...And guess who they blame
An exclusive Harris poll commissioned by The Guardian shows that 55% of Americans believe that the US economy is shrinking.
Obviously you should go and read the entire article here. I'll just add my 2 cents.
In the article, John Gerzema, CEO of Harris, concludes: “What Americans are saying in this data is: ‘Economists may say things are getting better, but we’re not feeling it where I live’”
I'm not sure I agree.
First, while I do not doubt the professionalism of Harris, I feel that all polls suffer greatly from the lack of sincerity of the respondents in a highly partisan era. I simply no longer trust people to answer a poll honestly.
But beyond that, I also believe we have an increasingly ignorant or uneducated and gullible population. In other words, America is growing dumber. I'll quote a few stats gleaned from Quora:
Two-thirds of millennials and four in 10 Americans overall don’t know what Auschwitz was; 49 percent of millennials were unable to name a single concentration camp or ghetto, compared to 45 percent of adults.
37 percent could not name a single right protected by the Bill of Rights, and only 26 percent could name all three branches of government (a big slip from 2011, when 38 percent aced that question).
Let's not even touch Science: my old favorite remains this: one in four Americans thinks the sun orbits the Earth, according to a National Science Foundation study. 34 percent of Americans reject evolution entirely.
The Birthers… The Antivaxxers… We have lost the information war. Contrary to the beliefs of those who crafted the First Amendment, “bad” information has won over “good” information. At best, “static” drowns out everything, good and bad.
I don't pretend to have an answer to this problem. In the long-term, we need better education, of course. In the short-term, the only remedy I can think of is this : increase the volume. Turn on the loudspeaker to max. Just because we're right and we have the facts on our side is no longer enough. We have to blitz all the available “channels". Like in EVEN STEVEN, whoever screams the loudest and the longest wins.
I don’t like it; I don't even want to live in that world; but it is clear the old paradigms of the 20th century no longer works. We better do something before we sink.
