Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America

[WarChild]

Interesting article.

The tragedy in Charleston last week will no doubt lead to more discussion of several important and recurring issues in American culture?particularly racism and gun violence?but these dialogues are unlikely to bear much fruit until the nation undertakes a serious self-examination. Decrying racism and gun violence is fine, but for too long America?s social dysfunction has continued to intensify as the nation has ignored a key underlying pathology: anti-intellectualism.

America is killing itself through its embrace and exaltation of ignorance, and the evidence is all around us. Dylann Roof, the Charleston shooter who used race as a basis for hate and mass murder, is just the latest horrific example. Many will correctly blame Roof's actions on America's culture of racism and gun violence, but it's time to realize that such phenomena are directly tied to the nation's culture of ignorance.

In a country where a sitting congressman told a crowd that evolution and the Big Bang are ?lies straight from the pit of hell,?(link is external) where the chairman of a Senate environmental panel brought a snowball(link is external) into the chamber as evidence that climate change is a hoax, where almost one in three citizens can?t name the vice president(link is external), it is beyond dispute that critical thinking has been abandoned as a cultural value. Our failure as a society to connect the dots, to see that such anti-intellectualism comes with a huge price, could eventually be our downfall.

Continued at Psychology Today

[j3rkules]

As the article points out, there isn't evidence that Americans are less intelligent or lazier than people in other advanced countries. In fact, we work harder and are more productive. But Americans are bombarded with disinformation from well-funded right-wing media outlets on television, radio, and the Internet. To find the evidence for this one only has to observe the similarity in the talking points from Fox, the Republican candidates and then any anti-intellectual American on the street. Disinformation is more insidious than pure ignorance because it reinforces an alternative model of how the world works. Also, to change the mind of an ignorant person requires only to present the facts. To change the mind of a misinformed person requires them to first abandon their entire world view.

[dyna mo]

interesting perspective. the colorado theater killer and the isla vista killer seem to contradict the premise, however. both are/were very smart people.

[WarChild]

interesting perspective. the colorado theater killer and the isla vista killer seem to contradict the premise, however. both are/were very smart people.

Let me start off by saying I don't necessarily agree with everything in the article but I do believe that even intelligent people can become the victim of a cultural Anti-intellectualism.

Part of the brain called the Amygdala stores information learned in the presence of fear as being facts. Anti-intellectual propaganda can trigger this reaction causing even intelligent people to hold non intelligent beliefs.

In any case, it's like you said, just an interesting perspective and something to think about.

[dyna mo]

Let me start off by saying I don't necessarily agree with everything in the article but I do believe that even intelligent people can become the victim of a cultural Anti-intellectualism.

Part of the brain called the Amygdala stores information learned in the presence of fear as being facts. Anti-intellectual propaganda can trigger this reaction causing even intelligent people to hold non intelligent beliefs.

In any case, it's like you said, just an interesting perspective and something to think about.

interesting biology triggered there.

i reread the article, the author doesn't mince the conclusion, he points to religion and corporations creating/forcing a lack of reason in Americans. While i don't disagree, it's revealing (to me anyway) that an article in Psychology.com glaringly leaves out a serious consideration- the impact & influence psychology has had on young males
mostly through our education system.
the entie ADHD epidemic for instance. The "No child left behind" legislation that was supposed to raise the bar? it in fact encourages kids to be diagnosed ADHD so they get easier testing, consequently higher scores.

[EonBlue]

I think another, and possibly far worse, problem is pseudo-intellectualism. And I think the author of this article is guilty of it.




.

[The Porn Nerd]

What America is suffering from is good old fashioned propaganda. Nothing more, nothing less. Remember the German people under Nazism? Germans, the people that produced fucking ALBERT EINSTEIN (a jew) and Werner Von Braun (who took us to the Moon), and yet they believed every word of Hitler's (and especially Goebbel's) propaganda. Braun was a Nazi, Einstein got the fuck out.

