Why are so many Americans so easily manipulated?
With Election time coming up, why does it seem that so many Americans seem to be so easily manipulated? Looking at the issues at hand, it seems that candidates are able to “buy″ votes based on very atomic issues. For example, being pro-Gay or anti-Gay, pro-Abortion or anti-Abortion, pro-Religion or anti-Religion, etc. Many of these issues are really besides the point, but the candidates use them to polarize people.
As a prime example, no matter how great of a President someone might make – they could bring prosperity to America for the next 500 years – but if they happened to be Atheist, they simply will not be elected. Period.
Some other things that people seem to be manipulated easily by are:
- The American Dream: Living beyond your means, amassing huge debt, and being told by Realtors that if you must own your own home (no matter the cost), does not sound much like a dream.
- Individualism: Thinking only about yourself (even within your own family) drives up revenues for retail companies, yet they make you feel “less” of a person if you share. Hence households with 5 cars, 5 TV’s, 5 Cable boxes, 5 copies of Mission Impossible, etc, are common place. Also, fracturing the country in to as many “individuals” as possible means that it’s very easy to manipulate the masses. An organized group tends to be focused, a rabble of individuals is very unfocused.
- Patriotism: America went to war because of “patriotism”. The US government would really like you to think that you are not patriotic if you don’t shut up and get with the program. They do it so well, that you are feel you are “patriotic” because you WANT to be! The truth is, questioning the status-quo is more patriotic than blindly following it. If you don’t agree, then the founding fathers could not have been patriotic at all 
- Freedom: America has got to be the least free “free” country in the World. The lack of choice is staggering. How often do you have the choice of more than one electric company, natural gas company, phone company, or Cable company? Even today, as an example, you can only buy the iPhone on AT&T, the upcoming Storm on Verizon, the upcoming Bold on AT&T, and the just released Google G1 on T-Mobile. Everyone is tracked by their SSN’s, virtually everyone carries photo-ID (drivers license), and you have more covert intelligence agencies than anyone on the planet (FBI, CIA, NSA, SS, NRO, NGIA, DIA, DHS, NCTC, NCIX, NIC, etc, etc), and most of them spend their time looking AT Americans! How do they keep such a stranglehold? They polarize the nation around non-issues like “cameras” or “national ID cards” – while behind everyones back they already have you on camera, and are tracking you through your SSN and Drivers License (both of which they say you need for YOUR benefit, and ensure if you didn’t have them you couldn’t survive in society). As I said, this is hardly the land of the free.
- Democracy: America is not democratic. It’s a republic. On top of that, America is built on Indirect Elections – i.e. the people do not vote for the President. They vote for the people who then vote for the President (the Electoral College). Due to the way that the Electoral Collage is setup, the President can be chosen without a majority (see the 2000 election of Bush). Also, if the Electoral College does not have a clear winner, the House of Representatives chooses – thus potentially turning it in to a partisan battle. So, the bottom line is that in America, you don’t even choose your own President.
- Law: Trial-by-Jury-of-your-Peers. That worked great in 1776. Does that work great today, where most cases are very complex? No. However, it does work VERY well for the law system, who wants enough of a “fudge factor” to be able to control the outcomes. If trial-by-jury was truly a good way to do things, then why have a selection-process? Obviously, pure “Joe Public” really has no clue how to judge.
- Socialism: Propaganda around this seems to be one of the major polarizers right now. Many people will have you believe that “socialism” is EVIL, that it leads to Communism. However, why is it so cut-and-dry? You don’t have to become a socialist country to benefit from some things. For example, what is wrong with nationalized health care? Wouldn’t you like to know that if you lost your job, then got in to an accident, you wouldn’t have to worry about it? Isn’t health a basic need for the people, and shouldn’t the government be taking care of the people? Sure, you can pay extra for private healthcare if you want better “service” (private healthcare prices would likely reduce in the face of public healthcare as they can no longer strongarm you in to extortionate healthcare prices), but wouldn’t it be good to have the basics covered? What about when you get old? Or get sick and can’t work? No-one is “set-for-life” – you can lose it all in an instant (point-in-case, the economy crash proved how
Yahoo cut my question off – here’s the rest:
“can lose instantly – with no 401k, how are you going to pay for healthcare when you retire?). The reason candidates may oppose this though is simple – lobbyists. Do you think Blue Cross wants public healthcare? No, they will spread whatever rumors they can to stop it in its tracks. They back the candidates, the candidates manipulate the people.
Manipulation just seems to be the run-of-the-mill activity here in the US, and I have to wonder – why are Americans so easy to manipulate?
Disclaimer: I’m not saying that everything is bad – there are many good things about America. This question is only dealing about some of the negatives, so I’d appreciate some intelligent answers – not a flame war about how un-patriotic I am. Trust me, America was built on QUESTIONING the status-quo, not blindly following it.”
Source: Yahoo Answers
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