Well, whatever the case is, stupidity is overdetermined. Here are a few ideas not mentioned. * Similar to #13. Expansion of rural broadband, mobile computing,

Well, whatever the case is, stupidity is overdetermined. Here are a few ideas not mentioned. * Similar to #13. Expansion of rural broadband, mobile computing, and cell phone networks, combined with post-9/11 entrenchment/mainstreamization of fringe cable news and talk radio. That's a lot of "information" getting to folks with below-average formal education. * It has always been somewhat unfashionable to call religious people "stupid", but the steady decline in religiosity may have led to gullibility in other areas of life, particularly politics and conspiracy theories (MAGA/QAnon/Fox News/4Chan) that we are more apt to call "stupid"