If it walks like a duck...

[oselle]

...and quacks like a duck, would it be wrong to call it a duck?

Your average Main Street conservative here in America often complains that "elites" (i.e., educated city folk) unjustifiably ridicule them for being stupid. The Republicans and leaders of the conservative movement have gotten an awful lot of mileage out of this. I have genuinely made an effort not to see conservatives as stupid people but then I read a quote like the following, from an Arkansas woman named Audrey Loewer:

Obama did not get her vote, either. "I don't know what will happen to people around here if he puts restrictions on guns," Audrey says. "Me and Wayne, we're lucky, we have jobs. With the tight economy, there's gonna be more thefts.

"You see people come in here, you can watch how they buy. They fill up two or three baskets when the check comes in at the first of the month. Then they'll come in at the end of the month and you see Vienna sausages and Spam in their cart. They'll load up on bread."

Okay so...Republicans destroy the economy and people, by Loewer's own admission, can barely afford to eat because of it. Hunger (caused by Republican-destroyed economy) may drive people to theft. Therefore, Loewer votes Republican because her big concern is that she'll need a gun to protect herself from all the people driven into poverty by the Republican economy.

How can I not call anyone who thinks like this stupid? This woman is stupid. She is dangerously stupid. Audrey Loewer of Arkansas is a stupid, stupid, stupefyingly STUPID woman and it's stupid like this that has almost brought America to its knees.

And you know what? Not just stupid but callous and cruel, too. She sees that by the end of every month people in her community are reduced to subsisting on bread and Spam and her response is...get me my gun? Is that "compassionate conservatism" in action? I'll bet on top of seeing herself as quite smart, this stupid bitch also considers herself a real fine Christian, a great American and a genuinely good person.

Read more stupid here.

Comments

[janissa11.livejournal.com]

::deep sigh:: What kills me about the US the past, I dunno, 8+ years, is that it seems to me that everything that's going badly these days -- and really, I mean just about EVERYTHING -- can be traced back to not only a total lack of rational thought, reasoning, but to the rampant vilification of intelligence. If there is one true legacy of the Shrubbery Years, I think it is exactly that: the popularization of stupidity.

Well, and the canonization of greed, but that's something we can lay initially at Reagan's feet, really.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I think there's always been this side of American culture that has elevated the "common sense thinking" of the average Joe over education and thoughtful intelligence, but modern conservatives really learned how to wield this as a weapon. I'd say it reached its apex in Sarah Palin, a woman who literally had nothing to offer but her supposed small-town common sense. It gives me great hope that the American people not only soundly rejected the halfwit hockey-mom but also embraced a man who is well educated and seems profoundly intelligent.

Then again, the mere fact that "Joe the Plumber" is in Israel playing war correspondent for a conservative blog shows that the glorification of stupid isn't going away for good.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, wow, that's some scary thinking to unpack. She can't vote for Obama because he'll take away the gun she needs to shoot hungry shoplifters. Guess those are those small town values I'm always hearing about?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yep, nothin' says small-town values like fillin' yer hungry neighbors fulla lead. As Sarah Palin said, we sure do grow good people in our small towns.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

*shudders*

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's scary.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

considers herself a real fine Christian, a great American and a genuinely good person.

It never fails to amaze me that people are able to justify the most heinous behavior in their own minds, and still believe they are good people.

I'm sure Bush believes he's done well and that he is a good man, even though he's permitted atrocities to be committed by Americans that in the past would have aroused the American people to wrath against the perpetrators of torture and unjustified aggression.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

I was listening to Sean Hannity on the radio the other day. He has adopted "great American" as some sort of slogan. His callers greet him with "Hi Sean, you're great American!" and Sean answers "Why thank you and YOU're a great American too!" The implication is that I -- and 70 million other Americans -- are not really American.

I won't comment on "fine Christian."

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Being an American doesn't make us great. The way we try to be citizens of the world and members of the human race are what make us worthy, and not many of us make a good job of it, much less a "great" one. And I'm including myself in there. I'm selfish and not as tolerant and giving as I should be. But at least I know it, and I try to do better.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the imperfect club! I'm a charter member. I teach the imperfect classes and fail the tests. Basically, I suck. :-)

I don't think that's quite what they mean by "great" American. It doesn't mean Americans are great people. Hannity is trying to say that those who are great at BEING American are the truck-drivin' gun-totin' church-goin' down home folk. City slickers are not Americans -- they are damn godless librul hippes.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think you're right about that. But, hey, I'm from Kentucky, my daddy was a miner, and neither he or my mom ever finished school. I never went to college because there just wasn't enough money. But I've been an avid reader all my life and I've tried my best to learn every day, and to look at people as people, not as colors or religions or genders. I'm not a city slicker, I'd be lost in a city, but I don't think I'm a redneck either. I'm not a church-goer, but I don't try to tell anyone else what to believe. And I believe there are a lot more Americans like me, who want to see us all come together and be one country of many different people who can get along because it makes us stronger.

It doesn't have anything to do with where you come from. It's what you decide to do with what you have.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I want this administration to succeed primarily because my God, it needs to, but a really nice side effect would be seeing the Sean Hannitys of the media getting pushed further and further to the fringes. I'd like to see "great Americans" relegated to the netherworld of public access TV where they belong.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Bush believes he's done well and that he is a good man

I think Bush not only believes he did an outstanding job but is both mystified and really pissed off by the apparent ingratitude of the American people. His performance during that disastrous last press conference betrayed nothing less than a spoiled brat who peevishly doesn't understand why everyone doesn't think he's as awesome as he does.

[vshendria.livejournal.com]

You are so right. The older I get, the more certain I am that it is a mistake to tolerate certain kinds of opinions. Not all opinions are equal...I think that's another idea that the Republicans like to run with. "But it's my opinion/belief/culture."
That doesn't excuse you from using your brain.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The conservative-driven mandate that the press be "fair and balanced" has very effectively thrown truth and reality under the bus. Because you know what? Sometimes, there AREN'T two sides to an issue: there's just reality and nonsense. Over the past few years we've had plenty of nonsense, fairy tales and outright lies presented to us as reasonable opinions that deserve to be heard as much as, if not more than, the truth. What we've wound up with are people like the Audrey Loewers of the world who honestly believe that their stupidity deserves respect.