As I watched the attack on our capital, I saw things most Americans did not.

[fightforfreedom]

I saw a complete failure of our education system. I saw a complete failure of generations of parental education.

What we saw that day was thousands of Americans of most age groups, completely mindless. They had history wrong, facts wrong, reality wrong, they could not tell the difference between right and wrong, a lie or a truth. They could not tell they were committing crimes or not. What they did that day most children would have known better.

It was without a doubt the most frightening thing I have ever seen in my lifetime. Nothing compares to it.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. The Audacity of Trump saying NOTHING wrong took place on January 6th, 2021

What the historians will write about what took place that day WILL NOT likely see the light of day in a classroom because GOP lawmakers will censor that from History classes.

BUT! There will be plenty of books on that day in words and pictures, Documentaries filmed that will detail just exactly what we saw in real time in bookstores. FREEDOM of the Press is still one of the pillars of this fragile democracy we must fight to retain.

[malaise]

6. Just imagine a Democratic COngress ending the same mob for him at the

WH - he hid in the basement when there were a few protesters in the park nearby.

Audacity is correct

[NewHendoLib]

2. I saw ignorance

[calimary]

27. So did I. And idolatry of a big fat yellow-haired self-proclaimed "god."

The fools built their own version of the “Golden Calf.”

As that kid in the movie might have put it: “… I see stupid people…”

[OMGWTF]

29. Misinformation courtesy of Fux News and the rest of the Reicht-wing hate media.

[TheRealNorth]

3. I am less inclined to believe a failure of education....

And more inclined to blame the traitors because I believe in most cases the traitors consciously chose to believe information that supported their worldview.

[obamanut2012]

5. 100% agree

[Kaleva]

11. It's human nature to readily accept that which supports one's world view

and to reject that which challenges one's world view.

"Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.[1] People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

[greymattermom]

85. How many of the traitors were home schooled?

Education can be whatever the parents believe.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

4. As a high school teacher in their 31st year of teaching, don't put that shit on us.

We get blamed for enough stuff.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Agreed!

[fightforfreedom]

13. I was wrong saying it was complete failure of our education system. I apologize.

However, the people who stormed the capital had a twisted view of our history. What were they taught in school about our history? They were carrying confederate flags, Don't tread on me flags. They were chanting 1776. It was bizarre.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

21. That's fair.

These are people that clearly didn't partake in the educational opportunities given to them.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

70. You cannot induce belligerently ignorant people to learn. I left teaching because more

and more children were being sent to school with a mission to absolutely refuse to learn anything unless it fit in with the narrow, bigoted worldview their parents & the omnipresent Reich wing media had instilled in them.

It was heartbreaking and infuriating because I've always delighted in and treasured learning and because I could see that we were on the road to the tragic state of affairs that is our present reality.

[yardwork]

76. Ask not what they were taught, but what they chose to learn.

[MyOwnPeace]

99. BINGO! I LIKE that.........

and it has a certain 'ring' to it, you know, like I may have heard something 'like' that somewhere......

[rootin tootin]

35. I agree and prefer

I agree and prefer to use the term miseducated.

As a rule, teachers are not to blame.

Keep fighting the good fight and positively influencing the future generations.

[evemac]

36. Thank you. SpEd teacher here

Not our failure.

[world wide wally]

39. An individual teacher spends about 5 hours per week with a student.

The kid spends about 35 hours per week combined with all of their teachers.
A child spends the rest of their time (about 138 hours per week with their parent(s).
Don't blame a teacher.

[usaf-vet]

86. You should be able to agree that public education has been disrupted by constant pressure from...

... outside sources since you started teaching.

In the early 1960s, I had to take Civics, where we learned about our government, Constitution, how laws were passed, how voting was one person, one vote, all the things that made our country work. Civics of the 1960s are rarely taught in public schools today.

