General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why I am taking a break from DU. [View all]Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)Trump's election reflects a virulent anti-intellectualism that I fear is on the rise and can only lead to disaster. Look at how so many Rs complained about Obama being like a professor. Oh, god forbid the president of the United States should sound intelligent.
Of course, on the other hand, they also said the Constitutional scholar we elected was stupid and should "read the Constitution." So, logical thinking skills, not their strongest point. They are easily manipulated by appeals to their basest instincts such as tribalism and emotionalism. Facts, not so much.
My only hope, and this is perhaps in agreement with you, that there were a lot voters without whom Trump would have lost, who voted for him simply because they fell for the piles of misinformation fed to them. And this I hope only because it means that maybe, just maybe, not all of them are too far gone to ever "learn" anything that is not confirmed for them by the RW propaganda machine.
But, in many cases, for instance in the case of my RW relatives, it is not even that they have been misinformed. It is some kind of a primitive mind set that causes them to want to believe the lies the RW has been telling them. I'm not sure that can be changed.
What I do know is that unless the Democratic party and supporting organizations take the problem of the RW propaganda machine far more seriously and be willing to put massive resources into fighting back with a similar, but hopefully less sensationalist, dishonest apparatus, any chance of an objective reality agreed upon by factual proof, is gone forever. And then, the RW can't lose.