>>Americans are exposed to education the way they're exposed to cosmic
>>>rays, and the rays have a much bigger impact on them. This vast but
>>>vapid aura of educational attainment reflects sheer credentialism --
>>>simply another way that Americans try to con the rest of the world into
>>>thinking that we know what we're doing.
>>
>>How come Americans get all those patents and Nobels?
>>
>>Doug
>
>How many are American born? Sounds like asking why the bank gets all the
>money! Or America gets all those great athletes from around the world.
>
>Seriously, if I see one more quantitative argument about the superiority
>of the US I am going to hit the data bases and get the goods.
>
>Travis
Please do "get the goods". You are changing the argument a bit however. No one was saying Americans are superior, just saying they're not inferior. Humans are humans the world over. I doubt one group gets to lay claim to being more stupid than the others. But I'm an American so maybe I'm too stupid to know otherwise.
John Thornton