I had to take several science classes in high school. My favorite was Biology and how living things work. That evolution was the slow and steady way living things evolved to survive in the changing environment around them. Darwin describes these changes as a slow process over generations to adapt to survive. The bible offers a different view, so Evolution and Darwinism are the enemies of the biblical views.

NOW the latest outside forces want to deny evolution because it doesn't match the bible's view. They threaten to write laws that will prevent teachers from teaching evolution and to fine them $10,000 if they are found guilty.

You are right; you do get blamed, but you don't get to write the rules that govern what you teach. You are forced to comply with school board policies that outside pressures have bastardized the policies. Pressures that, more often than not, are being funded by ideological groups who want to push their agenda nationwide.

For example, see ALEC: https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/What_is_ALEC%3F#Is_it_nonpartisan_as_claimed.3F

Thank you for the work you do, and thank you to the tens of thousands of other teachers who show up every day to teach.

[gnesta]

97. It IS bad education

I have 3 grown children who went to some of the best schools in the country. But their education paled in comparison to mine. Where do you think these rioters were educated? Why are they unable to think? Most of this country is woefully uneducated. They don't read, they don't travel. They can't answer basic questions about anything. I put this on teachers. And the horrible school system that now caters exclusively to the parents. Little Johnny is never held accountable for anything. It's a nightmare.

[Kaleva]

7. 800 people out of 300+ million attacking the Capitol and you say it's complete failure...

of our education system?

[Tickle]

58. I read it was thousands of people nt

[Kaleva]

68. An estimated 30k were at the protest in DC but only about 800 attacked the Capitol

[A HERETIC I AM]

95. Only about 800 ENTERED the Capitol.

The estimates of how many were actually on the grounds were as high as 10,000, but the figure I heard most was between 4 and 5K

I would consider the people putting up Trumpy banners and such as well as destroying structures and attacking police on the outside, but didn't enter the building as "attackers".

[Kaleva]

96. The difference is so small it's insignificant

Even 20 k out of 76 million is just about zero.

The number I'm using, 800, is the approx figure that the media is reporting that the FBI has arrested for criminal behaviour or is searching for to arrest.

[A HERETIC I AM]

100. I'm with ya

I’ll absolutely stipulate that we (meaning ALL of the left/progressives in this country) need to make sure we do not make these idiots to be a larger force than they actually are. The largest voting bloc in the US has been and is still, people that don’t vote.

They’re just loud, obnoxious and apparently see no problem with breaking the law to get what they want, that’s all.

[oldsoftie]

71. Well, millions STILL support turd blossom.

So those folks aren't being very well educated on how to find TRUTH

[ShazamIam]

9. All true and let's add the total failure and complicity of this nation's religious leaders and our

national news media who continue to treat the anti-democratic authoritarians as legitimate voices that deserve equal time.

[nolabear]

10. I saw rage and fear fed by lies and scheming.

Authoritarians, cult leaders and conmen are solely focused on creating fear and distrust, feeding it endlessly, and convincing people only they have a certain way out of it. The education system can’t educate anyone out of that, though I think people who are more educated are more likely to be on the con side of the situation. They see an opportunity to gain power or money, they have a certain level of sociopathy, and they fuel the fire.

Honestly I don’t know how we’ll get out of the disinformation/con job situation we’re in as long as social media exists. Making people’s lives better and not randomly using that media to stoke hate and fear ourselves (while remaining true yo our principles) might help. But it’s a hard fix.

[fightforfreedom]

26. Five long, exhausting years of this madness.

How many cocktails is that?

[nolabear]

44. God knows...it's a miracle we're not all drug dependent.

Although, I tend to get hyper vigilant when I’m freaked out so maybe not. I might be better off if I drank more!

[peggysue2]

12. All true but in addition . . .

These same people were seduced and hooked by a massive propaganda campaign, both foreign and domestic. Think Jim Jones on a grand scale, a cult snagging a third of the American population in a paranoid, Messianic quest.

Jonestown members drank the Kool-aid. For the most part, they drank the Kool-aid willingly.

