NEWSFLASH - Americans are [Easily Influenced] Idiots!

I can not believe how simple it appears to be to manipulate the American public. This has been bothering me for a while now, but I have only recently gotten pissed off enough to rant about it.

This has really been occurring for a while, but really came into the forefront during the ol' election season and has been continuing pretty much unchecked since then. I can not believe how easily these issues are started, picked up by the media, and then turned into a frenzy - its worse than a high school rumor about a teacher doing coke with the Superintendent in the boys room off of the mascots ass.

FOR INSTANCE:

The big one that I have been hearing, that just will not go away, is that President Obama is going to take away everyones guns. This has been a very popular battle cry of rednecks and the sort that has reached such frenzied proportions that there is a run on ammo every single time it hits the shelves of Walmarts, gun stores, and sporting good stores across the country. There is a large population of Americans that actually believes that this could actually happen and apparently no one has taken the time to stop and think about the logistics of this actually taking place - amending the US Constitution.

Now, here's the first little problem with the idea that the President is going to be taking away the guns; the President isn't actually involved in the Amendment process. He may suggest to someone in Congress that he wants to abolish the 2nd Amendment, but has no constitutional role in the amendment process. Just for a little bit of a refresher from high school civics class - a constitutional amendment requires a 67% majority vote in both the House and the Senate and the likelihood of this actually happening is just about 0 - and that is just to get the ball rolling. After that point the proposed amendment has to then be ratified by 75% of the states. There is not a chance in hell of this actually taking place - of getting rid of something so ingrained in the history and fabric of the US. So put down your ammo belt, gun nuts, no one is taking away your guns.

I'm pretty sure what started all of this panic was the talk about the ban on assault rifles that was in place for years until W decided that Americans should be able to hunt Sasquatch with an AK. Is there really a need for anyone not in the military to have an assault rifle?

Now that we've addressed that pain in the ass, here are some more pains in my ass that people are being convinced of:

1) Stem Cell research means killing babies - Considering that the vast majority of stem cell research utilizes adult stem cells I'm not sure how this would hurt a fetus. Alternatively, embryonic stem cell research uses embryos that were going to be destroyed anyway. So by all means - get pissed off about research that is hardly occurring that can help to save millions of lives with a consciousness.

2) Universal Health Care means horrible service and crippling taxes - Yes, because all of those other countries that care enough to take care of their citizens are well known for horrible medical service. Who would want such inconvenience of house calls and preventative medicine like they have in Europe? It is much better to keep the system in place that we have know where you have to make an appointment at least 2 weeks in advance and then have to show up 15 minutes early so you can wait around for an additional 45 minutes before the nurse takes you to the exam room where you can wait for an additional 10 minutes in a paper gown before seeing the doctor - that is a much more streamlined system. Not only that, but preventative medicine (which is not covered by your insurance now) is much cheaper on the front end than taking care of a sick patient after shit has gone wrong. Right now we are paying boatloads of money to take care of the people that can't afford insurance who are showing up every day and become a burden on the taxpayers. And on top of that, all of Europe is so strapped for cash because of their taxes that they don't have any expendable income which is why everyone rides bicycles, lives on bread and soup, and dresses in old burlap sacks.

3) W and Cheney prevented another 9/11 style attack because of their wars, interrogation policies, etc. - And this is based on...? This is like saying that I prevented the earth from being destroyed by aliens because I get my groceries bagged in paper. Its easy to claim that you have prevented something from happening because of the single bit of proof that this certain act didn't happen. If these guys were doing such a good job during their watch - how come that shit happened in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005? I thought that the whole basis of their argument was "Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here"? Granted, they didn't actually hit the US but is the difference in location a significant enough difference to make their case? Wouldn't that be like knocking over the same liquor store more than once if they hit the US again?

The moral of the story is that people need to start using their critical thinking skills more when they get fed these ridiculous arguments. I know that its a lot easier to just react and get outraged, but take a breath and actually put some damned thought into it people! You are embarrassing the rest of us!