The Tom and Jerry system of government

There is an old saying, that if you raise the water temperature slowly, you can boil a frog without it jumping out of the pot. I think that is a good analogy to what is happening in our good old US of A these days.

We are living in a cartoon world now. Gone are solid issues like education, the environment, the arts, and becoming a leader in science again. Whats replacing it, its race baiting identity politics, the weekly scandal, hyper obsessiveness with personalities and demagoguery. Our ideals have been replaced by the cult of personality, and hate, distrust and finger pointing of the "other".


The funny thing is, we don't blame ourselves. We blame the Russians, the Clintons, the deep state, Trump, white nationalists, illegal immigrants, Antifa, and occasionally the conniving Chinese. Out critical thinking has been replaced by the 5 minute YouTube video. Blame and conspiracy theories abound. And everyone and everything is covered. No need to ever crack open a book again, ever. And I think therein lies the problem.


We are becoming stupid and gullible. ALL of us. Because we only get our information from all those little screens and tablets and assorted devices. How many people READ anymore? Really be honest. Plato, the Iliad, Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer, HG Wells, Jules Verne etc.? Our minds are like empty sponges soaking up the sewage of the internets. Garbage in, garbage out. The written word is dying, and with it our intellects and our democracy and maybe even our republic.

Thomas Jefferson argued for public schools because he didn't think we could live in a free society with an uneducated populace. Looks like we are putting it to the test. I hope I am wrong, I hope we wake up, and our political discourse doesn't look like the cat VS mouse cartoons I used to watch as a child. Because the bad thing about cartoons is, you watch them, they grab you, you spend a lot of time watching them but you don't really get much out of it.

Good luck to us all and I hope things get better for all of us. Peace.

a reply to: openminded2011


It has been happening a lot longer than days. Some would say over a century in the U.S.

a reply to: openminded2011

I'm not sure what the answer is, other than trying to help others recognize this as a major concern that is getting worse with each passing election. We really are living in a mad world where truth is stranger than fiction and "news" and current events are more and more of just another type of entertainment and a cartoon (like the Simpsons).. but with real consequences.

A well thought-out thread that is also written in simplistic terms, with some nice analogies/parallels you have drawn. We need more enlightening threads like this... thank you for sharing this.

I hope this can help to inspire a deep conversation on potential ways to combat this issue. S & F and thank you again

Just what are we blaming everyone for?


I don't care...I take care of my family and I'm doing fine no matter who is in office or what is going on...

This society isnt even remotely free.

The people who think we have freedom have their blinders on and are 100% drinking the kool-aid and loving it

a reply to: toysforadults

Yep, I have my rebellion, we all do, huh

But I took it to the countryside, can't even get near town the police are money hungry

Where did common respect go....IDK

a reply to: openminded2011

That's just to many words to read...Thanks for the cartoon!!!

MAGA MAGA

a reply to: GBP/JPY

Oh its bad

I agree. When we have teachers that make a little more than minimum wage teaching our children English and mathematics and trying to fit a government agenda that stipulates the teaching of political correctness and books that have altered history written in them to reflect that PC correctness.

Then we have sports heroes making millions of dollars a year that can't read their own contract or sign their own name to that contract being looked up to by millions of our youth,

something is Goddamn wrong with this country...

originally posted by: Xtrozero
I don't care...I take care of my family and I'm doing fine no matter who is in office or what is going on...

My all time favorite selfish response. "I'm fine, why should I care about how you're doing?"

Remind me again though, why do the rest of us need you? Why does Earth need you? Why does mankind need you? Or even America? If you don't want to be on the "Team", why shouldn't we all just melt you down into protein bars and eat you and your family?


To be clear, I'm not just picking on you, I've read this same statement a million times by now. It never stops baffling me.

originally posted by: NightFlight
I agree. When we have teachers that make a little more than minimum wage teaching our children English and mathematics and trying to fit a government agenda that stipulates the teaching of political correctness and books that have altered history written in them to reflect that PC correctness.

Then we have sports heroes making millions of dollars a year that can't read their own contract or sign their own name to that contract being looked up to by millions of our youth,

something is Goddamn wrong with this country...

its not limited to just the usa or the modern world

its kinda always been this way teachers underpaied entertainers overpaied

the world rarly rewards smart people but often dose stupid people who will sacrafise there bodies and/or dignity for money

a reply to: NightFlight

It's much more fun to acknowledge some man's ability to carry and throw a ball. Can't waste millions of dollars worth of sports stadium.

Hasn't it been proven that people never use what they are taught in school anyway. As much as that is stated, it must be true. People say it so it must be fact.

edit:

Throwing a ball might be a way to determine worthiness of political office since it is easily measured.

