US Elections in the 2000s

I’m still trying to wrap my head around this:

With all the post-game analysis, and all the pearl-clutching about the future, it boils down to a simple fact: Americans are fucking stupid children.

Here’s the same voting data but in terms of percentage of the total population:

Not all Americans are eligible to vote, of course, but the outcomes look largely the same in terms of percentage of the population.

It’s a bit interesting that 2008 (Obama v McCain) was, in modern terms, a bit of a landslide. His reelection in 2012 was also reasonably decisive. The Biden v Trump election in 2020 was another clear mandate. Sadly, so is 2024, not so much in the margin of victory but in the downturn of Democrats.

So, all that sound and fury amounted to nothing much at the polls.

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There’s a lot of finger-pointing about what happened, a lot of how “they” are responsible, for myriad values of “they”.

“They” didn’t do anything. We did this to ourselves, and we did it by being stupid and inattentive. We let a much brighter future slip through our fingers.

Humans are stupid, full stop. We always have been — our brains haven’t changed hardly at all in 10,000 years. We’re tribal, violent apex predators (also full stop). It takes years of serious study to rise above that. It begins in kindergarten, and the hope is that after a dozen or so years of study, one learns to be a useful member of society.

That’s the “ought” side, anyway. The “is” doesn’t usually live up to it these days. We’ve devalued education, especially a Liberal Arts education, into uselessness. But for the umpteenth time, I’ll quote Leon Wieseltier from his appearance on The Colbert Report in 2014:

“A democratic society, an open society, places an extraordinary intellectual responsibility on ordinary men and women, because we are governed by what we think, we are governed by our opinions. So, the content of our opinions, and the quality of our opinions, and the quality of the formation of our opinions, basically determines the character of our society.”

Our culture and our general education level have indeed determined the character of our society. This was ten years ago. At the time, the Tea Party — essentially a racist reaction to President Obama — had been around for six years, but we were still a year or so from the Trump card.

Even more frequently have I quoted Wieseltier’s ten-word summary of modern culture:

“Too much digital; not enough critical thinking; more physical reality.”

Three clauses that hit three huge nails squarely on the head.

The interweb revolution brought us unprecedented access to information, but it also brought social media and a miasma of disinformation (and advertising). It’s now an old joke that people spend too much time scrolling and experience life through their phones.

In reducing education to a holding system for children, in not requiring a foundation in the humanities and literature and art, we’re raised at least two generations of people who lack intellectual background and training. For 50 years I’ve ranted about people who can’t rub two thoughts together and come up with an idea.

In our attachment to all manner of Fantasy Bullshit, we’ve lost touch with physical reality. Our biggest movie franchises, the billion-dollar video game industry, much of popular literature, all escapist fantasies. Not just escapist, but arguably childish pursuits, too. Games and playing are a vital part of a rich life, but so are study and learning.

So, yeah, three big nails, and brilliantly summed. I liked it so much I made it into a haiku:

Too much digital;
Critical thinking absent;
Reality lost!

And we do seem, oh, so lost these days.

Lost in fantasy and lost in direction.

Stay sane, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.

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