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\u00a9 Photo: REUTERS\/Andrew Kelly<\/p><\/div>\n
Eric Zuesse
\nStrategic Culture Foundation<\/p>\n
On September 11th, Gallup headlined\u00a0\u201cBias in Others\u2019 News a Greater Concern Than Bias in Own News\u201d<\/a>, and reported (based upon polling a randomized sample of 20,046 American adults) that:<\/p>\n \u201c69% of Americans say they are more concerned about bias in the news other people consume than its presence in their own news (29%)<\/em>.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0In other words: 69\/29, or 2.38 times, as many Americans are closed-minded (prejudiced) regarding information-sources which don\u2019t fit their ideology, than are not. Overwhelmingly in America, only Democratic Party information-sources are trusted by Democrats, and only Republican information-sources are trusted by Republicans. Each side distrusts the other\u2019s information-sources. Gallup\u2019s news-report aptly noted the important fact that\u00a0\u201cThis plays into the political polarization in the U.S. national discourse<\/em>.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0The more prejudiced a population are, the more polarized it will be. Of course, one would expect this to be the case, but Gallup has now found striking new empirical evidence for it \u2014 that the public\u2019s closed-mindedness is greatly increasing America\u2019s political polarization. Each side is craving propaganda instead of truth, but each side\u2019s voters want only the\u00a0type<\/em>\u00a0of propaganda that is funded by the billionaires who also fund that side\u2019s politicians and control that side\u2019s \u2018news\u2019 media. Consequently,\u00a0American politics is controlled by the conflict between liberal billionaires versus conservative billionaires \u2014 totally controlled by billionaires<\/a>\u00a0(instead of by the public). There is the liberal herd, and the conservative herd, but they\u2019re both herds \u2014\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0by the public in an actual democracy. And each of these two herds is controlled by its shepherd, who are its billionaires. (Here is how that\u2019s done.<\/a>) Billionaires control each Party and thereby control the Government. This is why\u00a0the Government ignores the preferences of America\u2019s public<\/a>. As will be shown here, the September 11th Gallup findings help to explain how and why that results.<\/p>\n Neither Democrats nor Republicans can become exposed to the other side\u2019s evidence and arguments unless they see those \u2014 the\u00a0other side\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0evidence and arguments, both for its own case and against the opposite side\u2019s case (i.e., against the case that oneself believes). Not to see the opposite side\u2019s viewpoint is to be blind to it, and thus to become locked into whatever oneself believes. This 69\/29 is like a jury\u2019s rendering its verdict and nearly three quarters of the jurors having not listened to \u2014 and thus not considered \u2014 the opposite side\u2019s presentations. That\u2019s a frightening situation to exist in any court of law, and it is an equally frightening situation to exist in any nation\u2019s electorate.<\/p>\n As a consequence of Americans\u2019 strong tendency to be closed-minded, America\u2019s politics are, to a very large extent, driven more by prejudices than by the realities that the public are actually facing. Individuals are seeking for sources that will likeliest confirm what they\u00a0already<\/em>\u00a0believe, and are seeking to avoid sources that are the likeliest to\u00a0disconfirm<\/em>\u00a0their beliefs. This is consequently a population that\u2019s highly vulnerable to being manipulated, by playing up to, and amplifying, the given Party\u2019s propaganda, to which the given individual already subscribes. Republican Party billionaires (by their use of their conservative newsmedia and think tanks, etc., which they control) can easily manipulate Republican Party voters, and Democratic Party billionaires can, likewise, easily manipulate Democratic Party voters, by their liberal media, think tanks, etc. That\u2019s billionaires, on\u00a0each<\/em>\u00a0of the two sides, guiding each of the two Parties\u2019 voters; and, therefore, the nation\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0an\u00a0aristocracy<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 a country which is\u00a0controlled by its wealthiest few<\/em>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0instead of<\/em>\u00a0an authentic\u00a0democracy<\/em>\u00a0(which is controlled not by the numbers