A must-read from @jeffjarvis. There's even data: "U.S. ranks 36th worldwide in literacy. The lack of education in the United States, the attack by the fascist right on the institutions of education, and the ignorance of too much of the public is what made them vulnerable to the siren call of #fascism, #Fox, and extremist right propaganda."
https://medium.com/whither-news/this-is-how-the-brokentimes-covers-the-fascist-oligarchy-b6b2c38e1178
[#]NYT
[#]MAGA
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@CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis
The Koch Brothers started this attack in the 80's. Reagan was their puppet.
Break education, then break the family unit by destroying the unions and essentially forcing both parents into the work place in order to keep a roof over their heads.
It created generations of latch-key children who believe anything you tell them if you say it loud enough and enough times.
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@CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis Wait, am I reading this right? Thirty-SIXTH!?
Damn! I thought all y'all were at least thirty-fifth!
(I know, it's no joking matter, but I'm kind of in shock here.)
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@zdl @jeffjarvis
Yes, you read it right. There is a reason Trump likes the poorly educated and has nominated one of the co-founders of the World Wrestling Entertainment for head of the Department of Education.
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@CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis It gets worse the deeper I read that article.
79% literacy rating!? Over a fifth of Americans can't read!?
That's worse than the worst number I would have come up with myself.
With Canada sitting at 99% and China at 96.8% despite its massive very recent handicap, I would have expected at least 90% for the USA (which itself would have been shockingly low for an industrial power).
79%? That's beyond the pale for even my cynical soul.
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@zdl @jeffjarvis
As the piece explains, it's one big reason why we're in this colossal mess.
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@CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis I really want to press that little star under your post, but "like" is not the right reaction for this suddenly-revealed (to me) shit-show.
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@zdl @jeffjarvis
I know the feeling. Sometimes like just isn't right. Thanks for taking the time to write out why it's inadequate. Yeah. Your last hyphenated phrase hits the nail on the head.
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@CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis I think that the left is going to have to change tactics to make any headway in the USA given these numbers. Take a page from, of all things, the Cultural Revolution.
Stop trying to argue with cerebral points. Make snappy, emotive slogans that are easy to remember, easy to recite, and hard to counter with similarly snappy counter-slogans. I'm talking "two legs bad, four legs good"-grade sloganeering. Complex, philosophical arguments can literally not be understood.
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@zdl @CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis
The geography of American illiteracy is troubling. But the American South leads the country in illiteracy, with Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama leading the way. Fertile ground for Fascism.
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@huntingdon @CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis This doesn't look like it's just a southern problem to me. I see a lot of fascist red in the North as well.
I don't have an equivalent map of literacy by county, unfortunately, so I can't make a direct comparison, but ... that map looks dire no matter where you are.
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@huntingdon @CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis Of course literally seconds after pressing "Post" I find this:
And yes, I'm seeing some pretty solid patterns from north to south in literacy, but not a lot of correlation between literacy and votes. Like some of the highest literacy rates are in the middle of a sea of red. There's one largeish blob of blue that has a matching LOWER literacy rate in the central north that's surrounded by higher-literacy red.
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@zdl
54% of people in the US read at below the 6th grade level.
We have a lot of immigrants, which could explain much of this. They're probably only counting English.
https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now
@CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis
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@zdl @CindyWeinstein @jeffjarvis
Yes, and as recent articles have mentioned, of those who can read, 56% read at 6th grade level or below on reading comprehension. Most Americans are indeed functionally illiterate.
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@CindyWeinstein @zdl @jeffjarvis
Oh god, another failure like DeVos. She had an amoeba brain and now the next one comes in. At least DeVos had balls to resign after Jan 6.
And you're wondering why the USA is on the 36th place in literacy?
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@CindyWeinstein If not for the Dumbing Down, we wouldn't have got Shrub, and Trump, would we? @zdl @jeffjarvis
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