And yes, it's terrifying.

[Irish_Dem]

14. I saw it too for sure.

American citizens who understood nothing about American history and government.

Spoiled, entitled, immature and foolish people who act out nonsense.

No moral core, no moral compass.
No understanding of fantasy vs reality.
No concern for the social contract.

I absolutely see all of this as quite chilling.

[nini]

15. You saw white fear fueled by propaganda

And that's harder to solve unfortunately.

[fightforfreedom]

17. That's for sure.

[whathehell]

67. Not just "white" fear

but "male" fear too -- Seven out of ten were male.

[uponit7771]

81. +1

[chowder66]

16. As soon as TFG was nominated I knew shit would fly. He opened pandora's box

for people who hate rules and laws.
The republicans and TFG have unleashed the ungovernable and now complain that the genie can't be put back in the bottle so easily.

[MineralMan]

18. It's not the education system that's to blame. It is deliberate ignorance.

It is all those people who paid no attention in class, didn't do homework, and still don't pay attention nor do they learn anything.

They're stupid, but it's a deliberate choice. Such people reject learning. They refuse to learn. Some of them had families who were the same as they turned out to be. Stupidity is a choice. Ignorance is a choice. Information is presented, and some people simply reject it. They could learn, but they will not learn. They refuse to learn.

[Ferryboat]

19. Willful ignorance.

Lack of knowledge abour basic civics. That and rise of talk radio with Limbaugh. Refusal to make more than a token effort to understand the difficulties facing this country.

[fightforfreedom]

20. You are correct, that's why I apologized. I was wrong.

People also have the option of self educating. Many refuse and I do not under stand that. It's not hard to self educate.

[Mr.Bill]

24. I self-educate every time

I look at this website. We all do. On other websites, not so much.

[HUAJIAO]

22. From --- Dietrich Bonhoeffer- LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON

"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.

Against stupidity we are defenseless.

Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.

For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous."

[MineralMan]

33. As usual, he is correct.

[OMGWTF]

31. Religious nutz too. They have no filter other than what their whak-o preacher said.

My 91-year-old female parental unit is so far down the Reicht-wing, racist, religious end-timer rat hole that she's lost most of her family. Long ago when I expressed concern to her that she was in a cult. she became very agitated, jumped up and pointed a finger in my face, with her eyes bugging out and yelling, "You're the one in the cult!" Some people are just unreachable.

[Traildogbob]

40. MM

You hit the nail. Selective ignorance. I’m retired college Faculty. In a Field of choice for the students. Outdoor careers in Forest and Wildlife Management. They Chose to go to school for that. Thought they would hunt and fish for a living. It’s freaking science and statistical analysis. Butt loads of math and calculations, chemistry, biology, botany and freaking reports of the results of field data, with technology in field equipment, video gamers find hard to operate. So many took grants and parents paying college to party and do much of nothing. Chose to, and was proud of being stupid, but in their minds they know everything. Aside from those fools, I had vets and students changing Careers that gave everything they could to be the best, to get those rare very competitive jobs. Working part time and with kids, paying their own
Way. There was no failure of the system for those that gave a damn. I spent an average of 70 hours a week working for them, most weekends getting them out in the field to experience all aspects of those careers. Endless extra curricula time getting them certified in all they could above and beyond the degree requirement. As did all my colleagues in Natural Resources Division. For salaries that of Lowes or Home Depot. NC has the lowest teacher salaries in the Nation. Those that failed, failed themselves. I retired in 2012. That first term of Obama exposed the mentality of those losers, and I’m glad I did not have to deal with the trump years. I would have been fired for speaking out. I would bet about 30 percent there now are trumpers and gun humpers, as they were in my years. Those fools failed, dropped out of were cut off funds. Many went into law enforcement. Many probably went to DC to riot, steaming the blacks took their jobs. Not an educational system failure. A Parenting Failure. The outcome, the district most came from, Meadows and Cawthorn. Their hero’s.