of dollars, but actually by the numbers of residents, each one of whom is independently and open-mindedly seeking for credibly documented facts). An aristocracy rules any such land. The public are not the rulers in such a nation. It\u2019s not a democracy; it is a collective dictatorship, by its billionaires (its aristocracy). Both of the two Parties\u2019 voters vote in accord with their billionaires\u2019 agenda, but\u00a0especially<\/em>\u00a0in accord with whatever is on the agenda that\u2019s\u00a0shared by both<\/em>\u00a0liberal and conservative billionaires \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>billionaires fund both of the national Parties: Democrats and Republicans<\/strong><\/a>, and thereby control both Parties. Billionaires, in each Party, have their very golden, very heavy, thumbs, pressing down hard upon the scale of any such \u2018democracy\u2019, such that regardless of which group of billionaires ends up winning any ultimate election, the public inevitably will lose, because it\u2019s really just a contest between billionaires, who are stage-managing the nation\u2019s entire political proceedings. This is like two boxers fighting in a ring, in which the selection-process which placed them there was corrupt; and, so, even if the ultimate winner is not equally corruptly pre-determined, the final result has nonetheless already been rigged (during the primaries). When the contenders have been selected by a corrupt process, the ultimate outcome cannot be a democracy.<\/p>\n This happens not only regarding elections, but regarding particular issues. For example, in 2002 and 2003, \u201cregime-change in Iraq,\u201d and \u201cSaddam\u2019s WMD,\u201d were just as much agendas of liberal billionaires\u2019 media and think tanks as they were of conservative billionaires\u2019 media and think tanks (and were thoroughly based\u00a0on lies<\/a>); so, a closed-minded public were actually trapped, into the lies that were\u00a0agreed-upon<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0both sides<\/em>\u00a0of the domestic American political spectrum \u2014 the sides that are funded and controlled by the liberal billionaires, and by the conservative billionaires. The\u00a0nearly $2 trillion cost of the invasion and military occupation of that country<\/a>, and the consequent\u00a0destruction of that country<\/a>, were done for America\u2019s billionaires, and produced nothing for the American people except that enormous public debt and those injuries and deaths to America\u2019s soldiers and to Iraqis. And that\u2019s typical, nowadays, in this (just as in any) aristocracy: the aristocracy are served; the nation\u2019s public serve to them. (In the U.S., this has caused\u00a0\u201cU.S. Satisfaction at 13%, Lowest in Nine Years\u201d<\/a>, as Gallup headlined on 4 August 2020; and it has caused Americas\u2019 satisfaction with their Government to have ranged from its all-time low of only 7% in 2008, to its all-time high of only 45% at the very start of 2020 \u2014 well below 50%, for as long as Gallup has surveyed this.)<\/p>\n What\u00a0all of the billionaires want<\/em>\u00a0is what the American public\u00a0get<\/em>\u00a0as their Government. It\u2019s bipartisanship amongst its billionaires.\u00a0That\u2019s what produces this Government\u2019s policies.<\/a>\u00a0It\u2019s what determines the Government that Americans get. However, what is basic in making it a dictatorship of the aristocracy-type (such as this America is) is that the population is very prejudiced,\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0open-minded \u2014\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0each individual constantly seeking solid evidence to change one\u2019s mind about how society works (what the reality in the nation actually is), so as for one\u2019s view to become increasingly accurate over time. Instead, one\u2019s myths are constantly being fed. Such a public, as this, are not individuals, in a democracy, but more like mobs,\u00a0very manipulable<\/em>.<\/p>\n Often, America\u2019s bipartisan views are based upon lies that virtually all billionaires want the public to believe. In such cases \u2014 and these instances are frequent \u2014 the\u00a0truth<\/em>\u00a0is being simply ignored, or else outright denied, by\u00a0both<\/em>\u00a0sides (and by the media, for both sides). Individuals\u2019 prejudices are thus being increased, instead of reduced, by what the public see and hear in \u201cthe news.\u201d Everyone has prejudices, and truth can predominate only if people are constantly skeptical of the sources that they are relying upon \u2014 constantly trying to root out and replace whatever false beliefs they have. This is the essence of scientific method. Democracy depends upon it. Aristocracy requires the opposite. America has the opposite.