And yet literally the exact same trend is happening here all over Europe: education system decline (less students enrolled in secondary, number of schools declining, teacher:child ratios increasing, increased teachers quitting or burned out), huge increase in fascist and right wing support all over Europe, anti-science and anti-vax movements starting to pop up and grow, huge decrease in union memberships, especially among young people, and worker rights being slowly degraded.
This is exactly how it started in America, and before people say "that is because of american culture and propaganda exports", that could very well be, but it doesn't change the fact that it is happening here and the same trend of people becoming more uneducated and dumber is happening. In 20 years we will be as dumb as america if the trend accelerates.
Plus, with the rise of corpo-fascist movements in the EU, people are already stupid enough to vote squarely against their own interests to spite someone they hate.
You'd fit in here in Belgium. 80% of people eat 2 pieces of white bread with a spread or a single piece of meat in between for lunch lol