I Cogitate
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The Greatest Threat To Democracy Is...
Public ignorance.
Willful or not.
This is our greatest threat--greater than terrorism, greater than nuclear proliferation, greater than environmental degradation.
Public ignorance gets at the very heart of governance.
For out of ignorance comes dangerous, inadequate, mistaken and harmful responses to our many challenges, or worse, no responses whatsoever.
In Robert F. Kennedy's recent book, "Crimes Against Nature," he quotes from a 2004 survey conducted by PIPA (the Program on International Policy), a program operated by the Washington D.C.-based Center on Policy Attitudes and the University of Maryland-based Center for International and Security Studies:
- 75% of Bush re-election supporters believed that Iraq was providing substantial support to al-Qaeda
- 72% of Bush re-election supporters believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
- 82% of Bush supporters erroneously believed either that the rest of the world felt better about the U.S
- Most Bush supporters believed the Iraq war had strong support in the Islamic countries.
- Most significant, the majority of Bush re-election voters agreed with Kerry supporters that if Iraq did not have WMD and was not providing assistance to Al-Queda the U.S. should not have gone to war
- Furthermore, most Bush supporters, according to PIPA, favored the Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming, the Mine Ban Treaty to ban land mines, and strong labor and environmental standards in trade agreements, and wrongly believed that their candidate favored these things.
Harried and hurried lives is certainly a contributing factor.
A dearth of inquisitiveness has to be factored in.
The need of some people to HAVE to believe a certain way as a rock steady underpinning for their lives creeps in here.
Dare I type it but a plain lack of intelligence is also part and parcel of the problem.
No, this isn't some condescending, talk-down-to-the-masses blue-stater spouting off at the inanity of the unwashed proletariat.
What this is is fraudalent governance, built upon deceit and deception, being consumed and ratified by many who choose to believe, choose to ignore, choose not to care.
Some people are just incapable. Some are very capable. Some would accept and 'see' reality and authenticity if truly provided such.
But how to go about reaching the latter individuals is the unfathomable part.
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