# US-Americans, I Pit you! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 4, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745 "2020-11-04T13:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/1 "2020-11-04T13:50:00Z")
Today is the 4th of November and the result of the election is not clear cut. Trump might still win, some write this is even probable. When Trump was elected, many people, good people, thought it was a weird aberration that would be corrected at the next oportunity. It has not been. You have not done it. Whatever the final result, you have not repudiated Trump decisively after seeing him in office for four years. Half of you Americans have voted again for lies, delusions, unfairness, superstition, inequality, racism, bigotry and hatred. Half of you Americans still want to be ruled by a sociopathic strongman and would-be dictator, after having every opportunity to see him, his family and his acolytes for what they are. I Pit you all, one half of you for voting for this monster, the other half for letting it happen. If the other half is so ignorant, why did you not educate them? If the other half is so stupid, how could they outsmart you? How could you let them cheat you? Gerrymander you? Vote supress you? Yes, maybe Biden wins in the end. But not decisively enough, not convincingly enough. Without the Senate he will achieve nothing. If he wins at all. The world looks down on you today, and does not even feel pity. Thus I point my finger at you all and say: pit the People of the USA! They have failed the world, they have failed themselves, they have failed the future generations, they have failed their fellow Americans. Today is a day of shame and sorrow! (PS: This post leans heavily on [this post](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-folks-in-other-countries-think-about-us-election-craziness/924480/83) . I only expanded it) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/2 "2020-11-04T14:05:15Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > If the other half is so ignorant, why did you not educate them? You can’t educate someone who refuses to be educated. How many Trump supporters cry “fake news” at a fucking _live broadcast?_ Hint:It’s not less than all of them. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/3 "2020-11-04T14:10:38Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > If the other half is so stupid, how could they outsmart you? How could you let them cheat you? Gerrymander you? Vote supress you? Who said that evil is stupid? ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/4 "2020-11-04T14:11:11Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You can’t educate someone who refuses to be educated. How many Trump supporters cry “fake news” at a fucking _live broadcast?_ Hint:It’s not less than all of them. This is what I was going to say - you’re presuming that the people in question care to be educated. Also, you’re assuming that they’re rational. If you think that the “Deep State” is pulling strings so Hollywood decides the vote, are you really going to realize the error of your ways and swing the other way? Probably not - you’ll say, “That’s just what they want us to think! Sheep!” Good, bad or indifferent, we have to “let this happen.” It’s part of the democratic process, even though it sure feels broken. ETA: I’d agree that in this case, evil isn’t as stupid as evil seems. He managed to rig the Supreme Court in his favor, many say just in case this happened. I think it’s a horrible, horrible thing to do, but it’s also more forward-thinking that I had thought. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/5 "2020-11-04T14:15:01Z")
Sounds like a lame excuse to me. It’s not my fault, it’s them, they don’t want to be educated! Perhaps education should start in kindergarten, based on books, not after college, based on Twitter, Facebook and reality TV? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/6 "2020-11-04T14:17:26Z")
Perhaps it should. Of course, if “they” already control the Board of Education, “they” control what’s taught in kindergarten. Do you have any actual, practical suggestions for what “we” should have done differently? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/7 "2020-11-04T14:21:17Z")
Yeah, I got nothin’ And any efforts I could make at trying to _explain_ it … would do nothing to _excuse_ it. What was that term again ? Kakistocracy ?? > **[Kakistocracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakistocracy)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > A kakistocracy (/kækɪˈstɒkrəsi/, /kækɪsˈtɒ-/) is a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.: 54  The word was coined as early as the seventeenth century. Peter Bowler has noted in his book that there is no word for the government run by the best citizens,\[a\] and that the aristarchy may be the right term, but still, it could conceivably be a kakistocracy disguised as an aristocracy.\[a\] > The word is derived from t... :blecch: ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/8 "2020-11-04T14:21:23Z")
