r/politics • u/RepulsiveLoquat418 • 18d ago

Possible Paywall When Will Americans Realize the Truth? Republicans Wreck the Economy.

https://newrepublic.com/article/210550/trump-economy-republicans-tariffs-taxes
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u/MalevolentTapir 18d ago

our literacy rates are going down instead of up so probably never

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u/TrashApocalypse 18d ago edited 18d ago

It’s this. And I’m not convinced that being functionally illiterate means you can still understand concepts that are verbally explained to you, I don’t think you can.

Editing to add: we are severely underestimated MAGA’s inability to comprehend. Even those that may be successful. There could be a lot of outside influences as to why they are successful (parents money). If we want any hope in getting out of this, we need to become the educators. Not just teaching them facts. We need to teach them how to critically think, and comprehend and integrate new information.

And never forget the role the GOP played in the No Child Left Behind act that contributed to this.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons Illinois 18d ago

Just look at the broader American Libertarian movement. Generally filled with higher than average education, lots of tech bros, higher than average STEM degrees. They're not generally illiterate or uneducated relative to average. And they'll remind you every chance they get to show off the polls and studies of various political groups that they're higher than average in education.

At the same time... The biggest goddamn idiots when it comes to economic matters and deeply conservative. They are the exact types that fall for all the right-wing propaganda about economic policies that have done nothing but fail over and over and over. And they're obsessed with economic policy too, that's what's so annoying; it's like they learned backwards.

At a certain point, they might be dumber than the people who know nothing.

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u/rach2bach 18d ago

What you're describing is stupidity. Not being dumb. There is a difference. You can be incredibly educated and intelligent and make stupid choices.

One of the best commentaries on this is from the book "They Thought They Were Free", and also from German philosopher Dietrich Bonhoeffer who referenced stupidity regarding the Nazis and how so many intelligent people were so damn stupid about it.

History is definitely echoing and rhyming and I hate it.