What Makes Americans So Uniquely Stupid?

Already, I can almost hear all the strident online outrage insisting that my premise isn’t true and is highly unfair. I admit, it is quite controversial to assert that Americans are “uniquely stupid,” but I can prove my point. There’s plenty of evidence for my statement — IF we are willing to open our eyes and minds to grasp the bizarre reality surrounding us in the US.

Prime example #1: even after watching Donald Trump in (repugnant) action for over eight years, the American people still chose to reelect him in 2024. That is, they collectively chose a notorious liar, grifter, tax cheat, racist, sexual abuser, and super-narcissist. They chose a demagogic, dangerous tyrant-wannabe who tried to overturn the 2020 election and instigated an attack and deadly riot at our nation’s venerable Capitol.

They chose Trump over a competent, compassionate, solution-minded mixed-race woman, Kamala Harris, precisely because he was a familiar white man — while she bore the triple burden of being relatively unknown, non-white, and a woman!

This unbelievably stupid and suicidal choice left the rest of the world reeling and in shock. People everywhere were aghast and horrified at what transpired here (except in Russia, China, and other autocracies, where their leaders were probably chortling with glee).

This choice was undoubtedly one of the worst and stupidest ever made by the populace of any nation, past or present. Such a choice could only have been made by incredibly stupid, prejudiced, and/or unconscious human beings. The giant, unanswered question I want to explore is: Why? Why are Americans in particular so stupid and unconscious?

The personal qualities of the ‘average American’

Before going any further, I need to separate and clarify these two terms, “stupid” and “unconscious.” As I’ve considered the many questions surrounding Americans’ “unique stupidity,” I’ve come to think that stupidity is usually forever — a lasting, built-in feature, so to speak — while being “unconscious” is an inner state that can shift and change. Those who are merely “unconscious” can awaken to some degree — or be jolted awake — and thus become more conscious. I’m not sure that the truly stupid can even DO that — or want to.

However, the two states show considerable overlap, so it’s often the case that Americans can be both deeply unconscious and stupid. (That’s now turned into a widespread ‘worst-case scenario.’) My aim is to drill down into both states and how they manifest in Americans in general.

First off, here are some of the adjectives that come to mind when I think about the ‘average American’: Ignorant. Arrogant. Too comfortable. Too addicted to ‘convenience.’ Selfish. Lazy. Racist. Too entitled. And did I mention arrogant? Some of the primary nouns that occur to me include: Hate. Constant competition and striving. Excessive individualism. Greed. Resentment. Learned helplessness. Denial (that’s a biggie).

Since this topic is SO vast and complex, I’m going to focus first on an interesting and deeply related question: What makes the United States itself so unique among nations? Perhaps a clear understanding of this issue will help us clarify and answer my original question.

What makes the US unique — in both good and bad ways

I’d say — and this is not a historian’s or social scientist’s view, just my own long-term observations — that the US is unique due to the following factors:

1) We laid the foundations for both individual and national ‘freedom’ that have inspired democracies around the world, yet have never lived up to our own founding ideals.

2) We ruthlessly subjugated or even exterminated the original, native inhabitants of the lands between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

3) We practiced slavery for centuries and developed a booming economy built on slave labor.

4) We have always been a ‘nation divided,’ mainly due to starkly different beliefs regarding race and slavery between the North and South. In some ways, our Civil War never really ended.

5) We pioneered the modern ‘global empire.’ Our military might spans the entire world, and the US has military bases or units in many countries.

6) Our nation is both geographically and culturally isolated, is insulated by a vast ocean on each side, and has never been invaded (since 1812) or conquered. This inspires vast overconfidence.

7) Our society and economy are dominated by ruthless capitalism and wealth-hoarding. We have become the world’s greediest and most consumer-oriented society.

8) We arrogantly proclaim we are “the greatest nation on earth” and “the land of the free” — even as our on-the-ground realities constantly disprove both assertions. Major denial runs rampant.

. . .