<\/p>\n Change away from this present situation, to a democracy, would be difficult. On\u00a0both<\/em>\u00a0of America\u2019s political sides, there needs to be far less trust of the Establishment (including its politicians, its media, its think tanks, etc.), in order for any\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0democracy to become able to exist. It\u2019s not even able to exist now. And, therefore,\u00a0it does not exist<\/a>.<\/p>\n But what is even\u00a0more<\/em>\u00a0depressing is that America\u2019s educational system, most especially its colleges and universities, are encouraging, instead of discouraging, this situation, this closed-mindedness. The more educated an American is, the more closed-minded that person becomes \u2014 as is further shown in\u00a0this same September 11th Gallup news-report<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cWhereas 52% of Americans with a high school education or less are more concerned about bias in others\u2019 news than in their own<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0[and 45% of that minimally educated group think that the news which they are reading might be biased],\u00a0the figure is 64% among those with some college education and is even higher among college graduates (73%) and those with postgraduate education (77%)<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0[and only 22% of that maximally educated group think that the news which they are reading might be biased].\u201d The most-educated Americans are the most-manipulable (the most closed-minded) Americans.<\/p>\n No finding in this Gallup report was as extreme as the finding that the more highly educated an American is, the less open that person is likely to be to changing his or her mind (outlook) about the situation. In other words: the more educated an American is, the more closed-minded that person tends to\u00a0become<\/em>. Higher education in America increases, instead of decreases, an individual\u2019s closed-mindedness. However, other contrasts which were almost as extreme are:<\/p>\n \u201cThose who identify as liberal (80%) are more concerned than conservatives (68%) and moderates (65%) with other people\u2019s media bias.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0In other words: liberals are 80\/65 or 1.23 times as closed-minded as are moderates, and are 80\/68 or 1.18 times as closed-minded as conservatives are.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile 58% of Black adults are more concerned about bias in others\u2019 news than in their own, fully 73% of Asian Americans and 72% of White adults say the same<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Thus, African-Americans are 58\/72.5 or 80% as closed-minded as are Euro-Americans and Asian-Americans.<\/p>\n This is the worst combination possible: it\u2019s a closed-minded population, which is\u00a0especially<\/em>\u00a0closed-minded amongst its most educated segment. The leading segment is also the most closed-minded segment. These are crucial agents of the billionaires, and they crucially inculcate into the next generation of Americans the aristocracy\u2019s values.<\/p>\n This means that the leaders keep themselves, conceptually, inside a cocoon. They have minimal contact with the most vulnerable members of the society, which is the less-educated members. That enhances inequality of opportunity, throughout the society. Since the most-highly-educated Americans are the group that are the most-closed to opinions which are contrary to their own, it\u2019s easy for the most-highly-educated Americans to view individuals who disagree with those persons\u2019 views as being simply a\u00a0\u201cbasket of deplorables.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Their disagreement then becomes their contempt. \u2018Facts\u2019 about politics are \u2014 for those persons, highly educated persons \u2014 more derived from their values and priorities, than their values and priorities are derived from the political facts. Scientific epistemology is being turned upside-down, regarding political issues, in such a country. Overwhelmingly, some sort of faith, instead of\u00a0any<\/em>\u00a0sort of science, determines what individuals in such a country believe about politics. In every aristocracy, this is the way that both conservative and liberal persons view any persons in the general public who oppose themselves: they\u2019re viewed as being a \u201cbasket of deplorables.