Blind Followers

I will never cease to be amazed by the stunning lack of introspection among Americans. It would be hilarious if it weren't so utterly sickening. All too often, I see people make comments that show that they really don't know what they're talking about. That, or they just haven't thought about it enough to actually hear what they're saying.

Come on. Who in their right mind would seriously advocate the nuking and killing of millions of innocent civilians? Yet we hear that all the time, both from ordinary Americans, commentators (mostly on Fox News) and even some of our elected officials. They seem to think, through some mysterious logical process, if we kill millions of people, our image among the collective world would improve, everyone would love us, and all our problems would be solved.

Then there's the near-mantra of the left- if we just get the government involved, everything will be fine. (Of course, Republicans also do this, but the left is a far more vocal proponent, mostly because they'll get reelected for it. Republicans won't.) Somehow, if we only had more Federal control over local life, the country would come back from the brink, we'd all be prosperous, and America would once again be all peachy keen.

And Americans are only too willing to continue to fall prey to rhetoric of that sort. What I don't understand is why. Why do we so willingly follow those we shouldn't trust- the politicians- and eat up their rhetoric as if it were the best thing we'd ever heard?