OPINION:
A line from the movie “Forrest Gump” — “Stupid is as stupid does” — should be the motto of Generation Z.
Journalist H.L. Mencken put it another way: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”
A natural-born misanthrope, Mencken would have delighted in surveying the state of our national unconsciousness.
A recent Gallup poll showed that, by 41% to 36%, Americans sympathize more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis. Among those ages 18 to 34, savagery is favored over civilization by a margin of 53% to 24%.
On 9/11, Palestinians were dancing in the streets of Ramallah and throwing candy to children to celebrate the murder of 3,000 Americans. Israelis joined us in mourning the deaths.
In a July CNBC poll, 40% of voters said some form of socialism would be good for the country. What form of socialism do the fans of bread lines have in mind? The Cuban kind (where the masses are starving), the British variety (with an economy in ruins) or the Canadian type (where you can die waiting for a lifesaving operation)?
A recent NPR/PBS Marist poll showed that 65% of Americans think U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gone too far. In an Economist/YouGov poll, 50% supported abolishing ICE.
Great idea! Let us turn immigration enforcement over to the Girl Scouts. They can offer a box of cookies to every illegal who self-deports.
In a Rasmussen poll, 54% of respondents said that going to war with Iran was a mistake. If we had not bombed the ayatollahs, we would still have cheap gas and they would have a nuke.
Also, according to Gallup, 44% of Americans believe a man can become a woman.
The rise of Democratic Socialists of America is the latest milepost on the road to dystopia.
How did the average American get so reality-challenged? The culprits include the news media and public education.
The media do not report the news; they mutilate it to fit their agenda. A recent survey showed that only 3.4% of journalists identify as Republicans, against 36% who consider themselves Democrats. Having spent almost 20 years working in a newsroom, I can tell you it is much worse than that, especially among the media elite, who shape coverage.
In July, there were three accidents in which illegal immigrants driving big rigs killed Americans. None was covered by CBS, NBC or ABC. The media ignore problems with illegal immigration, including the immigrant crime wave. To do otherwise would distract from their efforts to demonize ICE and reopen the borders.
What is laughingly referred to as public education shares the blame with media for the public wandering around in a fog. Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.88-million-member American Federation of Teachers, was a member of the Democratic National Committee for 23 years.
In 2025, Ms. Weingarten published a rant called “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.” The “fascists” referred to in the title are conservatives, female athletes and parents who object to the indoctrination of their children.
The typical public school civics class teaches that America was founded by racists, misogynists and xenophobes, that our foreign wars were driven by imperialism, that borders are racist, that income inequality is proof that the system is rigged and that President Trump is the Prince of Darkness.
Several generations of Americans have been taught not to think. They uncritically absorb disinformation from the internet.
They prefer emoting to reasoning. They see scenes of devastation in the Gaza Strip, so Israel must be the aggressor. There are not many well-paying jobs for gender studies majors, so socialism is the answer.
Man-on-the-street interviews are enough to make you weep. Question: “Who is Ukraine at war with?” Answer: “Poland.” Question: “Where is the Middle East?” Answer: “Somewhere near China.” Question: “Who did we fight in World War II?” Answer: “Russia.”
Because of the overuse of digital devices, our attention span is shrinking. According to a Microsoft study, the average human being now has a shorter attention span than a goldfish (8.25 seconds versus nine seconds). According to a Pew Research Center survey, 31% of teens lost focus in class because of cellphone use.
It would all be hilarious except for the fact that these “maroons,” as Bugs Bunny would say, vote. The Democratic Party is counting on them to help turn America into a star-spangled gulag.
The “good-and-hard” part comes later. In the meantime, the zombies are starving. It is so hard to find brains in America today.
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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