Far East Cynic

Exhibit A…

As to why we live in a world where Sarah Palin is viewed as anything but useless:

This is from a Pew Center poll that shows again-what I have been saying for months. 50% of the electorate can’t be bothered to vote and of the remaining 50% only about 20% of us have any reasonable command of the facts.

And we wonder why we get the government we do.

It does explain why people robo-vote Sarah Palin’s daughter onto Dancing with the Stars and why Glenn Beck even has a job.

We are so screwed.

  1. Perhaps the question should be WHY don’t they know these facts?
    Willful ignorance?

  2. Skippy, many folks have lives to lead and they don’t track the current events like some do. To call them stupid is not fair, ignorant of the facts may be more suitable.

    If that poll was taken here in Japan, you would probably get the same results. People here don’t even know their own history (you have said so yourself in speaking about the SO and her knowledge of what happened in WWII. So I am sure that they couldn’t tell you things that the Japanese politicians are involved in, but they could give you the run down on the latest “talento” and which sumo wrestler was found with a joint.

    If the news (mainstream media) were actually honest and presented both sides other than just being so partisan (either left or right) then maybe people would get honest information. But I don’t see the print media or the broadcast channels doing that anytime soon.

  3. Then if that is true-we are not so “exceptional” are we?

    There are media outlets that present the facts and both sides ( or all four sides which is more often the case). They just are not Fox News or MSNBC. Or Drudge. Or the American Spectator.

    A democracy rises and falls on the informedness of its electorate.

  4. Skippy, we are “exceptional” in the fact that you have a better chance of rising out of your caste that you were born in than in most countries around the world. If you were born an Ainu in Japan, then you pretty much are stuck with that, just about the same as if you didn’t get a chance to go to the proper elementary or high school and thus not get a chance to move out of your caste to the upper tier schools in Tokyo.

  7. I never understand people who say they are “not interested in politics”. How can you not be interested in what other people are doing to your life? Are they not interested in whether the economy will drive them out of work, or how much tax they have to pay, or whether their kids get a good education, or whether they can afford health care if they get sick. or how long the emergency services will take to arrive if their house catches fire, or whether another country will attack theirs? These are all political questions.