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Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
The Atlantic ^ | April 11, 2022 | Jonathan Haidt

Posted on 04/14/2022 7:04:08 AM PDT by BurgessKoch

What would it have been like to live in Babel in the days after its destruction? In the Book of Genesis, we are told that the descendants of Noah built a great city in the land of Shinar. They built a tower “with its top in the heavens” to “make a name” for themselves. God was offended by the hubris of humanity and said:

Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.

The text does not say that God destroyed the tower, but in many popular renderings of the story he does, so let’s hold that dramatic image in our minds: people wandering amid the ruins, unable to communicate, condemned to mutual incomprehension.

The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America in the 2010s, and for the fractured country we now inhabit. Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


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1 posted on 04/14/2022 7:04:08 AM PDT by BurgessKoch
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To: BurgessKoch

Liberalism. That’s what has destroyed America.


2 posted on 04/14/2022 7:12:16 AM PDT by jmacusa (America. Founded by geniuses. Now governed by idiots. )
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To: BurgessKoch

10? Someone is being too kind. The stoopid has been in place a lot longer than that.


3 posted on 04/14/2022 7:18:35 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: jmacusa

I won’t blame FB as the sole problem, but the structure of social media is responsible for most of this. As the writer mentions, the weakness of democracy is that emotions can get ahead logical thought. The immediacy of social media allows this. I don’t care what the Kardashians think, but millions do.

For many, it’s too easy to let FB decide what you should think.


4 posted on 04/14/2022 7:23:40 AM PDT by Not_Who_U_Think
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To: BurgessKoch

The abandonment of the Constitution on Usurpation Day is why we live in this clown world.


5 posted on 04/14/2022 7:26:09 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin ( (Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents)(Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: BurgessKoch

It’s only been 19 years since Lawrence v Texas was handed down. The Left has three sacred cows: murder of innocents; culture of grievances; faggotry.

But in the end all to Faggotry they surrender.


6 posted on 04/14/2022 7:27:32 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Lurkinanloomin

The Constitution was kicked to the curb by FDR and company long before that.


7 posted on 04/14/2022 7:28:20 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Not_Who_U_Think

👍


8 posted on 04/14/2022 7:33:16 AM PDT by Ikeon (The truth wont dent a persons argument who wants to believe a lie)
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To: BurgessKoch

Long but well written. I agree with his points that we are less tolerant of other opinions and we should be more willing to engage in dialog with others who may not agree with us.


9 posted on 04/14/2022 7:34:33 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
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To: BurgessKoch
When I was a kid, ladies in movies were depicted with class, morals and poise. Doris Day. Lauren Bacall. Grace Kelly. And America's girls used them as role models.

Then came that foul mouthed commie whore Jane Fonda. And she became role model to America's girls.

That's what destroyed America. Not necessarily just that foul mouthed whore Jane Fonda, but the deliberate elimination of morals, values and ethics.

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers-- and it was not there... in her fertile fields and boundless forests-- and it was not there... in her rich mines and her vast world commerce-- and it was not there... in her democratic Congress and matchless Constitution-- and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” Around 1840 by Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, a book which was assigned to the entire Republican freshman class of the 104th congress.

10 posted on 04/14/2022 7:39:35 AM PDT by LouAvul
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To: All

Let’s all say it together: Communism. Our enemy is communism, pure and simple. Don’t whitewash it by calling it “liberalism” or trying to tease it into several different strands.

It’s all the same thing.

Communism. It’s communism. Destroy communism and suddenly all those other things will become insignificant.

And yeah, like one poster said: Try 70 or 80 years, not 10 years. It started in academia, which is still its main promoter, but now inhabits every branch of our daily lives.

Don’t be afraid to call it what it is: It’s communism.

Trying to analyze it is a mistake, like walking into a dark and unknown tunnel without fresh batteries for your flashlight in your pocket. It’s been with us long enough: We know what it is.


11 posted on 04/14/2022 7:43:22 AM PDT by Scarlett156 (Want to see people acting freaky? Cruise by my house on Easter. Angry mob will probably be forming.)
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To: LouAvul

I disagree, respectfully.

I think what has lead us down the path we are on today is the complete failure of our government due to constant lies; the Military Industrial Complex—sucking dollars out of our economy and putting on a constant war path; the failure of our families, which has created a few generations of emotion-driven children who expect the world to care about them.

The combination of these things, plus the degradation of our religious foundation, causes the issues you describe. Significant religious leaders acting the fool; and the complete mess that the catholic church has become has contributed to these things.

Without a Father in the home and the social stigma that used to be associated with doing stupid things we are a rudderless society at the micro level.


12 posted on 04/14/2022 7:44:15 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: BurgessKoch

Bkmk


13 posted on 04/14/2022 8:21:15 AM PDT by kelly4c
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To: Scarlett156

Communism and militant homosexual depravity.

Homo-marriage should be overturned. Put them back in the closet where they belong.


14 posted on 04/14/2022 8:30:32 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus (Fauci is a murderer)
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To: BurgessKoch

We became a screen culture while also being the fattest, most comfortable and passively entertained people that have ever existed.

Freegards


15 posted on 04/14/2022 8:38:45 AM PDT by Ransomed
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To: Flavious_Maximus

That’s what I was pointing out: It’s all part of the same thing. Homosexuality - like other risky behaviors, drug abuse, for example - doesn’t flourish in a free society because most free people aren’t that tolerant of it. It has to be encouraged and nourished by socialism BECAUSE it contributes to the downfall of a free society. Socialists always have a use for fringe types; homosexuals, and all other sorts of malcontents, always come in very handy (LOL) for those pushing an agenda.

It’s all part of the same big, ugly animal that is communism.


16 posted on 04/14/2022 8:50:33 AM PDT by Scarlett156 (Want to see people acting freaky? Cruise by my house on Easter. Angry mob will probably be forming.)
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To: LouAvul

To me the three worst things that has happened in the US has been the removal of the Hays Code for movies, the SCOTUS opening a Pandora’s box when they legalized abortion and porn.


17 posted on 04/14/2022 9:33:38 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (BACK in Facebook jail for posting a euneuch does not voluntarily submit to surgery like a tranny)
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To: Ransomed

***the fattest, most comfortable and passively entertained people that have ever existed.***

I have read that when the Vandals broke down the gates of ROME the people were in the Colosseum watching gladiators slaughter each other.


18 posted on 04/14/2022 9:37:04 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (BACK in Facebook jail for posting a euneuch does not voluntarily submit to surgery like a tranny)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

“we should be more willing to engage in dialog with others who may not agree with us.”

I refuse to engage in dialog with people who want to steal my stuff, silence my speech, take away all of my rights, and kill me if necessary.

There is nothing to discuss.

Politics is about who, not what.


19 posted on 04/14/2022 9:37:58 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Our modern version of bread and circuses puts the Roman version to shame in many ways. We have actually made the poorest people the most likely to be obese, something the Romans couldn’t even imagine as possible. And you can be entertained by a screen from pretty much anywhere.

Freegards


20 posted on 04/14/2022 10:59:55 AM PDT by Ransomed
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