[MineralMan]

53. Exactly.

.

[dchill]

64. "Stupidity is a choice." Really? Always?

I'm thinking about children who are home schooled or attending some of these red-state schools that aren't willing or even allowed to teach reality. These children are going to come into a world they don't even know about or even believe in. It's a hard hill to climb for all of us. They are not ignorant by choice.

[moondust]

23. Bad parenting.

Many were probably raised by greedy, corrupt, racist, self-righteous parents who learned from Reagan, neoconfederates, and others to hate "big gubment" that supports public schools and makes them pay taxes and minimum wages, wear seatbelts, and obey speed limits.

[BlueJac]

25. Agree 100%

[llashram]

28. crowds

with hate in their hearts and no education that stuck, especially critical thinking skills. All of them were dumbed-down zombies for TPOSFG. If they had any they would not be "mindless". Not frightening to me though. Just raised my anger levels and self-protection levels. What can be expected when dealing with gross stupidity?

[Initech]

30. I said this on another forum that I belong to:

And I'm just an armchair psychologist, but what the parents watch and listen to absolutely has an affect on the kids growing up. Like if a parent listens to nothing but Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, don't be surprised if the kids turn out to be sociopathic, gun toting racist neo Nazis with an ego complex. Just saying.

[patphil]

32. It makes sense when you see the video on Bonhoeffers theory of stupidity

Essentially it says that stupidity is independent of education and/or mental capacity.
Intelligent, well educated people can be quite stupid.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

74. Thanks! That was good. Bonhoeffer's theory seems pretty solid, though I'm

not sure using the word "stupid" serves it best, for semantic reasons. A precise definition of intelligence is still debated. One theory says there are a number of different "intelligences." Saying smart people can be stupid is, in a way, oxymoronic and confusing, though I know what he means.

A term I've heard and adopted to describe the type of people he calls stupid is "belligerently ignorant." There was a similar tem popular a few years back (arrrghh, and I can't recall it just now), but I think "belligerently ignorant" is more accurate.

[CloudWatcher]

34. Complete failure of our education system

I agree, but it's not the the fault of the teachers. I don't think enough time is
spent teaching how to evaluate your sources.

I don't believe that people are willfully ignorant. It's that they don't have the skills to
determine when they are being fed a line of BS.

And ... why don't we teach better?

-- Corporations want willing suckers. Not discerning consumers.
-- Corporations want trained cogs. Not ones that challenge the status quo.
-- Churches. Do I even need to go there?

If you think CRT caused problems ... can you imagine the pushback if
we really taught our kids how to think?

And to be fair, it's not easy. I spent more than a little time discussing with
our kids how to decide which "news" sources to accept.

[Ferrets are Cool]

37. Nope. Our education system is not at fault.

These were grown ass people acting out their fantasies. With intent to harm. I will NEVER give them the out by indicating they didn't know they were doing anything wrong. They just thought they could get away with it. I Disagree with everything in your post, with respect, of course.

[czarjak]

38. I saw closed minds. Impervious imbeciles whom will never be swayed.

[maxsolomon]

41. I saw the fruit of a decades-long Propaganda campaign.

Those pawns thought they were patriots saving America.

[live love laugh]

61. ✓+

[LittleGirl]

42. Education had nothing to do with it

That was 2500 mini trumpers that want to be like trump. They are bullies just like him. They are entitled white assholes that think they are above the law.

[jmbar2]

43. Another contributing factor... media-driven narcissism

Too many people want to "be somebody", when they are nobodies. They aren't willing to do the work to earn the respect they think they deserve.

Social media allows nobodies to become "famous" too easily. When they do get the attention they crave, it emboldens them. When they don't, it enrages them.

I can think of no good solutions to this sickness.

[rebe303]

45. Fox News

It was a display of successful Reeducation, courtesy of Faux News and other BS

[orangecrush]

46. Well said.

This is what we have come to.

