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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”-
Henry W a i d Beeche r
Conspiracy mongering is making Americans dumber
Are American getting dumber?
That thought came to mind last week around the national
alert warning system FEMA test that
hit all our phones Wednesday after
noon.
QAnon and other far-right conspir
acy groups claimed that the test would
activate a virus in those who had been
vaccinated.
Let’s just be honest here, anyone
who believes that kind of nonsense is
just dumb.
How can you have a democracy
when so many people are too dumb
to understand what is fact and what is
fiction?
• ••
This isn’t the first time our nation has had conspira
cy-mongers amongst us. Conspiracy theories still circulate
around the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy.
Religious conspiracy-mongering also has a long histor
ical record. Jewish people have home much of that over
the centuries and still today, neo-Fascist movements believe
there is some kind of world-wide Jewish conspiracy afoot.
But the recent growth in American conspiracy theories
can mostly be linked to the political far-right which uses
fear-mongering conspiracies as a way to manipulate, and
in some cases brainwash, gullible followers. (The far left
also has its conspiracies, but they don’t seem to have much
currency right now.)
There are those who still believe that the events of 9-11
were done not by foreign terrorists, but by CIA agents on
behalf of the American government.
Nuts.
The conspiracy movement really got a boost from several
far-right media personalities, such as Alex Jones, and the
boom of social media in the mid-2000s.
Jones, you may recall, claimed that the Sandy Hook
school shooting was fake and a government conspiracy.
Double nuts.
The election of President Obama gave more fuel to these
conspiracy movements as right-wing groups claimed he
was some kind of secret agent who wanted to institute a
one-world government. From that, the “birther” movement
grew, as did right-wing claims that Obama had set up FEMA
concentration camps around the country to intern critics.
It was all bunk, of course, but millions of people believed
it. Some probably still believe it.
• ••
More recently, the impact of Covid 19 fueled a hy
per-expansion of conspiracy-mongering. Many claimed
that Covid was bogus. Others grabbed onto the existing
anti-vaxx movement and made wild claims intended to in
fluence people into not getting Covid vaccines. There are
still a lot of anti-vaxxers amongst us who think we’re being
injected with microchips so that the government can control
us.
Triple nuts.
Even worse, the far-right made baseless claims about bo
gus Covid treatments, including that animal drugs such as
Ivermectin would cure Covid. (It won’t. We use Ivermec
tin and similar drugs to treat our sheep for parasites. It has
nothing to do with vims control and can be dangerous for
human consumption.)
Double-triple nuts.
• ••
Most of this stuff is spread around on social media out
lets. The result has been to brainwash people into believing
crazy stuff.
Which goes back to my original question: Are Americans
getting dumber?
Well, yes. A lot of Americans are becoming dumb as
rocks.
That has nothing to do with a lack of education. Some of
those behind these conspiracies are highly-educated, as are
those who believe it.
The root cause is the explosion of political propaganda
on social media that has undermined legitimate sources of
information.
The academic world, once held in high esteem, is now
viewed with disdain by a large number of people who see
academia as the fount of a “woke” culture.
Traditional media outlets have been trashed on social me
dia and by politicians so much that a lot of people dismiss
legitimate news as being “fake.”
Doctors and medical professionals, once held in high es
teem, are now routinly trashed in the far-right media uni
verse. Some believe they are smarter than their doctors sim
ply because they know how to Google online.
What we’re witnessing in America today isn’t too far
removed from the propaganda and brainwashing that took
place in Germany in the 1930s. Tell a lie big enough and
often enough and a large number of people will believe it.
• ••
Because of this warped political culture that’s infused
with conspiracy, we’re electing some dumb people into our
public offices.
Take a look at Congress: Has there ever been a dumb
er bunch of knuckleheads than people like Marjorie Tay
lor Green who represents Northwest Georgia? Or even our
local area Congressman Andrew Clyde who compared the
violent assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to tourism?
Dumb and dumber.
• ••
A lot of those who tend to believe these various political
conspiracies fancy themselves to be “patriots.”
I get a lot of dumb emails from various groups and pol
iticians who claim to be “patriots” and who say only they
can defend America from a variety conspiratorial influence.
Most are using their bogus claims for fundraising, bilking
gullible citizens out of millions of dollars.
This is all Orwellian double-speak.
Those who claim to be “patriots” are not patriots. They’re
either nuts, or cunning manipulators who seek to bilk gull
ible citizens for money or political gain.
• ••
So how do reasonable people fight back against this tide
of conspiracy craziness?
I really don’t know. Once people are brainwashed into
believing something, they tend to double-down when con
fronted with the facts. They retreat into a bubble where they
shut out all information that conflicts with what they be
lieve. With social media, that’s easier to do than ever.
I fear for the future of our country. A nation ruled by fear
and conspiratorial manipulation is a nation headed toward
disaster.
Last week’s FEMA test didn’t activate a zombie vims in
those of us who are vaccinated. You’d think that obvious
fact would be enough to dissuade those who believed it.
But it won’t. The conspiracy-mongering will continue as
millions of Americans blindly follow along.
Dumb. There’s no other way to put it.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspa
pers. He can be reached atmike@mainstreetnews.com.
