Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: The crown princess of the Ignorati

I have not believed in the efficacy of democracy f...

2008-10-07T12:02:16.244-07:00

I have not believed in the efficacy of democracy for decades. Every election, EVERY one is a contest of whom can pander better to the larger number of whoms. Even the best- intentioned cannot escape the panderfest. The fact that there are so many willfully ignorant in this country is heart-breaking to those of us who love the ideas on which the US was founded (by rational and observant thinkers). I see and hear them every day. We deserve to fail for we are a greedy and perverse people who wallow in self-righteous ignorance. I wish I could leave, but I'm too old and poor to be of any value to any other country.

This concept of the electorate as a bunch of imbec...

2008-10-07T10:33:19.283-07:00

This concept of the electorate as a bunch of imbecilic nose-pickers is exactly why Greek philosophers often hated the concept of democracy as a governing form. They knew the power of the demagogue too well. (Off to sedate myself..having done the Freudian typo of putting DOMogogue down on first draft!)

Cranky McDepends and his sidekick Caribou "Dinosau...

2008-10-06T22:52:06.354-07:00

Cranky McDepends and his sidekick Caribou "Dinosaurs walked the earth with Man 6,000 years ago" Barbie

yup, you betcha

Willful ignorance has plagued societies. One of th...

2008-10-06T18:10:29.953-07:00

Willful ignorance has plagued societies. One of the reasons that despotic governments, Monarchies, and any other authoritarian governments is that people give them the power. People also cling to beliefs very well, look at Constitutional Monarchies. The Monarch is basically a figurehead but is still kept around because it makes people feel good.

The small town I grew up in is a prime example of people clinging to guns, religion, and superstitious beliefs because that is what they know and it makes them feel good to hang on to those beliefs.