Groupthink occurs when people adapt to the beliefs and views of others without real intellectual conviction. A consensus forms without serious consideration of consequences or alternatives, often under overt or imaginary social pressure.Most of the people I know and interact with on a daily basis, many friends, have little education. Some have college experience but many don't have more than a high school education. Some never completed high school. They are normal, mid-western working class people, truck drivers, factory workers, teachers, health care workers, WalMart clerks, etc. Many are very religious, some are racist but many are just sort-of-religious, not-really-racist, dope smoking, beer drinking working class people. Most of them have never paid much attention to politics or economics in the past but in the last couple of years, it sure seems like they've all become motivated political, economic and monetary policy experts. Almost universally, their expertise is really Fox News GroupThink.
They almost all believe the basic conservative, Fox News, Tea-Bagger Views. Free markets provide the best outcomes in all cases. Government is always corrupt and inefficient. Private enterprises are always a better solution than government enterprises. The FED is inherently bad. Many (most?) believe we should go back to the gold standard.
On health care, most think our current system is the best in the world and that tort reform is the best thing we could do to lower health care costs.
On Taxes, most believe their taxes are too high while the "others" around them don't pay enough. That taxing the rich more would hurt the economy. Most believe that it's "others" who use government services and are "on the dole". Most have a favorite, alternate tax method, usually a flat tax or the fair tax.
On education, They generally think our education system is a mess and its the government's fault. They tend to question the view of academics and experts putting more faith in "common sense".
They also tend to believe that America, and everything American, is inherently better than any other nation on the planet. Europeans are leftist weenies. China uses slave labor. Israel is good. Muslims are bad. They almost universally believe the media has a liberal bias.
Many view the Constitution with an almost religious fervor and will argue that you are against it, you don't believe in it, or you are un-American if you disagree with them on any political or economic point.
Many were really scared to death at Obama's win. Some were sure he was going to destroy the country, take their guns, their property, shut down their churches. Guns sales to the group skyrocketed after the election.
Now 5 or 10 years ago these people didn't believe and often just didn't care about any of this stuff. Today they have well define beliefs and are "experts", willing to argue, with limited "facts", that they are right and any competing view is wrong. Most have never looked at any of these issues. They've never heard the the other side argument. They all just "know" they are right. They've become an army of uninformed, Fox News zombies.
The Propaganda Network has done it's job. It may have wrecked the country but its done its job.
tnb
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