Americans Are Dangerously Politically Ignorant -- The Numbers Are Shocking
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/americans-are-dangerously-politically-ignorant-numbers-are-shocking?akid=11928.1084699.voxA4C&rd=1&src=newsletter1003923&t=3&paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmarkHenry Giroux, author of Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism, writes: "It [infantile emotionalism] is perfectly suited for emptying the language of public life of all substantive content, reduced in the end to a playground for hawking commodities, promoting celebrity culture and enacting the spectacle of right-wing fantasies fueled by the fear that the public sphere as an exclusive club for white male Christians is in danger of collapsing. For some critics, those who carry guns to rallies or claim Obama is a Muslim and not a bona fide citizen of the United States are simply representative of an extremist fringe, that gets far more publicity from the mainstream media than they deserve. Of course this is understandable, given that the media’s desire for balance and objective news is not just disingenuous but relinquishes any sense of ethical responsibility by failing to make a distinction between an informed argument and an unsubstantiated opinion."...
Giroux writes: “The United States is a country that is increasingly defined by a civic deficit, a chronic and deadly form of civic illiteracy that points to the failure of both its educational system and the growing ability of anti-democratic forces to use the educational force of the culture to promote the new illiteracy. As this widespread illiteracy has come to dominate American culture, we have moved from a culture of questioning to a culture of shouting and in doing so have restaged politics and power in both unproductive and anti-democratic ways”
In other words, when Republicans say there is no such thing as gravity, and Democrats reply that gravity is real, CNN and the like say, “Look, Democrats and Republicans are fighting again,” which not only exacerbates the nation’s anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism, but also increases the likelihood of extremist views and falsehoods taking hold in the national electorate.
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Ignorance on display:
Ignorance has its advantages for the ruling classes, per Leo Strauss.
In other words, when Republicans say there is no such thing as gravity, and Democrats reply that gravity is real, CNN and the like say, “Look, Democrats and Republicans are fighting again,” which not only exacerbates the nation’s anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism, but also increases the likelihood of extremist views and falsehoods taking hold in the national electorate."
Right on point and sadly we are as a nation so far gone, it unlikely that we ever will come back to any form of political sanity, ever.
is people who recognize the problems of Fox News and flee to other less conspicuous but still corporate-dominated networks and congratulate themselves for having a more balanced or -- heaven forbid -- liberal point of view. All corporate-dominated networks essentially have the same goal: profit. Information is incidental. This is most heart-breaking in the case of people who think they are getting "progressive" views from places like NPR (which I call National rePublican Radio). Have you ever listened to the ads (excuse me, underwriter credits) on NPR? That should given anyone pause.
P.S. Welcome to DU, MaggieD! 
(I see in checking that you've been here far longer than I have! I'm a refugee from another like-minded site. Glad you posted.)
I gave up on TV back in 2007. Useless. Same/similar problem with print media. My solution is to aggregate 10-20 trusted sources (blogs, online newspapers, magazines, DU) to try to read and get a variety of perspectives and then make up my own mind.
Thanks for the welcome (back). 
More than nice.
Fucking TEEF!
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato
