.

The problem is that it’s not a question of intelligence.

Not specifically intelligence, but I can make a very strong case that a lot of the problem comes from language. Or specifically the lack of language abilities in a percentage of the population who have missed important developmental milestones growing up.

Not speaking out my ass on this one, I have been researching the connections between learning language at an early enough age and being able to form complex or non-linear thoughts.

It's been studied in human children who were raised by animals (this has happened more times than people realize) that even when they were taken into human society, given shelter and taught how to be a human, they are never able to learn more than the most basic language skills, using single nouns to indicate wants, but nothing more complex than that. This has led to the understanding that if language isn't learned at an early enough age, we "pave over" parts of the brain that could have been used to learn how to turn complex ideas into abstractions, a way to view alternate perspectives and understand the views of others.

So what about the less extreme cases? What about people who just didn't have adequate education in language skills, or were raised in an environment that squelched talking, reading, asking questions or thinking broadly. (Such as poor communities, religious upbringing, conservative policing of thought and identity, and so on.)

This is creating an entire segment of society that aren't just kinda dim, they are actually incapable of anything other than linear, reactive thought patterns. Memories, associations, feelings... no mental "story" to explain their lives, just whatever they're told they go along with.

You can see great evidence of this trend in the abysmal reading scores that Americans have. Nearly a quarter of our adult population is functionally illiterate and this is just the lowest end of the spectrum, people who can read a few words and understand a text message if the sender is using simple enough language and emojis. People who pretend to discard the instruction manual because they "already know how to do it" but really they just can't form mental narratives from paragraphs of information. This is really, really bad. This is why we have Trump. This is why our market is crashing.

Exactly right. The one saving grace is that most cults are tied to their leader. Once Trump is gone, MAGA will fracture into sub-groups over who to follow.

There’s a creator who goes by the name Knitting Cult Lady, who grew up in the Kingdom of God cult and then became intelligence for the US Army. She has some very enlightening insight on the cult of MAGA. Pretty fascinating stuff actually.

The ~~Branch Davidian~~ Jim Jones kool-aid test was a great analogy for Trump’s fearmongering. The leader would ask people to drink poisoned kool-aid as a final test of faith. They had to experience the horror of facing their own death, only to then be filled with relief upon finding it was only a test. This was repeated over many occasions before the kool-aid was actually laced with poison. Trump keeps talking about taking Greenland by force so when the time comes, we’ll be desensitized to the reality.

comforting

That's the key word. The promises of greatness don't actually have to be delivered. You can be in the midst of a pandemic and/or collapsing economy. As long as you have the comforting myth.

Does their comfort bubble include comfort prices on things? If so how do I get in on that?

It was one thing when all the bad stuff was happening to people they wouldn't associate with, but tanking the economy and firing scores of government employees has gotta be breaking into that bubble, right?

I don't think that's true really. I really think that some people don't think their decisions through to the end, or at least halfway through. Just look at brexit, after the vote passed, people were googling the consequences lmao.

Democracy only works if the people are somewhat educated, but we're getting to the point where this is no longer the truth. That's why american elections are more of a entertainment program than a political event.

Are they?

Are you sure?

Or is it all unrealized losses because they're holding and not selling?

Temporarily. But the middle class is losing more; they'll buy up all the distressed assets like local businesses and small chains and bleed them dry

Nah, this is their plan. When the economy stabilizes, they will control more of everything, and it will only cost the labor and likely lives of many, many people.

This isn't the first time I've seen this. People just have very bad memories.