Cheerleader Nation

I suppose it makes sense that George W Bush was a cheerleader at Yale. What else could explain how this country has completely eroded into a nation of pom-pom weilding pep squad members?

Most people these days couldn't give a rats ass about politics. They stumble through life, willfully ignorant, counting the days until the next season of The Bachelor comes out. To say most Americans lack critical thinking skills is kind of like saying that most Cows don't own a tuxedo. So obvious as to be pointless to bring up. Unfortunately for most people, being completely unaware of things around them flies right in the face of the other great American birthright, to talk endlessly about everything. So the average schmo is left to walk a tightrope throughout their life. "Must talk all the time so people notice me, but must not be too intelligent as to scare them away or be labeled a 'nerd'".

Luckily for people with more vocal chords than common sense, there is one thing that even the most ignorant, borderline mentally-disabled person can understand, sports. Now I'm not going to talk shit about sports. I love all kinds of sports. I participate in fantasy leagues, follow English soccer, Aussie Rules Football and the 4 major American sports with great enthusiasm. What I am going to talk about is the mindless cheerleaders of those sports. Not the women and men in particular who do it for a living, but the people of like mind who desperately want to scream about something but are too lazy to aquire the education necessary to feel that level of passion about something important. There's a few sports fans that can engage you in conversation for hours about what makes one team better than another, others can only occasionally shout 'Go Yankees!' or 'Giants suck!'. That isn't so bad because, at the end of the day, it's just sports. When people start behaving that way in matters concerning the future leadership of the country, however, it becomes slightly more intolerable.

And that brings me back to what's gone wrong with our political system. Talking to most people in 2004 about politics is like talking to most people about sports. They've picked a side, probably forgot the orginal reason why and can now only say 'Boo Kerry' or 'Boo Bush'. And much like in sports, some will bolster their comments with talking points from a loud, obnoxious radio host who exists only to fill his listener's head with talking points about why A is better than B. Unfortunately, this completely passive, myopic stream of information does two terrible things; It makes the listener think that they're educated and gives them a role model embodied in a radio voice that wins arguments by shouting over people or turning off their microphone.

So we're left with a system that breeds political activism the exact same way it breeds sports fans. Make 'em pick a side when they're young, never teach them any other way of thinking and (this is the important part) make sure they realize that anyone else who tries to convince them otherwise is an ENEMY and must be DEFEATED.

Bush Rules! Kerry Sucks! Woof woof woof woof!!!!!