I don’t know who you mean by “they” and how ironic it should be read, but my suggestion concerning education would be at the top of my hat: more maths and statistics, more biology, less religion, more ethics, no intelligent design at all, geography not centered around the USA, same for history, more foreign languages, more respect for nature. Just a start. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/9 "2020-11-04T14:25:49Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > When Trump was elected, many people, good people, thought it was a weird aberration that would be corrected at the next oportunity. It has not been. You have not done it. America deserves to be Pitted. I am shocked that this election is so close. This is not the America that I thought it was. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/10 "2020-11-04T14:27:42Z")
> **[Dark Helmet: So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because...](https://www.quotes.net/mquote/89071)** > > A great memorable quote from the Spaceballs movie on Quotes.net - Dark Helmet: So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb. > [@](#): > > So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I don’t know who you mean by “they” and how ironic it should be read, but my suggestion concerning education would be at the top of my hat: more maths and statistics, more biology, less religion, more ethics, no intelligent design at all, geography not centered around the USA, same for history, more foreign languages, more respect for nature. > Just a start. Great idea. Except that was where they started. Education is set by the states, not by the government, and if you see the states that went overwhelmingly red, you will see that they have gutted their education systems. They intentionally leave their populace ignorant and easy to manipulate. The things that you said, those are the things that we fight to be able to teach our next generation, and those are the things that they despise and do everything they can to remove from the curriculum. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/11 "2020-11-04T14:28:15Z")
“They” are Trump supporters. “We” are Trump opponents. You seem to be saying that “we” should have retroactively already educated “them”, they way you want them to be educated. It looks like you’re in the EU. I Pit you. You allowed the UK to vote for Boris Johnson and Brexit. You allowed Hungary to elect Fidesz and Victor Orban. You allowed Poland to elect the Law and Justice Party. How could you allow that? And I don’t want to hear any lame excuses about how you can’t control how people in other countries vote. It’s your EU. You’re failing. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/12 "2020-11-04T14:30:46Z")
Fair enough. I fought with my humble means, but I lost. At least I tried. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/13 "2020-11-04T14:33:18Z")
No, you didn’t try. If you had tried, you would have succeeded. You’ve clearly set out the parameters. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/14 "2020-11-04T14:37:08Z")
I’m _not_ proud of my country or many of my fellow citizens right now. I’m feeling a bit sick. But this _isn’t_ a uniquely American problem. History didn’t end in 1991. Liberal democracy isn’t the only choice left. Populism and ethno-nationalism are real forces, throughout the world. _No one_ has come up with a magic bullet to convince people who are scared and insecure that liberalism is a better path forward than tribalism. And sometimes, in a democracy, the other guy wins. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/15 "2020-11-04T14:38:27Z")
The problem is, they are motivated by hatred, and it’s hard to compete with that. There is very little as motivating as wanting to destroy those you despise. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/16 "2020-11-04T14:39:08Z")
Don’t you hate them too? I know I do. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/17 "2020-11-04T14:43:27Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Perhaps education should start in kindergarten But you are missing the efficiency and effectiveness with which ‘they’ get elected to local governments and school boards. And the effectiveness of their anti-intellectualism. Education creates “lib’ruls” and “socialists” and should therefore be reimagined in God’s image and defunded until we sell off the real estate. And on and on and on. Demagoguery has a fantastic track record of being both evil and extremely destructive. We have a wide swath of the populace who is exceptionally susceptible to demagoguery. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/18 "2020-11-04T14:43:44Z")
Good podcast here [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KOWyHQ1mnac/maxresdefault.jpg "Mindscape 121 | Cornel West on What Democracy Is and Should Be") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOWyHQ1mnac) In the intro, one of the things that they point out was in a poll, where people were asked if they preferred democracy or the leadership of a wise individual, two-thirds preferred the leadership of the wise individual. Then those who said they preferred the leadership of the wise individual objected to the idea that that was a dictatorship. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/19 "2020-11-04T14:46:18Z")
And ‘they’ have churches, and ‘they’ have think-tanks, and ‘they’ have talk radio, and ‘they’ have no end of RW online sources where the denizens of the RW echo chamber can solidify their deeply-held and never reflectively-examined beliefs. ‘They’ have a machine that works. And the Democrats ? > I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. –Will Rogers ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745/20 "2020-11-04T14:47:42Z")
Sorry I have to leave, I will come back later. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-americans-i-pit-you/924745.md?page=2)