Americans are so dumb. They are soooooo dumb!!! And it is in their interest to be...
by Squiggy
For a vast majority of Americans, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is something most Americans know very little about (that includes me!). This ignorance probably stems from the fact that most of us are not affected by it's decisions first hand. Therefore, we don't see the shady labor practices of corporations like Wal-Mart or how the production practices of multi-national corporations are destroying the environment and the lives of so many poor people, in particular, people of third world countries.
Americans don’t want to think about how wasteful and costly it is for products to be shipped all over the world for us to consume, and how these shipping costs are subsidized by the governments of different countries. Americans seem to be more concerned about getting their new car or truck and their brand-name clothing. We don’t want to think about the tariffs placed against poor countries in order to keep their industries from competing with the markets of wealthy countries.
It's crazy that these 'dumb' Americans include highly educated people. Especially considering that illiterate poor farmers in India can offer informed, detailed critiques of the WTO. These poor farmers, of course, have a vested interest. They desperately want to know why their lives have changed so much in the past few decades.
We (at least those of us who are middle and upper class) are privileged with access to loads of information, yet that doesn’t seem to motivate us to educate ourselves of the many social, political and economic tragedies perpetuated by this corrupt business and governmental system. I know there is a lot of censorship of the news, but that is not a good excuse. It seems that ignorance has become part of American culture. It's easier to enjoy the privileges of our position as Americans, rather than to look at the reality.
So, there! That’s my uninformative rant of the day showing how much I want to better educate myself of the powers and practices of the WTO.
Posted by jenna at October 30, 2003 11:32 AM