Dear President Obama,
Forgive me for my presumption. I know you have some grasp of Stupid, since you were in the Senate before you were President. And you worked as a Community Organizer, dealing with Chicago city officials, and so forth.
I don't mind how intelligent you are. That's one of the reasons I voted for you!
I also know you were always good in school. You went to a fine college, hung out with academics, and have an intelligent family of your own. You possess an admirable temperament which does not get flustered easily, and a strong faith about bringing out the best in people.
All excellent things which should not change.
But I worry that you might have lost sight of the full Stupid.
Because that's what we are dealing with now.
Explaining on the Flip:
See, Mr. President, when you were campaigning in Pennsylvania, you made what I thought was a most insightful comment. You were trying to explain your troubles with some working-class voters and their frustrations with the economy:
It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
You were right. You got mercilessly raked over the coals for it.
And that's how Stupid works.
I am heartily glad, Mr. President, that you are a successful person who has attained our highest office. I know you had your own struggles growing up. I am sure you encountered racism along the way, which is its own brand of Stupid.
But now, diligently doing your best, surrounded by bright people who hopefully share both your goals and your vision, I worry that, in this crisis, you are both underestimating the Stupid, and frustrated about how to deal with them.
Because the Stupid is very strong right now, and it frightens us. The Stupid has defeated Sensible over and over again. Please don't let it happen here, now.
Having grown up poor in both the Midwest and the South, and now living in the rural NorthEast, I have had to deal with the Stupid more than anyone Sensible would like. I am diarying this in the hope that someone, somewhere, will realize what this crisis needs is some Stupid Insight.
(Just a side note: We might wonder why the Stupid is so overwhelmingly white. Speaking as a white person, I think it's because, as outlined in this diary, Krugman, Dubois, and the "psychic wage" of being white, by hekebolos, White People, socially speaking, can afford to be This Stupid. Minorities have a group cohesive effect from handling racism and prejudice that helps them cope with the constant Stupid that affects their lives. Their elders know they must grow up with an understanding of how Stupid works to make any headway at all. This has a vaccination effect, which helps them avoid being That Stupid. White People are more likely to be Stupid, simply because they have a cushion for Stupidity that minorities cannot afford.)
Stupid Insight #1: Stupid is angry. Always.
Stupid exists on the trembling cusp of full out screeching insanity all the time. Since Stupid doesn't understand anything, and is constantly frustrated.
Since Stupid doesn't understand anything, they are vulnerable to con games of all types. They dimly grasp that their very existence has been gamed into its present miserable state by those who are smarter than them. But instead of ditching the Stupid, the Stupid cling to it and get angrier at Smart People.
Now they don't trust Smart People, who are the only ones who can help them. They dimly grasp that. But it only makes them angrier. Why should they be dependent on those they hate?
So they run right back to the con artists. At least they say the right things, the stuff that appeals to their Stupid Side. With the con artists, they are told it is all the fault of the Smart People, who look down on them. Which brings us to the second Stupid Insight.
Stupid Insight #2: Stupid is on the defensive. Always.
Stupid suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect. Or, as Kurt Vonnegut put it, "The big trouble with dumb bastards is that they are too dumb to know there is such a thing as being smart."
The world is terribly confusing when one is Stupid. So there is the constant search for answers which are simple enough for them to use. This is how they blindly follow ministers, or those who claim to be. This is how they keep on doing the same things that had such a bad outcome before. This is why they are the ones who click on Spam.
Stupid knows others do better with their lives. But it can't be the application of intelligence! It has to be something else.
This fruitless search for Something Else makes them suspicious. They only trust those close to them, or ones those close to them trust. They only trust Other Stupid People.
And they know it doesn't work as well as they would like. That's why they are defensive. They won't trust others who ask them to give up the Stupid.
That is all they have.
Stupid Insight #3: Stupid hates Change. Always.
Giving up the Stupid would be a cataclysmic event. They would lose their friends and some or all of their family. They won't able to stand their Stupid job, which is all they have. Then they won't even have their Stupid home.
So the Stupid... stay Stupid.
Because they are right on the edge as it is! Change always requires giving up something, to make room for the new. They don't feel they have anything to give up. Thus, their leechlike grip on the very things that keep them Stupid.
What can be done?
In all ways, great and small, we must begin a Stupid Outreach Program.
(Of course it falls to us. Doesn't it always?)
Whether it's in our own circle of community, or pushes into our vast institutions, we must consider the Needs of the Stupid in order to reach them. I see three basic principles that could be followed in order to make Stupid Lives better.
That's what we're all about! They just don't know it.
Stupid Principle #1: Keep it Simple. Even Stupid.
Stupid can't do complicated. And they sure don't do nuance. This is how the Republicans communicate with them, isn't it?
Simple, snappy stuff like "The Democrats want to kill Grandma," "Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist," and "They're coming to put you in camps!" Sure, it makes no sense at all. But sense has never been the Stupid's long suit, along with metaphors of any kind.
That's why I knew Kerry would never appeal to Stupid voters. Every time he opened his mouth, he wouldn't close it again until he'd dissected every turn in the road. Sure, he's smart. Stupid hates smart, even more than they hate turns in the road.
Democrats do that kind of thing. Democrats love that kind of thing. But Stupid don't.
