Learning

"Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" -- George W Bush

Indeed. Is they? Two ways to see this: (1) Hell no, and (2) All Too Well.

Consider - historically - the periodic ascent of fanatic demagogue types to positions of power and leadership. Hitler and Mussolini, Nixon in the 60's, and most recently - potentially, Trump. Well okay, Nixon had manners to some extent in public, but... Have our children been learning? One would think not. The mob is reacting in the same old way all over again to the same old shit. There are apparently things we are taught not to learn. George Carlin mentions critical thinking as one of those things. None of that going on in a Trump rally or back when, with a Hitler speech.

What such crowds have learned all too well is reaction. Reactionaries with little thought beyond "I want." TV, mass media, even tells you what to want, whether it's consumer products or people to adore and wish you could be like them.

When I was drinking and using drugs, I didn't pay any attention to politics, and was probably better off. But in '72 I voted for McGovern because even in my blurry condition, it was obvious that Nixon was the bad guy. And McGovern was anti-war. Sure enough, Tricky Dick was elected but only lasted another year and then... Watergate. It was worse even than I'd thought.

And now there's Trump, who is so obviously, outrageously full of shit...how can this be? How did it happen? Every other facebook post I see either documents his mental illness, shows his Mussolini-like facial expressions, etc., etc. It's like a joke, but the worst of it is the believers. The Hillary believers are another thing, but they are either clinging desperately to a Lesser Evil notion or hypnotized by the "woman card." We're all playing cards now, or so it seems.

Christian conservatives deny the concept of evolution, but with this election cycle, it's being played out before our eyes. Trump may "love the poorly educated" but really is talking about the Darwinian nightmare that is his followers. We need look no further than the Duck Dynasty guy or the supremely backward Mike Pence. The Trump phenomenon is beyond parody. This is Planet of the Apes in reverse.