"I can throw a ball 120 feet and my opponent can only throw 92 feet. Who's the man for the office - me"

a reply to: openminded2011

Thank you for your OP, and yeah pretty much

a reply to: olaru12

“Too”.... if you’re gonna use a small amount of small words, try to at least spell them right

Don’t get much out of cartoons?

I developed an appreciation for both classical and American standard music from watching old Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies. Also learned about irony and satire.

And let’s not forget about the concept of Justice, or as some would call it “Karma”: Thank you Wil E. Coyote!

Used to read the newspaper (except the sports pages, not into tribalism) cover to cover, read more than one paper a day if I could.

Read everything you mentioned in your OP, except Moby Dick; too familiar with the story to be motivated. I still read, avidly, for pleasure, and enjoy it more than just about any other activity.

But I’ll tell you what: it’s getting harder and harder to find anything worth reading anymore, at least in the speculative fiction genre. Everything seems to be a re-hash of prior narratives, and everything is a serial these days!

It all reminds me of my college days decades ago.Took a class in Science Fiction for an English elective. One of the class requirements was to write a short story. An expressed element in nearly every other student’s story was the idea that recreational drugs, especially weed, was legal. Why? In most of the stories, drug use, which was at the time completely illegal, played virtually no significance to the plot line of the story.

Groupthink.

And it’s groupthink that, I believe, has lead our society to the sad state it’s in now.

originally posted by: slatesteam
a reply to: olaru12

“Too”.... if you’re gonna use a small amount of small words, try to at least spell them right

"gonna".........the irony is delicious!

a reply to: olaru12

a reply to: MrSensible

thats his lot lest he grasp the wind.

originally posted by: MrSensible

My all time favorite selfish response. "I'm fine, why should I care about how you're doing?"

It is not as selfish as you think. You need to start with self then you can branch out. The reason why having Obama or Trump as president for me means little is because I make sure it doesn't by being successful in either case, so instead of worrying about Trump's tweets I take care of my family and don't put blame on him when I fail.

Remind me again though, why do the rest of us need you? Why does Earth need you? Why does mankind need you? Or even America? If you don't want to be on the "Team", why shouldn't we all just melt you down into protein bars and eat you and your family?

Be careful I might be the doing the eating. Mankind doesn't need me or you, but my family does...I'm on the team, so it doesn't mean I don't support the team, just that when the team goes down I'm still standing...

Back at you, why should you care about things that will never affect you in anyway, but we will spend endless hours talking about it, worrying about it, complaining about it as home life suffers as we get to blame everyone else but ourselves.

originally posted by: openminded2011

We are becoming stupid and gullible. ALL of us. Because we only get our information from all those little screens and tablets and assorted devices. How many people READ anymore? Really be honest. Plato, the Iliad, Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer, HG Wells, Jules Verne etc.? Our minds are like empty sponges soaking up the sewage of the internets. Garbage in, garbage out. The written word is dying, and with it our intellects and our democracy and maybe even our republic.

One of the truest paragraphs ever posted here. Books take too long both to produce and to read - by the point anyone has read it it's already old news. Newspapers are as bad as network television and owned by the same corporations spewing the same propaganda for the same agenda. Alternative news sites online are our sole source of factual information IF we're discerning about the sources. It's hard enough to parse out what is truth without the help of all the trolls and disinformation specialists polluting the waters.

This is why the recent bannings and de-platforming being done by the likes of YouTube, Gargle, Reddit and MasterCard are so absolutely deadly. The few reliable sources most of us have learned to trust can disappear overnight with few good alternatives to the platforms and networks currently in use. New video platforms will take large amounts of content just to get an audience that go there and stay the way they do with YT. Watch one video and "oh, that's interesting!" and next thing you know you just blew 3 hours watching stuff you never intended to.

Public schools need to be replaced by a free market system that teaches valuable skills. Public schools have failed, miserably.

These are dangerous times indeed. Seems there's alot riding on the next elections and the Left is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to regain control of Congress. When the majority of corporations openly support one party over the other we can rest assured it isn't for our benefit. The next 3 months may end up being the greatest turning point in the history of the United States. With all sincerity I believe we will either fall in to economic and social chaos through economic crash or an attempted impeachment of Trump. That just might start something we don't want to ever see war again on American soil.

ETA: I learned to appreciate opera watching Bugs Bunny. I learned quite a bit from Bugs, Elmer and Giovanni Jones,,oh and George; he is small and cute and I will hold him and love him and pet his fur he has such long ears. Why do you have such longgg ears George?