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God must love the stupid. He made so many of them
Capitol Hill Blue ^ | February 4, 2003 | DOUG THOMPSON

Posted on 02/04/2003 2:55:10 PM PST by Willie Green

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

If there´s one thing dealing with the public at large for 30 years has taught me, it is the sad fact that too many people out there are dumb, ignorant and full of hate.

Tonight Show host Jay Leno has a running game show parody that features a bunch of Gen-X´ers brought in off the street and asked questions like “When was the War of 1812 fought?” The closest answer was “1776?”

A recent poll asked 1,000 Americans to name the Vice President of the United States. More than 600 could not. More people could name Osama bin Laden as the leader of al Qaeda than knew Dick Cheney was Vice President of the United States.

On Saturday, the last piece of debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia had not hit the ground before idiots everywhere started screaming the accident was (1) a terrorist attack or (2) part of some grand conspiracy by our elected officials to divert money from the space program and into the coming war with Iraq or (3) any other theory just as loony.

Terrorist attack? Yeah, right. A bunch of al Qaedas who live in caves and use box cutters to hijack planes have suddenly come up with the technology to knock something moving at Mach 17, 205,000 feet up, out of the sky. The U.S. has spent billions on “Star Wars” technology and still can´t do it.

John Diaz, editorial page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, looked over the crackpots who sent letters to his paper after Columbia went down and shook his head. Most of his mail came from crazies.

“Even more startling was the cynical, even hateful, tone of many of the letters.” Diaz said. “The outtakes were considerably harsher and more jaded than the selection we printed.”

One letter writer to the Chronicle said the Columbia accident stemmed from a secret government plot to “sabotage the mission to direct future finances away from NASA to further the military industrial complex.”

“A recurring theme,” Diaz said “was resentment that Bush would somehow exploit the tragedy for political gain.

“One letter speculated that Palestinians would be ‘dancing in the streets´ upon hearing of the deaths of the U.S. and Israeli astronauts. Another wondered why television was showing ‘so much empathy´ for the deaths of agents of two countries who were responsible for ‘uncounted Palestinian deaths, every day´ in the occupied territories.

“A Livermore man actually questioned whether the accident was the result of a shuttle crew that ‘looks like America.´ He suggested the women and minority astronauts were given ‘bonus points´ in the selection process. Never mind the advanced degrees, the years of public service, the uncommon bravery that distinguished these seven astronauts. And never mind that there has been absolutely no suspicion of pilot error.”

We get the same kind of hate-filled, conspiracy-theory-laden letters from the great unwashed masses every day. Most of these expressions of ignorance are filled with misspelling, grammatical errors and other proof of the failings of the public education system.

“Perhaps it is idealistic to assume that a tragedy would prompt us to draw on our common humanity, rather than to trigger unprovoked animus based on racial, national or political differences,” Diaz said. “And these were not anonymous tirades. The above e-mails were sent for publication, with names, addresses and phone numbers.”

No, it is not idealistic to expect a shred of humanity or even a touch of intelligence from the masses.

But it is unrealistic.

It´s all too easy to hate. It´s all too easy to mistrust. It´s all too easy to jump to conclusions without a single shred of evidence. Our elected officials do it every day. Any idiot can.

Some blame this ignorant paranoia on 9-11 but these hate mongers, bottom feeders and rumor spreaders have been with us for much longer.

Long before the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, these candidates for the loony bin claimed a missile brought down TWA flight 800 over Long Island Sound, the CIA killed President John F. Kennedy and that Elvis was alive and well and living in Costa Rica.

People like this used to hide their identities under white sheets. Now they run racist computerized bulletin boards and use anonymous “handles” to flood these boards or emails with their own blend of hate, ignorance and paranoia. It´s easy to spread hate from behind a cute screen name but you have to wonder how many of the gutless wonders would step up to the plate if they had to use their real names.

Not many, I suspect, even though John Diaz found a surprising number willing to use their names, addresses and phone numbers on the hate correspondence sent to his newspaper.

But I´d bet most of these hate-spewing idiots would crawl back under their rocks rather than stand up and spread their ignorance under their real name.

Then again, maybe most of them don´t even know how to spell their real name.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 02/04/2003 2:55:10 PM PST by Willie Green
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To: Willie Green
One letter writer to the Chronicle said the Columbia accident stemmed from a secret government plot to “sabotage the mission to direct future finances away from NASA to further the military industrial complex.”

“A recurring theme,” Diaz said “was resentment that Bush would somehow exploit the tragedy for political gain.

And I bet a good portion of them, infact a large majority of them came from DUers. The message board is littered with thread after thread saying such things.

