The inability for intelligent people to frame their policies and positions in ways very stupid simple people can understand is the biggest failing of the last 50+ years if not longer.

I don't think people have gotten stupider or leaders have gotten worse at justifying their policies. IMO what is happening here is a consequence of a catastrophic loss of trust in elites and institutions.

> in ways very stupid simple people can understand

The problem is rarely the ability to understand. It is the ability (or desire) to listen that many lack.

The problem seems to be that Americans are willing to suffer a lot of personal loss as long as they can ensure someone else suffers even more.

Disagree, I think they've done a moderately good job of it. The problem is that you have other intelligent but cynical people who are prepared to invest fortunes in convincing stupid people to believe things that actively undermine their interests. Long before 4chan and social media came along, you had tabloid newspapers, radio stations, and publishers whose sole goal was to dumb people down by appealing to paranoia, selfishness, and vapidity.

> The inability for intelligent people to frame their policies and positions in ways very stupid simple people can understand

"disease very bad. disease may kill. inject this. you less likely to get disease."

=> "How dare you infringe upon my bodily freedom!"

Realistically, how farther down can we dumb things from here?

At this point, I don't think it's an inability - all sorts of messages get broadcast - but an unwillingness to actually talk to people with different worldviews.

The easy way to spread a pro-health message to the people who really need to comply with it is to say "letting disease spread is Nergal worship (2 Kings 17:30), and America is a Christian nation." Just spam that, nonstop, until it is as embedded in their minds as whatever derangement Trump has come up with this time - because this is the kind of thing they respond to.

The second thing is more complicated: to admit that a lot of "sexual health" only applies to people engaging in highly risky behavior, and should be handled separately both in messaging and in practice from general health. You can still make them support it, but with an explicit "do good even to the sinner" messaging. Throw in a few "We are currently promoting abortion because free school lunches have been canceled" and you WILL see movement.

Both of these are considered abominable among the current Democrat party, because it involves speaking the language of people with different values.

Hypocrisy at its finest.

It is odd to see someone in a society which worships willful ignorance and aggressive stupidy advance the position that somehow the smart people are responsible for not having figured a way to force the morons to a position that they have no intention of occupying.

They believe that the set of values and beliefs that they hold true or false advantage them and perceive education as an attack on their values. Most if them are happy to degrade and diminish anyone who tries some are willing to murder.

I think the bigger failing in that regard is the educational system. There shouldn't be this many stupid people, and they shouldn't be this stupid.

Personal responsibility applies to improving and maintaining one's own intellect, and not relying on others to do it.

>frame their policies and positions in ways very stupid simple people can understand

This doesn't matter when the intelligent people are working within the confines of reality and their opposition lies gratuitously. The stupid people are choosing the option they want to believe and apparently no amount of education or framing is going to change that.

This has nothing to do with intelligence, and everything to do with cults, beliefs, fears, Russian disinformation campaigns, political alignment, etc.

I've seen intelligent people fall for crazy conspiracy theories. Once all those antivaxers became pro-Russia, which basically has nothing to do with each other, it became clear were all this disinformation was coming from (talking mainly about Central Europe here, but I'm sure it applies to US too)

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