\u201d It\u2019s the very essence of elitism \u2014 on both sides. (For prominent examples of this: both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had contempt for each-others\u2019 voters \u2014 blotted them out.)<\/p>\n The leadership\u2019s minimal contact with the public makes exceedingly unlikely the leadership\u2019s compassion, concern about the sufferings that they, themselves, are causing down below. Actually, though every aristocracy claims to want to improve conditions for their public, the reality is that whenever doing that would entail their own losing power, that claim becomes exposed to be sheer hypocrisy \u2014 a lie; often a self-deception, and not merely a deception against the public. Deceiving themselves about their own decency is easy, because they have minimal contact with the most vulnerable members of the society, the very people whom they\u00a0claim<\/em>\u00a0to care the most about (and to be working in politics to help). Fakery is built into each and every aristocracy. Americans\u2019 strong tendency to be closed-minded causes the aristocratic con to be widely accepted as if it were instead truth. (Again: the \u201cWMD in Iraq\u201d con was a good example of this \u2014 the aristocracy\u2019s media\u00a0just blocked-out the reality<\/a>.) Scientific studies have even\u00a0demonstrated<\/a>\u00a0that the wealthier a person is, the less compassion the individual tends to have for people who are suffering.<\/p>\n Furthermore, since the less-educated persons aspire to be more-educated, they are \u2014 even without knowing it \u2014 aspiring to become less open to contrary views, instead of to become more open to such views. One bad consequence of this is: it strangulates imaginativeness, openness, and creativity, in favor of being rote, rigid, and bureaucratic. Another bad consequence of it is that the authority-figures, in such a society, are, in some important ways, actually\u00a0inferior<\/em>\u00a0to the rest of the population. Moreover, America\u2019s colleges and universities are not increasing their students\u2019 open-mindedness (as they should) but the exact opposite \u2014 they are\u00a0reducing<\/em>\u00a0their students\u2019 open-mindedness. Even if professors are teaching some truths, the professors are training their students to be authoritarian, instead of to be open to a more truthful, comprehensive, and deeper understanding, which encompasses those truths, but also many more \u2014 which the majority of professors either ignore or else deny, because such deeper understanding violates the existing Scripture, or standard viewpoint (shaped by both sides\u2019 billionaires). At least in the United States, this is now the normal situation. That Gallup poll showed it not merely weakly, nor even only moderately, but extremely.<\/p>\n This is a perverse situation, which bodes ill for the future of the entire nation. Any country which is like this is not only an aristocracy instead of a democracy, but it is greatly disadvantaged, going forward. It will be disadvantaged both in the arts and in the sciences. Its future will be stultifying, instead of dynamic. Aristocracies tend to be this way. Also, because it will remain highly polarized, its internal ideological frictions will waste a large proportion of the nation\u2019s efforts. As a nation, its forward-motion, its\u00a0progress<\/em>, will thus largely be crippled, by its internal discord and distrust, between the two warring factions of its aristocracy \u2014 and friction between the respective followers on each side.<\/p>\n This describes a declining culture \u2014 a nation that is in decline.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what this poll-report, from Gallup, indicates, as clearly as any poll-findings can.<\/p>\n It indicates a nation in decline.<\/p>\n During the Presidential primaries in the Democratic Party, a major point of difference between the two major candidates, Joe Biden versus Bernie Sanders, was whether billionaires are bad for the country: Biden said no; Sanders said yes. (This was\u00a0a major reason why the billionaires made sure that Sanders would lose<\/a>.) In any country where wealth-inequality is so extreme, there can be no authentic democracy. America\u2019s extreme inequality of wealth makes democracy impossible in this country. America\u2019s other problems follow from that. In reality, it\u2019s a one-party state, and that party is controlled not actually by the counts of voters, but by the counts of dollars. It is an aristocracy; and its decline \u2014 to what has been documented here \u2014 follows from that fact. Whatever democracy America might once have had is gone now. It has become replaced by a land of mass-deceptions, which are bought and sold.<\/p>\n