2 posted on 02/04/2003 2:58:44 PM PST by Phantom Lord (No Remorse)
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To: Willie Green
these candidates for the loony bin claimed a missile brought down TWA flight 800 over Long Island Sound

So what's your explanation?

3 posted on 02/04/2003 2:59:13 PM PST by AdamSelene235
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To: Willie Green
I believe the technical term for what these folks are doing is "wasting oxygen."
4 posted on 02/04/2003 3:02:43 PM PST by Poohbah (Beware the fury of a patient man -- John Dryden)
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To: Willie Green
Long before the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, these candidates for the loony bin claimed a missile brought down TWA flight 800 over Long Island Sound, the CIA killed President John F. Kennedy and that Elvis was alive and well and living in Costa Rica.

Permit me to say that there are different degrees of probability in these scenarios. In all probability, a missile brought down TWA flight 800. It's not certain, but the preponderance of the evidence makes it plausible. I'll pass on the other theories.

I don't put it past the government to do some pretty conspiratorial things--especially when a mobster and felon like clinton inhabits the White House. The question is: is there any evidence for these alleged shuttle plots? Any likelihood? Any plausible motive? In a word, no.

When Ron Brown's plane crashed there were numerous discrepancies, numerous pieces of solid evidence, plausibility, a well-published threat, and a pattern of previous crimes that linked the crash to clinton. In the case of the space shuttle, none of these elements apply.

5 posted on 02/04/2003 3:08:38 PM PST by Cicero
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To: Willie Green
"Long before the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, these candidates for the loony bin claimed a missile brought down TWA flight 800 over Long Island Sound..."

So let me see, is this Doug Thompson guy equating people who believe TWA 800 was brought down by a missile with the other wackjobs he describes in this article ?

6 posted on 02/04/2003 3:14:08 PM PST by slouper
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To: Cicero
In all probability, a missile brought down TWA flight 800.

No, but thanks for playing kook-a-luke.

7 posted on 02/04/2003 3:14:17 PM PST by jlogajan
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To: slouper
So let me see, is this Doug Thompson guy equating people who believe TWA 800 was brought down by a missile with the other wackjobs he describes in this article ?

Everybody is equating TWA800 missile nutcakes to "these other wackjobs." Get used to it. If the shoe fits ...

8 posted on 02/04/2003 3:15:26 PM PST by jlogajan
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To: Phantom Lord
littered

Excellent description. Rush is a racist and hate radio but they reserve the right that Bush (the guy they think is a moron) is in charge of ciminal enterprise spanning generations that puts the Bildebergers/Rothchilds to shame.

The recurring theme is always "rights for me, not for those that disagree"

9 posted on 02/04/2003 3:21:48 PM PST by amused (Don't call them liberals, socialists or left wing statists is more like it.)
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To: Willie Green
“Even more startling was the cynical, even hateful, tone of many of the letters.” Diaz said. “The outtakes were considerably harsher and more jaded than the selection we printed.”

You want to see hateful and jaded? Try DU, there's no place worse.

10 posted on 02/04/2003 3:23:05 PM PST by Mike K
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To: Willie Green
Doug had a pretty good column gong there for three paragraphs. Then he got off on the loonies and the whole thing ground to a stop.

Stupids and loonies are two different animals. Doug should know that.

11 posted on 02/04/2003 3:27:37 PM PST by savedbygrace
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To: Willie Green
This morning people were calling the local news radio station (KFBK - Sacramento) asking if there are pieces of the shuttle still falling from the sky.

The traffic reporter had to include in his report that what people were seeing were contrails from aircraft high in the atmosphere and how they were formed.

I'm glad I have a home office and don't have to drive with these people.

12 posted on 02/04/2003 3:29:07 PM PST by steveo ("Officers, officers! There is a man in a Major Domo outfit...")
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To: Willie Green
STUPID KILLS....but not nearly enough
13 posted on 02/04/2003 3:35:16 PM PST by greydog
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To: Willie Green
Terrorist attack? Yeah, right. A bunch of al Qaedas who live in caves and use box cutters to hijack planes have suddenly come up with the technology to knock something moving at Mach 17, 205,000 feet up, out of the sky.

Exactly. These are backwards, primitive people. But yet, we're supposed to fear them because they "threaten our liberty." They may have sucker-punched us on 9-11, but the only entity that threatens our liberties is the one that asks (forces?) us to surrender our rights in order to combat the islamic boogeymen.

14 posted on 02/04/2003 3:45:47 PM PST by Possenti
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To: Willie Green
Yes, there's an abundance of loonies around.

Many hereon seem to think I'm a prime example.




Your post kicked me off on the following rumminations, pontifications . . . thanks for the spring-board.