If these issues or factors are mainly correct, then we have to ask: What kind of person does such a nation idealize and churn out? I’d say that a society like the US intentionally ‘grows’ a certain sort of human being: the ‘ideal American’ is super-individualistic, ruthlessly ambitious, greedy, arrogant, and often racist. We lionize the greediest, most self-centered, and rapacious among us in the name of ‘glorious capitalism’ — and meanwhile, we pretend we are a ‘Christian nation’ and are caring and compassionate.

Nope. NO. That’s just one of the glaring contradictions and hypocrisies underlying what we mistakenly call ‘modern America’ — since we have resisted and squelched most truly ‘modern’ ideas, including true social and economic equality and equal representation in our government.

Scarily, it seems that the US is geared or ‘programmed’ to produce selfish, greedy, ignorant people who are always striving to ‘beat’ their neighbors and any competitors. It’s a lonely, miserable, often hostile way to live and interact with others.

We are heavily trained/programmed to be ‘uniquely stupid’

Now, back to my original question: What makes Americans so uniquely stupid? It’s apparent to me that the US has sharply departed from its original intentions and has focused way too much on mere economic ‘prosperity’ and endless, mindless ‘growth.’

A telling factoid reveals a lot about today’s US: Americans are no longer referred to as ‘citizens,’ except in very limited circumstances. Instead, we are universally called “consumers.”

We’re trained to compete, win, consume, accrue more and more money and ‘stuff,’ and hoard our (supposedly) ever-increasing wealth. It’s all about private, personal gain, and anything or anyone calling for more sharing and social equity is labeled “socialist” or even “communist.”

To be blunt, the US is now totally imbalanced in favor of individual profit and greed — while all other aspects of our humanness are avoided or denied. These other aspects include community, sharing, interpersonal caring and compassion, good education, life-long learning, inner growth, and commitment to ongoing social and political improvements.

In today’s US, none of these crucial human needs or desires are adequately supported, and many of them are minimized or denied altogether. I’d even say we purposely deny and avoid what I call love in action. That’s just friggin’ c-r-a-z-y.

I’ve written several times about the US being, in effect, an “anti-society” that largely denies or suppresses most of our genuine, essential human and social needs. As a result, the US always and necessarily churns out lonely, overly ‘separate,’ frustrated, resentful, rageful human beings. It churns out people who are experts at separateness and division, but know almost nothing about sharing, community, and learning. Or love.

Today’s US is built to ‘produce’ ignorant, hateful, super-competitive, and greedy people. Clearly, this is a recipe for mounting social and political disaster.

Yes, many Americans are ‘uniquely stupid’

So, are Americans truly “uniquely stupid”? Yes and no (though we certainly act that way most of the time). The problem is, our social and political systems deliberately undermine our most essential human attributes and needs, including intellectual curiosity and lifelong learning… while aggressively pushing selfishness, competition, and greed.

Since excellent education and ongoing learning are not priorities for this society, the US is, indeed, populated by very ignorant and arrogant people who (wrongly and stupidly) think our society is ‘the best ever.’

It’s hard to know the role genetics and innate stupidity play in such widespread US dysfunction. However, it’s safe to say that our society heavily programs its citizens not to be informed, caring, involved citizens, but instead be mindless, greedy, uncaring ‘consumers.’ We’re raised to be needy, empty ‘black holes’ that constantly need to be filled.

And unfortunately for us, being mindless, uncaring ‘consumers’ is the total antithesis of being well-educated, caring, compassionate, and fulfilled human beings. The two states of being are utterly different and incompatible. For this reason, I must conclude that the US in its current form isn’t viable and is doomed, since it doesn’t value education, deep learning and growth, social responsibility, or social equity and sharing.

In its current form, the US really does churn out ill-informed, hateful, greedy, and stupid people. While Americans’ stupidity may not be inherent or permanent, for all intents and purposes it is now a persistent ‘given’ in the US.

The prognosis? Unless the US drastically revises and reinvents itself and experiences a top-to-bottom ‘rebirth,’ our seemingly boundless stupidity will just keep going and going and going, like a demented and vicious Energizer Bunny on an endless rampage.

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This post was previously published on Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs.

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