this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
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Getting news from reputable sources generally involves reading and ~25% of American adults are functionally illiterate.
Probably not the main cause of people turning to TikTok for news but if you drew a ven diagram of the two groups, I wouldn't be shocked if there was an awful lot of overlap.
His tweets have a 5th grade reading level, there's a connection for sure. Even Facebook and Twitter and other social media requires some level of reading.
In general, media companies usually target a 5th grade reading level to ensure most can read and understand the stories.
His tweets definitely aren't a 5th grade level, because they're clearly below that level.
4th-grade I've heard. In any case, American media had been aiming for 5th-grade long before Trump. Maybe it was 6th? In any case, I learned that in the 90s.
That ~25% of American adults is too dumb to deserve to vote. You should be able to show some kind of basic intelligence and common sense in order to have a say in how a country should be run – it should be based on merit. I even have a name for that: meritocracy!
In representative democracy even dumb people deserve representation.
That idea gets too sticky, too fast. Look up Southern literacy tests for black people. Complete nightmare.
Reminds me of my friend applying for his concealed weapon permit in Alabama. You had to submit a form, and a picture, to the local sheriff. Told him, "Good thing you're a middle-aged white guy!"
Still, I feel ya. Over half of Americans read at a 6th-grade level and our President speaks at a 4th-grade level. Obama spoke at a 10th-grade level and the hate wasn't all down to racism. Americans are so fucking dumb, they were insulted, felt he was talking over their head to be a snotty, over-educated, "I'm better than you.", type. Or as we call it in the South, "uppity".
“Why are you being mean to me?!?!”
“…I’m sorry for being a little flustered but I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re doing it again!”