[NullTuples]

47. I saw the opposite: education systems and social systems that had been taken over

This wasn't some careless accident whereby schools forgot to teach science and unbiased history.

Nor were religious leaders the least bit confused when they taught their followers that logic, rational thought & science are literal representations of the Devil.

Fox News didn't just forget to check sources and to uphold journalistic integrity.

They've been at this for decades, intentionally working toward what we are about to go through.

[live love laugh]

62. "...what we are about to go through."

[SleeplessinSoCal]

48. I didn't see it as frightening. I was wrong not to.

Mainly because I expected it would happen.Your points are well made and I agree mostly. I suspect there were some well educated folks in that mob who just wanted to revolt for reasons other than MAGA.

I recall from public high school history and social studies class hearing the states rights vs slavery discussion. This around 1964. This was well before Proposition 13 re: property taxation looted the education budget.

Everything seems connected. This is what "Think Tanks" are for on the right.

"A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture."

I used to think think tanks were doing good work and militias were not a threat to society. No more.

[yobrault1]

49. January 6, 2021 is why I was inconsolable on November 9, 2016

I cried all day the day after the 2016 election. I have lived in the US, but I'm from Canada. I knew what tfg was all about and I couldn't believe the country went down that dark road. January 6, 2021 was a natural end to anything tfg controls because everything he touches turns to shit. The only surprise, really, was that so many ppl couldn't fathom that they were being used as a battering ram. Now the slobfather wants them to save him, he's actively trying to incite them, and the idiots don't even realize he did and will completely abandon them. They will rally behind this pure source of horseshit. Makes me so sad.

[Jilly_in_VA]

50. Blame the Faux Noise Propaganda Machine

Blame the people who let that shit blare in waiting rooms and lobbies everywhere. Blame the Supreme Court for declaring that corporations are people and letting money rule politics. Blame that dark money for getting into everything. DO NOT blame the teachers! They are doing the best they can against that shit.

[CaptainTruth]

51. You are 100% correct. Our education system is failing us.

NOTE I am NOT saying teachers are failing us, it's the SYSTEM, the processes used, that are failing us.

Too many people have zero critical thinking skills & it makes them easy targets for reich-wing propaganda.

[bucolic_frolic]

52. Other viewers failed to notice .nt

[tiredtoo]

54. Great perspective

If you want to see it in detail watch "Four Hours at the Capitol" on HBOmax. Bad dudes and misinformed.

[Samrob]

55. Most children are teachable. Those insurrectionists are not. nt

[Skittles]

56. NOPE

these people have access to the same information we do - they're easily manipulated because at heart they are racist assholes who cannot accept CHANGE

[orleans]

57. fuck ups & fuck offs

didn't want to learn shit in school, stopped learning in jr. high, fucked off and if they didn't drop out first (to continue fucking up and fucking off) they graduated ... just barely.

willful ignorance was fashionable to them -- and a badge of honor.



and that's my stereotype of those fucking lowlifes who perpetuated the stereotype of fucking lowlifes as they slithered and crawled and swarmed around the capitol that day

[Martin68]

59. Um, some of us have been seeing that for a few decades now. It is more in our face now thanks to

Dump, but it's been an obvious trend to anyone who is paying attention. Maybe that's not "most Americans," but I doubt "most Americans" are complacent about what happened on the 6th. It was a wake-up call for all of us.

[live love laugh]

60. That day is unforgettable just like 9/11... and a few others. nt

[90-percent]

63. "People, we is not wrapped tight."

I'm so grateful for my middle class New York State public education from 1960 to 1980. I learned to reason and think logically and what journalism is supposed to be and history and social sciences. And I've lived to see the day when the entire republican party is anti-Democracy and likes Putin more than President Biden. and we breed generations of stupidity because that's where republican voters all come from.

"Americans behave as if intelligence was some kind of hideous deformity." - F. Zappa

-90% Jimmy

[maryallen]

65. Agree.

Well said. As a retired teacher, I am amazed at their lack of knowledge of our constitution and laws, in general.