Given the convoluted mid-stream wrenching of our values in the ongoing culture wars of the last several decades; given the very raging war between God and satan (legally won at Calvary and the empty tomb), there's plenty of room for confusion; blindness; willful blindness; ignorance, willful ignorance; the comfort of sinking into stupidity real and mock; the comfort of going with the lowest-common-denominator-mass-hypnosis-mob-mentality; the deluded comfort of insisting "I know the truth and everyone else is stupid or at best uninformed;" . . .

There's just plenty of room to come off stupid for a variety of reasons.

And, one could add--if my observations on returning after 15 years is any clue--the education system has not been doing real well at teaching thinking, much less critical thinking.

Taipei American school is known as a tough high quality--good college prep school for the industrial, political and cultural elite of the western business/government people as well as Taipei's western business/government people. Yet, a friend of mine graduated with honors--

--and with a 6th grade English vocabulary--as an American missionary kid. He was likeable and great at sports. But sheesh--that was a disservice to the kid. I threw a fit with the head of the English program and she denied any responsibility for the school insisting it was the parents' fault for not reading to him. The point was well taken but I still think the school failed him miserably.

It seems to me the schools here have been doing worse and certainly no better.

God loves the stupid and makes so many of them? He loves the humble. Humility doesn't seem to correlate well with people over-enammoured of their God-given IQ's as though they manufactured their own smarts and bestowed them upon themselves before birth.

But what *IS* SMART?

Is it smart to see an embarrassing extravagance of evidence for design and deny a designer?

Is it smart to see the ages old war between God and satan wind toward the predicted conclusions and pretend life will go on and on as ever with nothing significant happening to one's addictions to pleasure and rebellion?

Is it smart to presume one can outsmart God?

Is it smart to presume that one's exceedingly finite slice of information, of understanding, of wisdom has resulted in a comprehensive unified-field-theory level of understanding of all that is and might be? Oh, people will deny thinking they believe that about themselves. Yet they go on making daily life decisions as though they do.

We are all stupid compared to God.

When God says a given principle or eternal, universal law out ranks a lot of our own personal and finite 'good' ideas and choices--guess who's opinion we rush to flush. All the while congratulating ourselves on our cool smarts and 'with-it' knowledge and understanding.

And, we are all vulnerable to being stupid to most other people IN AT LEAST ONE area of insight, understanding, reality, life and humanness. Indeed, 'Idiot-Savants' do a number of things better than I do with my genius IQ. And children with Downs-Syndrome tend to out-love, out-joy and out-happy all the rest of us.

The reverential AWE over the AWESOMENESS of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Knowledge that avoids starting with IN THE BEGINNING GOD, isn't very significant knowledge--no depth, no breadth, no sufficient 'vision-of-the-whole,' no accurate robust insight into one's own realities.

I was slammed hereon recently for being an "ideologue" --whatever the person thought that meant. I'd be an ignorant, stupid fool to avoid being an ideologue given what I know and have experienced first hand--not to mention the 2nd hand stuff.

Choose this day--Choose Life--especially eternal life. Most choices are in one direction or the other--toward more life or more death--choose life.
15 posted on 02/04/2003 3:49:38 PM PST by Quix (21st FREEPCARD FINISHED)
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To: Willie Green
"We get the same kind of hate-filled, conspiracy-theory-laden letters from the great unwashed masses
every day. Most of these expressions of ignorance are filled with misspelling, grammatical errors and
other proof of the failings of the public education system."


Kind of like reading last Saturday's threads from DU.
16 posted on 02/04/2003 4:41:45 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Willie Green
Excuse me ... GOD does not make people stupid. We're made in HIS image and HE isn't stupid.

I won't even discuss such a stupid subject!!
17 posted on 02/04/2003 4:46:54 PM PST by CyberAnt ( Yo! Syracuse)
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To: Quix
Well, funny this thread gets into the hate and spewing coming from other sites, but this thread is full of hate and spewing.

THANK YOU for having a reply that was intelligent and had a point.

Here's something I think you will like.

WHAT YOU LEARN AFTER YOU KNOW IT ALL IS WHAT REALLY COUNTS!

18 posted on 02/04/2003 4:56:08 PM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: Poohbah
Not only are liberals evil, they're stupid too.
19 posted on 02/04/2003 5:09:42 PM PST by bfree (Liberals are EVIL!!!)
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To: UCANSEE2
YOU ARE RIGHT.

THANKS.

Not sure how many ever get to the point of realizing that they have anything to learn after knowing it all!

20 posted on 02/04/2003 5:46:55 PM PST by Quix (21st FREEPCARD FINISHED)
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