Very astute observations.
I might add that we are witnessing a wave of mental illness sweeping our society.
It seems that millions have lost the ability to process facts with reason. These same people tend to have a highly inflated view of their own intelligence and morals.
I called this years ago, as a teacher. I stated that cell phones were responsible for young people not developing the quality of EMPATHY. Being able to feel what others feel, being able to understand them, value them, being able to deal with the inevitable little fluctuations in relationships is not being learned and practiced.
Why? Because our human to human communication is not merely words; GESTURES and FACIAL EXPRESSIONS make up a lot of our communication. They modify the urgency, the degree, sometimes the entire meaning of what we truly want to impart, just like musical scores are modified in loudness or tempo by markings. Gestures and facial expressions get no real play on cell phones or computers. "Memes" just don't begin to clue the other party in to what you are trying to say.
So--young people with their cell phones glued up to their faces do NOT develop empathy. This leaves them less than human--less able to relate to their fellow humans. And while they are busy texting or playing games or watching movies on their phones--instead of learning to read, write, and reason in school classes, or getting practice at being human by face to face communications--they are becoming more and more future victims of some slick talking "leader", bereft of the tools they really need to evaluate his message. The toys their parents buy them from earliest infancy are now more and more automated instead of allowing imagination to fill in the blanks. Push a button, hear a phrase is now "playing".
They think they can do everything by phone or online; they don't want to get off their duffs to go and investigate things for themselves. Their investigatory instincts are blunted, and their reasoning skills are undeveloped, making them easier to manipulate by someone who claims to "know".
If I go to a restaurant, I cringe to see families squander precious time together with each member's face glued to a cell phone instead of talking to one another and sharing information and feelings. Texting is not total communication, people!
Thus it is no surprise that school systems are churning out waves of half-developed humanly handicapped "graduates", that there is a wave of mental illness in our society as people feel isolated and helpless, that people are more and more dependent on the few dictating how things will be. Animal Farm, we are at the threshold of your door.
Thanks. And true what you said. Logic and reasoning are not natural traits of men. They must be taught, from an early age. Same with empathy. We’re not very far out of the trees. Only in the past 1000 years have logic and reasoning become elevated. Those skills can be lost in a few generations. How long will it take to get it back?
Perhaps it is too late. At least with Trump, we have a shot.