[fwvinson]

66. Jan. 6 was the result of home schooling

[oldsoftie]

72. Thats ridiculous. MILLIONS of kids are very well educated with home schooling

Usually, home schoolers also do better on their SATs.
Can you show what numbers of the rioters were homeschooled?

[UpInArms]

69. The power of cult

Think Jim Jones …

How did he get all those people to drink poison?

It’s not just a poor education, it’s the desire to follow a “leader” and this one was elevated in “churches” and by kookbabblers on teevee and radio for years.

[oldsoftie]

73. It really did become a cult. There's no other way to look at it anymore.

Especially the rabid supporters of TODAY.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

80. +1

[jaxexpat]

75. The US has not understood the role of education in the technological revolution.

Traditional education in the US centered on exposing herds of children-become-students to concepts which they likely would not learn at home to a standard proficiency. Proficiency in the three R's, which, incidentally, remains the gate keeper to useful participation in a democratic society, is essential to share experiential learning, the nexus of society. The macro expansion of objective information, available at literally everyone's fingertips, challenges the traditions and structural methods educators implement to bring students to necessary proficiencies. Too many educators, themselves products of reduced requirements in basic skills, simply "teach to the test" so that ever fewer graduates possess essential signs of education at all. Not an asset, lest one be prey, attempting to maintain anonymity amidst the herd.

Saturation broadcast technology enables our various world societies to achieve great consensus. When hijacked by opportunistic bad actors, the same technology, with great efficiency, can divide us by creating and maintaining provably and obviously false alternative realities. This would not be possible if everyone had similar levels of proficiency in basic intellectual skills. It's too hard to read between the lines if reading comprehension, even at its essential level, is painfully challenging. Because it's too hard to look beyond the glitter when dazzled and engrossed in the presentation, some are woefully ignorant of the fact they're living a life without curiosity, continually gravitating to the pre-answered questions, having no understanding what they're consuming or its detriment to themselves and their progeny.

Such persons can be like weapons which, when unleashed to empowerment by unscrupulous people, willingly and needfully set off to tear down whatever lay in their path, locusts of the new world order.

[OldBaldy1701E]

77. What I saw

Was the culmination of what you are saying. I have been seeing all of what you mention for decades, but because most people won't see the fire until their house is all but gone and they are all but burned up, those observations were met with deluded refusal to see the oncoming flames. Now, it may.... MAY... be too late. Of course, based on what I have been reading around the net, most people seem to want to 'return to normal'. That is what got us here. Why would you want to return to that? I feel that anyone who is adamant about returning to 'normal' is one of those who were in the minority rule position i.e.: they had lost of money and were making even more off of the situation as it was. To return to that is to return to what put us here and what 'created' the treason we witnessed that day. Stupid. But, we'll do it again. Just watch. (Again, this is only my opinion and should not be taken as anything other than that.)

[Trueblue Texan]

78. I can't blame our education system for what happened Jan 6.

History and government IS taught in schools. But most of us graduate and stop learning. We are powerfully influenced by our upbringing, media, and the people in our lives. We cling to the "facts" that reinforce our biases. The schools can only do so much. You can lead a horse to water, etc.

I agree it was the most frightening thing I've ever seen as well, but so very predictable. I'd like to see a poll here on DU: who knew something like Jan 6 was going to happen if Trump lost the election? I certainly did.

[dlk]

79. The decades-long assault on public schools by Republicans is seeing results

To survive, a democracy needs a well-educated populace. As we are seeing, poorly educated Americans are easiy manipulated.

[chia]

82. The insurrectionist weren't young idealists, they were middle-aged Fox News radicals.

two-thirds of those arrested for Jan. 6 are over the age of 34. They’re concentrated in their 40s and 50s.