So there needs to be a parallel track of Translating into Stupid. Bill Clinton nailed it with, "It's the economy, stupid!" Arrow straight at the target audience. Big Dog knows his Stupid, all right.
So my take on Health Care Reform for the Stupid should be more hammering on the theme of Big Insurance Companies are Ripping YOU Off.
Stupid understands big, faceless companies. Like the kind they work for, and suffer under. Stupid understands being ripped off. It happens to them all the time. Stupid understands YOU means, ME. Stupid only cares about ME and MINE.
Big Insurance Companies are Ripping YOU Off resonates with the Stupid. It's something they can understand.
Don't put any bells or whistles on it. Smart People find their own bells and whistles. Just put it out there, over and over and over and over again.
Because...
Stupid Principle #2: Don't do it for us. Do it for the Stupid.
Face it, Mr. President, you had us at "Hello, I'm the President." You basically have us in your corner, even though at this point, we don't even know what Health Care Reform will turn out to be. That's part of the problem, but we can sail past it. We're not Stupid.
The Stupid stop dead and tune out at the first hem and haw, the slightest bend in the road, the mere implication that something is about to be explained.
So stifle your Inner Professor. Put all that on the website. Smart people will go to the website and find out all that lovely nuance and wonk.
Stupid people won't. They're reassured that it's there; of course, it needs to be there. But rest assured: They will never go there.
Stupid People need to hear the sound bite over and over and over again. Maybe the President can't speak that way; after all, the rest of the world is listening.
This Administration needs a Stupid Spokesperson. Someone who can say the same thing, in the same words, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
And then do it some more.
That's how the Republicans reach the Stupid. We make fun of them for parroting "Tax cuts!" like the stupidest parrot in the world. But they know what works. Stupid is their bread and butter.
It's also something the MSM understand. They say the same Stupid things over and over again. They know their audience. Think Infomercial, where they say 15 seconds worth of stuff in enough different ways to fill thirty minutes.
We're not creating Art here. We're going with what works.
Stupid Principle #3: It's gotta be EASY.
Stupid never knows what to do. They don't know how stuff works. So whatever is being asked of them has to be Dead Easy. Barely functioning brain stem Easy. So Easy ya gotta be Stupid to pass it up.
Watch out for the Sacrifice and Pull Together talk. (Sacrifice! Their whole life has been Sacrifice already!) Talk about what's in it for THEM. If there's going to be Forms involved (Stupid hates Forms the way a vampire hates garlic) hold up a little postcard and talk about how Easy it will be to get on board the Easy Train.
Stupid functions in a netherworld of barely getting by. They are often sub-clinically depressed, and who can blame them? Stymied at every turn, knowing they are being oppressed and ripped off, and struggling with the inescapable fact that any of their efforts to throw off the yoke only mire them deeper in debt and worse off than before. Stupid is constantly trying to contain their frantic anxiety.
That's why, once tapped, it bursts out into spittle-flecked screaming and clutching of guns.
Stupid fears Bureaucracy; that bringer of Forms and guardian of Rules. Aware that they are missing out on Stuff because they don't understand anything, Stupid needs hand-holding every step of the way.
Republicans know this. That's why they herd the Stupid into groups that are told exactly what to do. Stupid loves groups. If they just follow along with the Group, they know they will get somewhere. It might not be where they want to go, but they don't have to worry about being singled out and booted, either.
Stupid takes what they can get.
So any government program must stress Easy. It must explain, over and over again, how Easy it is to do this, and that the Guardians of the Rules will hold their hand every single step of the way.
There will be no turns in this road. There will be explanations if they want them. Stupid won't want them, any more than they will pore over what's on the website. But they want the reassurance that It's There.
In conclusion:
It's become clear that the Republicans have decided to go Full Bore Stupid, that being not only their Base, but the only game left in their town. But Stupid is not only a third of the population, (the 27 percenters.) Stupid reaches further because of the great power in their unthinking Mass.
Just as there is no reasoning with the fire that is consuming our house, there is no reasoning with the Stupid to put down their Stupid Tools and stop being Stupid.
We have reached the limits of persuasion. To truly reach the Stupid, we have to co-opt them. We have to speak to them in their language.
President Obama, being Smart has gotten you a long way. You have achieved much with your reasoning and eloquence. You have moved a great many people with Sensible Explanation and appeals to your listeners' Better Angels.
But, along the way, you have left Stupid in the dust. Leaving them to the present incarnation of the Republicans, who are proudly claiming the Stupid High Ground. We have distilled the Stupid in this way, which is a benefit of sorts.
As the President of all Americans, you are going to have to take the Stupid under your wing, too.
Stupid is not going away.
We may not want the Stupid. We became Progressive Democrats to get away from the Stupid! But the Stupid will always be with us.
We have to find a way of swaying them away from the clutches of the con artists who tell them what the Stupid want to hear while stuffing their con artist pockets with the Stupid's money; and grinding them under their careless heel.
Because if there's one thing Stupid hates more than Smart People, it's Smart People who are in it to con them, not help them. They will take help to get away from the con artists.
They see the whole world as Con Artists, Stupid People, and Stupid People who care enough to rescue them from the Con Artists.
Pick a camp, Mr. President.