Is it just me, or is religion becoming more of a problem than a place of comfort? As a child, my parents always told me “never talk politics or religion with anyone.” I always wondered why. It was during my college years that this motto really took me to heart.

People are very different. Everyone has a story and a unique background that makes them who they are. So when something comes up that may insult their heritage or background, people can get really offensive and fast. People have the natural ability to judge others. Today’s religions are nothing but stereotypes judged from one group to another. So what do we do? Do we talk about it and risk the possibility of hate and/or crime? Do we ignore the differences and possibly hide faith,which is apart of who you are?

There is no solution. I was brought up to keep my faith quiet. Even though there are billions of people with the same belief system as me, the fear of people judging me made my family scared. I always hated this. We live in America! The land of the free where religion isn’t supposed to be judged. And yet, it is. No matter what the Constitution may say people’s actions are speaking louder than words.

Pierce quoted Mr. Madison, “the latent causes of faction are (thus) sown in every man, and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points…have in turn divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for common good.”

What Mr.Madison says is beautiful. We came to America to get away from conformity and strict rules. We came here to have a better life and to be free to make choices on how we live our lives. Religion has gotten out of control and somewhere along the lines people are using religion as an excuse for their behavior. People are forcing themselves, many times through crime, on other people.

Religion has made people scared of other religions. People are judging other religions based on a few bad apples of that culture. People over look what their beliefs have instilled and instead of loving and respecting others for their uniqueness; people hate. When the AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s, people ran away from those with the disease. There weren’t many hospitals, hospice, churches or other areas of prayer that would welcome them. When those individuals with AIDS needed help we all ran. No one was there for them.

Even in the modern world we live in today, there is very little diversity in the religions. Calendars rarely include the holidays of Judaism, Buddhist, Hindus ect. If we live in such an open world why aren’t these people’s beliefs being heard?

In the end all we have is each other. If we look back at 911 we ALL felt the same fears, we ALL lost loved ones, we ALL were effected. Every single person. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what your race is, your ethnicity, your age or your religion. We were all scared. For the first time, in a long time, religions came together. People no longer cared about the differences. We just wanted peace. Where did it go?

Instead of judging your neighbor, talk to them. If they have a different faith than you, take some time to learn about it. Many faiths are very similiar and yet we find reasons to “hate” one another.

“Love your neighbor as thyself.”  This can create great change.

As Charles Pierce continues his journey through Idiot America he examines every ounce of our American culture. When our founders came to America, they were trying to get away from the bias from their previous country. As Pierce describes in chapter three, “The founders wanted to raise a nation of educated people. But they were not trying to do so by establishing an orthodoxy of their own to replace the one at which they were chipping away.”

After all the hopes and dreams of our founders we still became a country surrounded in bias. The founders believed we would be different, and in many ways we are; however, we tend to lose sight of what is important. Our society is based on competition. At every age, shape and form someone is trying to out-do the person next to them. Fame has taken over our values and morals. Thanks to the internet, people’s values are tested everyday just in hopes for their five minutes of fame. Anyone can become a star through Youtube, Myspace, Twitter and Facebook. Anyone can say anything about anyone, and now too many people are abusing the tools that can be empowering our country.

When I read the section on the victims of Flight 93 I had to flip back and re-read the section. I was shocked by the power of communication, and how quickly a great momentum turned into a conspiracy. A blogger named Alec Rawls heard about the conspiracy theory of the memorial, and used technology to reach out to the public. He did research and published a book all within a short time. This conspiracy developed into an issue in the community. The memorial had changed because of one blogger.

Pierce said, “It is, of course, television that has enabled Idiot America to run riot within modern politics and all forms of public discourse. It’s not that there is less information on television than there once was. In fact, there is so much information that ‘fact’ is now defined as something believed by so many people that television notices their belief, and truth is measured by how fervently they believe it.”

American’s love to be entertained and the media is doing whatever it takes to make sure that it happens. We are more concerned about the latest celebrity gossip than what is going on in the world. Even political issues are being twisted and turning into celebrity gossip. In 2004, a Zogby poll discovered that 57% of the undecided voters in that year’s election would rather have a beer with George Bush than with John Kerry. Now, as interesting as this may be in a discussion with your friends, shouldn’t we be polling on the issues? When did having a beer with a future president become a serious media topic?

Over the years America has turned into “pop” culture. We are forgetting the importance and basics that make this country great. We can get so caught up in the “what ifs” that we begin to believe things before ever finding out the truth.

As public relations practitioners, we have the power and responsibility to use the tools: blogs, television, internet, newspapers and magazines to bring people to their common senses. We can help make people think and question the thousands of messages we see everyday. There are millions of smart, well educated people who have gotten lost in  the “gossip” because it’s easy. Not many people step up to the challange to help make people stop and think about what is important, right, fair and true.

For the rest of our lives people will continue to make bad decisions and say ‘stupid’ things. It is our challenge to remind the world of where we came from, how we got here and what we can do to make a difference. Idiot America doesn’t have to be. It’s up to us to make the change.

During my first look at Idiot America, by Charles Pierce, I didn’t know what to expect. I was intrigued by his topic on “the stupidity of America,” but how stupid could we really be? As American’s, we are one of the world’s top producers, and we have a high percentage of college graduates. Some of the most amazing discoveries and inventions take place on U.S. soil.

In his introduction, I found myself at the edge of my seat. He begins his demonstration by explaining the scene in the Creation Museum. Families are walking around carefully looking at all the exhibits, on the biblical history, without any concern for what is being represented. There are dinosaurs wearing saddles, dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark and a new Eden. Meanwhile, none of the guests stop and hesitate to think about these new exhibits. They leave the museum without questioning why the dinosaurs have saddles on, and how their weight was supported on Noah’s Ark. This is Idiot America.

At that moment it all clicked. As American’s, we are some of the most educated people in the world, yet we can be oblivious to the important things around us. Sometimes, we can get away with the impossible.

The average American will trust unreliable sources. Anyone who claims to be an expert, no matter what their knowledge may be, becomes one. As Pierce said, “If everyone is an expert, then nobody is.” With the rise of the internet, anyone can become the new leader in any trend. Technology has made it easy for any person to say anything and believe whatever is being stated. Social media sites such as: Twitter, Facebook and Myspace have made communication too easy. In many ways this is a huge benefit for our society, but in other ways, we are losing sight in face-to-face communication.

Pierce believes that Idiot America isn’t a new trend. The internet hasn’t made us anymore stupid. This stupidity has been here since the birth of our country. It can be pinpointed back to the 1700’s. So when will we become smarter? When will we start thinking for ourselves?

Before the start of this book, I believed American’s were fairly smart. I believed we had almost everything figured out; however, now I see we have a long ways to go. Maybe, if more people took the time to read about the patterns of America’s idiocy we can grow and move forward. There may be hope for us after all, but be careful, it would be silly to believe everything that Pierce has to say. No matter who is speaking, we need to learn how to think for ourselves.