Welcome to twenty first century America where everyone has an opinion and hardly anyone knows what they are talking about. How did we end up in this mess? We can blame the educational system, the internet or bad parenting but there is still one primary source of information that passively feeds most of the nutballs you meet - the media.
Since the birth of our nation political discussions have taken place in public forums but none so public as the one that makes money from our discontent, the forth estate. It used to be that reporting the events of the day was enough to satisfy viewers but not anymore. Facing our shortened attention spans the media has become more and more brazen in its attempts to capture our interest and loyalty. In fact you might say they've got it down to a science.
OUTRAGE + Monetized Ideologies + Baseless Convictions = Cultural Warfare
The result is a country overrun by political wannabe's. You know who I'm talking about, the people who so rudely slip politics into nearly every conversation. They are filled with anger, always pointing fingers and arguing incessantly despite their lack of understanding. We try our best to be nice to these people, to placate their frustrations but there are just so many of them. Thus begs the question: Are you one of them? Are you politically brainwashed? Read these five clues to see if they apply to you.
5 Clues that you are Politically Brainwashed
1. You HATE a politician - HATE is a very strong word. It's perfectly reasonable to disagree with someone or to dislike them but to HATE them is a whole other level of emotional commitment. HATE is a word most associated with criminals, terrorists and fanatics. HATE is a word that often precedes violence. Do you really HATE that politician? Have you ever met them? Or has the media attributed so many negative associations and bad intentions with said personality that you think you must HATE them?
Being brainwashed means having someone guide your thoughts to their ends. The media needs a dedicated audience to keep making money. If they can get you to HATE a public official, you become a follower of that cult. You will keep coming back to the source of that information. You will fill their enormous bank accounts with HATE money and the cycle will continue.
2. You use FALSE attributions - Liberals and Conservatives are not people, they are ideologies. You can call yourself Liberal or Conservative or Libertarian but that self-attribution doesn't change anything about you, it is paint on a doorknob. You are tall or short, you are male or female, you have hazel eyes and brown hair. These attributions are real, they don't wash off so easily.
Being brainwashed means someone has convinced you to accept and cast FALSE attributions. The media has discovered that if they break the world down into two separate and warring ideologies they can convince you to pick a side. You will become a dedicated cultural warrior. You will cast FALSE attributions on anyone who opposes any part of your ideology. This constant judgement of self and others is both self-defeating and exhausting so you need constant reinforcement from the media to fuel your battles. Each day they will give you a new topic or enemy to rail against.
3. You argue to WIN - Democracy is a sharing of ideas in a public forum to find compromise solutions for our most difficult problems. It is not about winning! If one side conquers the other, it will no longer be a democracy. The same falls true in our personal interactions. Marriage, business, family, all relationships are hinged by our ability to compromise. One of the worst things we can do is enter every conversation with the determination to win!
Being brainwashed means you won't compromise over anything. The media has successfully equated political contests with ideological victories. They use black versus white dichotomies to instill a sense of certainty, uniformity and rigidness in their followers. These people are not arguing to learn or to advance a cause or to persuade others. They argue only to win. This tendency advances nothing. Since there is no true exchange of ideas, the person trying to win simply declares themselves the winner and moves on to attack another person.
4. Your certainty lacks experience - Remember that person who loves to argue? Remember how certain they are of their beliefs and their determination to win? More often then not that person has never worked in government on any level. American politics is one of the most complicated, multi-faceted subjects on the planet. That person might never have studied any aspect of United States history, economics or law. In other words they are operating without a degree. They are building a house without a hammer and nails. They are play acting.
Being brainwashed means you don't know what you are talking about but you think you do. When the media says, "Don't take my word for it, look it up for yourself." You assume that they are being honest so you NEVER look it up for yourself. Here is a little secret that many people don't know - The media has no legal responsibility to tell you the truth. They lie about things all the time but call them facts. They select these facts to further their own cause. The result is an echo chamber that captures weak minds like rats in a maze.
5. No one wants to talk to you - It is simply not polite to talk about politics. Politics are incredibly personal. Granted the issues involved affect many millions of citizens but those conversations happen in public forums, on the floor of state and federal congresses and in the ballot box.
Being brainwashed means that you interject politics into every aspect of your life and do so against the wishes of others. If the Arab guy at the gas station gave you the wrong change, its not because he's an evil Muslim trying to undermine our economy, it's because he made a mistake. If a teacher corrects your child on a test it's not because she's a liberal infecting your daughter with lesbian cooties, it's because your kid is stupid. Let's face it, your kid is stupid because you are stupid.
The biggest reason the media is holding sway over so many people is because the masses have never been the brightest bulbs in the box. Study history and you will find that small groups of educated and dedicated people have always made the biggest difference. If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is this - Being politically brainwashed is only the start of a journey. Many people have their eyes opened by the media but with study over time, they outgrow it. If you don't want to be brainwashed simply shut off the TV, crack open a few books and volunteer during the next election cycle. Your political education won't happen overnight but it will happen and we will all be the better for it. People who are politically brainwashed don't help anyone except their media overlords. People who are politically educated can help make life a little better for us all.
By the way, if you think this article was written by a Liberal to trash Conservatives
or the other way around - You are Politically Brainwashed.
Want to learn more? Here are a few articles that get deeper into the techniques used to brainwash the masses. Remember, no matter the slant of the writing, all media uses some of these techniques.
