In Ex-Steel City, Voters Deny Race Plays a Role
LATROBE, Pa. ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ Ask whom she might vote for in the coming presidential primary election and Nash McCabe, 52, seems almost relieved to be able to unpack the dossier she has been collecting in her head. It is not about whom she likes, but more a bill of particulars about why she cannot vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois…. “How can I vote for a president who won’t wear a flag pin?” Mrs. McCabe, a recently unemployed clerk typist, said in a booth at the Valley Dairy luncheonette in this quiet, small city in western Pennsylvania. Mr. Obama has said patriotism is about ideas, not flag pins…. “I watch him on TV,” Mrs. McCabe said. “I keep looking for that lapel pin.”
Just about the time I begin to wonder if perhaps I haven’t been a bit too hard on the (lack of) collective intellectual agility of the American Sheeple, we’re treated to good, hard working White Folk of Latrobe. PA. Yikes…the “I ain’t got nuthin’ against coloreds…Hell, they got coloreds at work, and we get along just fine” latent racist ethic is almost palpable, isn’t it? Combine that with a collective IQ that seems to hover in the mid-double digits, and…well, it’s not so difficult to understand how Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © was allowed to steal not one, but TWO presidential elections. More than 54 MILLION people voted for The Worst President EVER © in 2004, which should probably be taken as convincing proof that propaganda not only works, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
I’ve been tempted to make this argument before, but if this doesn’t get you to thinking that there should be a minimum IQ threshold set for voters, I don’t know what will. I’m sorry, Sparky, but if you possess the intellectual agility of a hamster, should you really be determining the future of this country? If you believe something just because you hear a Right-wing talking head utter it on the teevee, I’m not at all certain you should be allowed to close the curtain behind you in a voting booth.
Exhibit A is Nash McCabe. What POSSIBLE difference does it make whether or not Sen. Barack Obama wears a American flag pin? What can that sort of acquiescence to mindless, go-with-the-herd-mentality groupthink possibly indicate about one’s qualifications to be President? If the reaction to 9.11 had been that everyone was expected to goose-step naked to Fur Elise, would Ms. McCabe be wondering why Sen. Obama won’t drop trou? Gimme a break, willya?
I never ceased to be amazed at the willingness of certain segments of the American sheeple (heretofore lovingly referred to as “the middle class” or “the working class”) to give voice to their inner ignoramus when a reporter asks them for an opinion. I don’t expect everyone to have the same interest in politics as people such as myself, nor do I expect everyone to be a genius. Would it be too much to hope for something at least resembling rational thinking to occur before Joe Sixpack opens his mouth and allows the ignorance to flow?
I’m not trying to sound like a snob here, although that’s likely what this will come off as. The problem with stupid people is the fact that too often they don’t know they’re stupid. In fact, they quite often have convinced themselves that they’re quite the intellectual gymnast- despite an eighth-grade education and all the Sunday School a person could ever want. If you can’t be bothered to THINK, if you’re though process is limited to reacting to artificial outside stimuli (i.e.- propaganda)…well, then you belong behind the curtain in a voting booth about as much as I belong in a nuclear physics lab.
What Would Jesus Do? Well, I’m not sure about that, but he’d sure as Hell be wearing his American flag lapel pin, wouldn’t he?
