Book Review: Just How Stupid Are We? by Rick Shenkman

So!  Let's start this blog off with a book review.  I'm really proud of the fact that I read this book because it was the first book I read in a long time that wasn't required for class.  I'd like to think it's the first in a long line of books i'll begin to read.

I found this book to be particularly enlightening given the current election season we are in right now.  The title isn't just a clever ruse to obtain higher book sales--Shenkman actually cuts recklessly into the decaying body of American politics as it lies.  The results are obvious and shocking at the same time.

For example, Shenkman refers to a poll taken on the eve of "Shock and Awe", the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.  The poll, reported by Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), showed that "a majority of Americans falsely believed that 'Iraq played an important role in 9/11'".  Further polls taken throughout the year revealed that 57% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was helping Al Qaeda when we were attacked (PIPA), and 70% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was actively involved in the 9/11 attacks (Washington Post).  These results are staggering.

Shenkman outlines five characteristics of stupidity proceeds to investigate the American public pertaining to these definitions:
1. "Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who's in charge"
2.  "Negligence: the disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events."
3.  "Wooden-headedness...:the inclination to believe what we want to believe, regardless of the facts."
4.  "Shortsightedness: the support of public policy that are mutually exclusive, or contrary to the country's long-term interests."
5.  "Bone-headedness...: the susceptibility to meaningless phrases, sterotypes, irrational biases, simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears"

For your enjoyment, I will now illustrate these definitions with examples from our own history.
1.  See the stats about perception of Saddam Hussein's connection with 9/11.
2.  Despite the increased access we all have to news sources via radio, television, internet, and smartphones, how many of us actually get news from national news sources?  The only national newspaper to have an increase in subscriptions in 2010 was the WSJ with .5% increase.  The New York Times saw a decrease of 8.5%.
3.  How many people believe that Iraq needed to be invaded because of weapons of mass destruction?  Despite this fact being disproved awhile ago, people still cling to this belief.  If they relinquish that, they will grasp at another equally-ignorant straw to defend the Iraqi war.
4.  The concept of increasing federal spending, using funds from Social Security to pay for increased budgets, and the likes are all examples of how the American public continually values their existence over the existence of future generations.
5.  One phrase: "the War on Terrorism".

We, as members of the American public have an important decision to make.  Will we take the effort to educate ourselves on international and national matters?  Will we take the time to read reliable news sources and publications?  Will we lower our pride and cynicism to allow for corrections in our thinking and perception?  Will we start seeing things with a long-term perspective?  Will we defend ourselves against the idiocy of meaningless generalizations, platitudes, and rhetoric?

I hope so!  Oh, and read the book!