[dwayneb]

83. Lack of critical thinking skills

This more than anything led us to where we are today. This began in earnest back in the 60's and 70's as corporate America dumbed us down in order to peddle crap to us.

[plimsoll]

84. It was a triumph of the educational system.

Just not the one you're thinking about.

Others have brought it up, but the system is not the teachers, or the principals and possibly not even the superintendents. The system is business interests, advertising interests, church interests and parents. Schools yield to these groups at every whim. The intimidation we're seeing at school board meetings is simultaneously a sign of success and a doubling down on their attacks because they're afraid they may not have done enough to support the education system they want inflicted on the country.

[hay rick]

87. I agree. It was stunning.

Unfortunately, it was not surprising. If you have been following the political debate as amplified and sanctioned by America's media, the greater surprise is that this hasn't happened sooner.

[lark]

88. Wow, fightforfreedom, we think so much alike about this.

Guess you must be a root cause kind of person, because I am and this is how I look at it. The reich wing is winning, they have put down knowledge so much, over such a long time that they have affected, degraded, our educational system - on purpose. This is why they push religious schooling because they can leave out inconvenient facts & distort others or just pure lie about things like slavery and economics. This is why they want parents involved, to perpetuate their lies, not to reveal the truth and to make Americans so stupid that we will allow the corporatists to take over everything, taking everything from the middle/poor classes and sending it to themselves.

[fightforfreedom]

91. You may not believe this.

I was a honor roll student in high school, who quit high school. Later on I got my GED in 4 hrs. Everyone, including my parents tried to convince me to go to college. I ignored all of them. One of the reasons I quit high school was because I was starting to become a man and I was beginning to think for myself.

I was taking the highest level of courses they offered and many of them bored me to death. I realized they were teaching me things I did not need to know and not teaching me things I needed to know. Some of my classes and teachers were very good. I always did better in class when the teacher made things interesting. If a teacher bored me I would lose interest.

I believed I could do a better job getting out into the real world and self educating. Along the way I became a history buff. I enjoyed reading which is a very good way to self educate. I spent time in the military. I traveled across America, I traveled overseas. I worked different types of jobs. I hung out with different types of people. There is more than one way to self educate. When you chose a path like mine you become very observant, very aware of everything around you. You become street smart.

I would not recommend the path I chose to other people. At times it can be a bumpy road. In some ways I am unique and somewhat crazy

[lark]

92. Funny, in many ways you still sound like me.

I was a straight A student who quit school and graduated by challenging the tests and passing them all with a B or better. I never got a degree, but I did attend some college for environmental studies. I got too involved with working and dropped out of college and have always wanted to go back and planned to do so when I retired. Than came Covid, and my gym and college plans changed drastically. Learning is a choice, though, so now I choose to study Brazillian Portugese to try to sharpen my mind and walk at least 2 miles every day.

There are many paths to enlightenment and knowledge.

[fightforfreedom]

93. I traveled to Brazil.

It's beautiful, they love to party and dance in Brazil. The language barrier was a problem, but many people in Brazil do speak english.

If you ever travel to Brazil, do not act like a tourist. It's not safe.

[lark]

94. My daughter is married to a Brazilian.

She's told me things like you don't wear jewelry there, take off your wedding set and don't take expensive purses because you will get robbed and could be hurt.

Her mother in law comes here once a year and doesn't speak much English, that's the main reason for this. Besides our maid is Brazilian and I like to try and talk her language to her too and it will certainly help when we eventually go there - if it is ever safe again.

[FailureToCommunicate]

89. Yup. The kids and grandkids of these hateful types...

[msfiddlestix]

90. You are correct about everything except: "Most Americans did not" see what you saw.

I would argue that is simply not true that most Americans didn't see all of things and more. Cuz most Americans did see the same thing and worse.

But yeah, everything else I do agree.

[Paladin]

98. I always knew that trump was a toxic influence.

1/6 showed just how toxic he really is. We must prevent him and his hordes from regaining political and social power. Whatever it takes.