A Lot of Americans Are Googling 'What Is Oligarchy?' After Biden's Farewell Speech
gizmodo.com
The outgoing president warned of the growing dominance of a small, monied elite.

Summary

In his farewell speech, President Joe Biden warned of a growing “oligarchy” in the U.S., where extreme wealth and power threaten democracy.

Comparing modern elites to 19th-century robber barons, he called for reforms to hold the wealthy accountable, as done in the past.

Biden also criticized a “tech-industrial complex” concentrating power and spreading disinformation, weakening democracy.

His remarks sparked a surge in Google searches for “oligarchy.”

The speech comes amid rising concerns about policies favoring billionaires, like Trump’s tax cuts and potential cuts to social safety programs.

  • ubergeekEnglish
    664·
    6 hours ago

    I think we have definitive proof that the American public, in general, are idiots.

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.worldEnglish
      184·
      3 hours ago

      Want definitive proof?

      There are 244m eligible voters in the United States.

      77m voted for Trump. Idiots.

      2.6m voted 3rd party. Idiots.

      90m didn’t vote. Idiots.

      90+77+2.6 = 169.6

      That means 170m of 244m eligible voters are braindead stupid. That’s 69.7%. So we essentially have a 70% failure rate amongst eligible voters for maintaining our democracy.

      Yeah, Americans, in general, are STUUUUUUUUUPID.

      Yeah, we’re in a declining nation and it’s probably not going to get better anytime soon.

    • khannie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      3 hours ago

      I actually consider this really positive on a few fronts.

      Firstly, people are trying to learn. That’s great.

      Oligarchy is not a common word if your English level isn’t great and that’s true for lots of people. Even if you read books a decent amount it’s not something I think you’d come across frequently.

      Also, for folks who don’t know what an oligarchy is, for them to find out they’re possibly living in one may change their world view.

      I’m sure there are more.

      • spookedintownsville@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        6 minutes ago

        Honestly, I am one of those idiots. I had to look up oligarchy myself, although I looked it up because it was being thrown around a bit on Lemmy, not because Biden said it.

      • ubergeekEnglish
        8·
        3 hours ago

        That’s a very… generous interpretation, but I’ll “allow it”, because it gives me some hope.