FourcCareer skills recent college grads lack
By David F. Shutler
A college education is largely seen as the ticket to a sol
id career. But will college really make you a better, more
promising and competitive employee?
I’ve been a business owner and employer for almost 20
years in fields spanning law to construction. Experience
has shown me that recent college grads are lacking in a
core group of soft-skills that are critical in the workplace.
There are three soft skills that it’s crucial to master for
most careers, but perhaps the number one most important
— and most surprising — of these is:
The ability to make small talk
Small talk is a crucial stepping stone to forging relation
ships, improving how we interact, and creating connec
tions with other people — all of which are key to making
an impact and advancing in the workplace. In addition,
employers look for this and other “soft” skills during the
interviewing and hiring process. Small talk is also the first
step in most conversations — and the ability to converse
well, in essence, gives you the ability to empathize with
people and forge deeper connections, which is essential in
the workplace.
Yet the ability to converse and make small talk receives
little emphasis in college and can be weakened through
lack of exercise. As MIT sociology professor Sherry
Turkle has observed, “We live in a technological universe
in which we are always communicating. And yet we have
sacrificed conversation for mere connection.”
The other soft-skills crucial to careers that recent col
lege grads tend to lack are persuasiveness, critical think
ing and showing initiative.
Persuasion skills
After you’ve established trust through conversation,
you can use that trust to guide another person’s thought
toward an intended outcome through persuasion. Manag
ers value persuasive employees. These are the individuals
who sell products, who make deals, and who establish
beneficial connections with other companies and promote
valuable services. They’re also the ones who are trusted to
manage others — and get promoted.
In college, these skills can be acquired through courses
in debate, logic, and philosophy. But they are often best
acquired and honed beyond the classroom.
Analytical skills
These are key to both work, and so many real-life situ
ations. Analytical thinking begins with one simple thing:
asking good questions. This can be acquired indirectly in
the classroom, but can also be developed through a wide
range of extra-curricular and off-campus experiences.
Start by researching things you’re interested in. Make
a point of finding answers for yourself instead of tak
ing what you are told on faith. Once you’ve found your
first answers, ask more questions. Ask, “What does this
mean?” and “What can I do with this information?” Ask,
“Is there any inconsistency here?” and “How can I apply
what I know to be more efficient?”
Initiative
From inquiry flows initiative — by far one of the most
valuable attributes in the workplace. For example, one
of my employees in the construction business once re
searched Salesforce software as a means to improve our
customer relation-ship management (CRM) and discov
ered it could be expanded to include construction prog
ress. He then set his mind to programming the
available Salesforce software modules that our com
pany had purchased to link construction progress to our
reporting system. When he completed the programming,
he could track the sales cycle from initial prospect all the
way to project completion. His initiative saved our com
pany time, money, and effort — and this greatly increased
his value as an employee. Interestingly, this employee
didn’t have a college degree.
Being well educated means developing a tool kit of es
sential skills necessary to succeed in one’s chosen field.
If you think that this notion of acquiring skills is off-tar-
get, take note: an emerging trend right now among federal
and state hiring authorities is to eliminate the degree re
quirement for many government jobs altogether and pivot
towards skills-based assessments. As noted in my book,
three states have already undertaken initiatives that would
effectively eliminate the college degree requirement for
government job opportunities and replace it with a skills
assessment.
Because these and other soft skills are critical in the
workplace are not necessarily going to be acquired during
the standard college experience, students must be inten
tional about acquiring
them through such activities as internships and summer
jobs.
Whether you acquire these skills in college or outside of
it, I hope that this overview will help prepare you to thrive
in your personal endeavors and in the workforce.
David F. Shutler served as a lawyer in the U.S. Air
Force before retiring as a Colonel in 1999. After retiring,
he worked as a business developer for a large corpora
tion, had a private law practice, and founded a construc
tion company focused on saving energy. More recently, he
launched a data analytics company, a candy manufactur
ing company, and a commercial real estate venture. He
holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Duke, a Juris
Doctor from Penn State Dickinson Law, and a Master’s
in Business Administration from University of Nebraska.
Compelled to solve the college debt puzzle by his experi
ence as a parent of three college graduates who struggled
with debt, he spent many years researching the student
debt debacle before writing his book. Graduate Debt
Free: Escaping the Student Loan Matrix. He lives in Dal
las with his wife Katie.
Eager to see action
on climate issues
Dear Editor:
Environmental Injustice is a real problem and disproportionately
affects marginalized communities everywhere. These communities
suffer the harmful effects from the environment, such as climate
change and toxic pollutants, but do not benefit from the positive
effects.
My name is Maggie Kelleher and I am a sophomore at Furman
University. I am very concerned about the climate and I am eager to
see action on the problem.
I am writing with the national, nonpartisan organization, Citizens’
Climate Lobby. CCL works with Congress members nationwide to
find a solution to climate change. The main goal is to bring action
by putting a price on carbon. This would result in businesses using
more clean, renewable energy.
We need to take action on climate change now. Mike Collins,
please help by voting to pass legislation such as the Energy Inno
vation and Carbon Dividend Act. To leam about other ways to help
and to leam more, please visit the Citizens’ Climate Lobby website.
Sincerely,
Maggie Kelleher
Athens
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