this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2026
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[–] sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 362 points 1 day ago (3 children)

America isn't like this because Trump is president

Trump is president because America is like this

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 17 points 21 hours ago

The truth many Americans don't want to hear.

Trump is a mirror.

[–] Prairie_Madness@lemmy.world 172 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Decades of stripping education funding is taking its toll

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

You say that like some of the most educated people in the country don't consistently vote Republican.

This idea that earning a MBA or a JD or an MD makes your politics good is completely wrong. The idea that failing to earn a HS Diploma makes you unqualified to vote is equally dogshit.

Politics is a consequence of your social affinity and your material conditions. You don't just take a class and become a liberal Democrat if your grade is high enough.

[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, but ceteris paribus, an educated electorate is going to make better decisions. Or rather, the number of obviously bad decisions rejected is increased as knowledge of history and concepts deems them unworkable. Society exists.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

an educated electorate is going to make better decisions

I have seen no evidence to this effect. Consider South Africa under Apartheid. Once an individual realized how they benefited from systematic oppression of those below them, more and more fell in line. It is the "uneducated" underclass that made the revolution possible. And it was only possible through a strong social network that defied the "educated" understanding of micro-ethnicities that the Apartheid government sought to entrench.

Same with Israel. You've got tons of educated professionals in that country who are explicitly and knowingly there to participate in a genocide. The Palestinian opposition has no education infrastructure. They can only resist through social cohesion and trust networks predicated on faith.

The UK, another excellent example. A massive university system that largely exists to reproduce neoliberal ideological beliefs in a population that manages a predatory financial system and an arms export industry.

[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Yes, if you cut off those two proceeding words then hyper focus on a few examples (which have become examples of bad when once they were the norm- sort of making my point for me) without global or historic context, you've really made a strong case. Meanwhile, more people living in more places today have a better standard of life in more just nations than at any point in history and it correlates to increases in education.

[–] 5318008@lemmy.ml 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

This idea that earning a MBA or a JD or an MD makes your politics good is completely wrong

Well, on average.. it does.

You don't just take a class and become a liberal Democrat if your grade is high enough.

No, but being intelligent is correlated with both of these things. Dumb people are more easily tricked by right wing talking points. Dumb people also don't get good grades. Smart people are, for whatever reason, more likely to agree with liberal or leftist talking points. Smart people are also more likely to get high grades.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Well, on average… it does.

The Republican majority in Congress, the SCOTUS, and the White House all have advanced degrees.

[–] 5318008@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Average. On average, people with degrees are more liberal/leftist. As a group. Separate the degrees from the non-degrees, and measure their liberalism/leftism, and find which group has the higher average. Average.

Average.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s worse than that. Everyone has been brought up to be a narcissistic consumer and they approach public policy the same way.

[–] Prairie_Madness@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The amount of times I've heard "why should I pay taxes for school, my kids are grown" is way too damn high

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago

I became so disappointed in my grandmother when I was in high school when she expressed this attitude. I couldn’t understand why it mattered as children still needed school.

[–] EntheoNaut@lemmy.ml 62 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Idiocracy was the game plan all along.

[–] BooBees@fedinsfw.app 17 points 1 day ago

It was idiocy all along.

Signed - a native whose ancestors talked at length and wrote down (or had someone else write down) how dumb they were in the very beginning, before there was even a nation

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago

well trump like strippers.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That's not the issue at all. It's the curriculum, the no child left behind act implementation, and the overall indoctrination and corruption of a system of government that rewards the rich.

Most schools get plenty of money and just blow it on things they don't need. Buildings way too fancy and overpriced educational subscriptions to crap, instead of spending it on more teachers and teacher salary. The money is plenty there. None of the rich fucks get a cut from cheaper buildings and teacher payrolls.

[–] Prairie_Madness@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Stripping education doesn't necessarily mean money. The GOP has waged an all out war on knowledge over the last few decades. Hell Fox News was recently saying "colleges make liberals" despite the fact that all the people saying it had college degrees.

No Child Left Behind gas been terrible. And I agree that money needs to go to teachers, not admins

[–] WoodYouLookAtThat@lemmy.today 3 points 17 hours ago

I'm in my mid 30s and Fox News was saying that colleges make liberals when I was in middle school.

Probably even before that, I was just too young to notice

[–] MrGeneric@lemmy.today 2 points 16 hours ago

Fox News was recently saying "colleges make liberals" despite the fact that all the people saying it had college degrees.

Wait, Jesse Waters has a college degree?

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

They use their money on the sports stuff because they can sell it.

[–] fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You'd rather have uneducated strippers?

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 1 points 17 hours ago

When the economy goes to shit, the practical trades are the great bastion of the working person. Strippers will thrive.

.../s? 🤔

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

That's the best kind

[–] deacon@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It a fair and accurate criticism and it probably shouldn’t have snuck up on us like this.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For those of us watching this ramp up from the 90s into the 2000s and the Tea Party and the 2010s.... it… really wasn't a shock.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Exactly. I gave up hope when W was elected a second time after an abysmal presidency and terrible performance in the debates prior.

[–] mifan@feddit.dk 8 points 1 day ago

I honestly thought that W was the lowest you could go. But in comparison with the current president you somehow wish you could at least go back to that level of presidency. Much bad to be said about him, but at least he was gentleman with respect for other people, institutions and the constitution.