The way to control a population is to limit their information. Control what they see, read and hear. PLUS you must also prevent them from gathering together into a movement. After all, a smart one in the group might clue the others in on "the truth" so best to keep them seperated. The Internet is perfect for this!

Lastly, tie everything into a "belief". ANY belief will do really - Jews are bad, we are the master race, liberals are killing America, whatever - and then you've literally cemented the propaganda into place. The #1 hardest thing to change in a human being is their belief system. Get them to believe the limited info you've given them (the Earth is only 6,000 years old, dinosaurs are a hoax, liberals want to take your guns, etc) and you can get a population to put up with anything.

[Joshua G]

love how the article, & this thread, narrowly define anti-intellectualism as republican/right wing. that fact by itself is anti-intellectual.

we do have a serious problem with not-enlightened people controlling the news media, & telling us we have to accept catlyn jenner or else be a hater, or that one hate crime in south carolina is a "national crisis." the media sensationalism & hype is totally out of control. dont forget it was the liberal media that aided & abetted cheney hyping iraq.

[Captain Kawaii]

LA Unified declared last year it was producing such a pack of dysfunctional dimwits into genpop America that it was abandoning teaching to the test and re-integrating analytical thinking into the classroom.

[Vendzilla]

Both sides deal with Anti-intellectualism. Case in point is gun violence. The left will go on and on about how we need stricter laws, but at the same time will favor a lower sentence for the people that break that law. That's why the Chicago area has such a high murder rate. Even though they have some of the strictest gun laws, they fail to enforce them to the fullest and the people that are shooting others know this.
If you shoot someone, might as well kill them, because the sentence is about the same in the end.
The right is not better, but it's become all about catering to your demographic instead of actually doing anything.

[CDSmith]

interesting perspective. the colorado theater killer and the isla vista killer seem to contradict the premise, however. both are/were very smart people.

I knew a guy back in my high school days to whom advanced physics and calculus were mere child's play, yet he was one of the biggest racist biggots I've ever known.

But I agree with most of the article. The more widespread education becomes, in general, the less small-mindedness and ignorance becomes. But there are always going to be exceptions... like my former friend and classmate. Yes, he was a friend of mine for a time, until I couldn't stand his BS anymore.

[dyna mo]

I knew a guy back in my high school days to whom advanced physics and calculus were mere child's play, yet he was one of the biggest racist biggots I've ever known.

But I agree with most of the article. The more widespread education becomes, in general, the less small-mindedness and ignorance becomes. But there are always going to be exceptions... like my former friend and classmate. Yes, he was a friend of mine for a time, until I couldn't stand his BS anymore.

I'm with ya. I think my view is primarily that it's very not easy or accurate for psychology, or more specifically, this article writer at a psychology resource, to categorize/generalize such sweeping conclusions about the human psyche. Especially while leaving out the elephant in the room- psychology!

[Dvae]

Enter exhibit 1

skip to 40 sec - let the stupidity and ignorance begin!

[Barry-xlovecam]

Couldn't help but noticing the "Find a Therapist" link in the top menu -- the author should take his own advice ...

[Jel]

love how the article, & this thread, narrowly define anti-intellectualism as republican/right wing. that fact by itself is anti-intellectual.

beat me to it.

The biggest lie told is the one where you are on side A, liberal; or side B, conservative. That is so indoctrinated, so ingrained, so powerfully tribal, that nothing will EVER change, no matter how many articles like this are written. What was it, 2 posts in, before a 'side' was blamed? Nope, just checked, and it's in the very first reply. See you in 1,000 years for the same head shaking and hand-wringing discussion

[MiamiBoyz]

What America is suffering from is good old fashioned propaganda. Nothing more, nothing less. Remember the German people under Nazism? Germans, the people that produced fucking ALBERT EINSTEIN (a jew) and Werner Von Braun (who took us to the Moon), and yet they believed every word of Hitler's (and especially Goebbel's) propaganda. Braun was a Nazi, Einstein got the fuck out.

The way to control a population is to limit their information. Control what they see, read and hear. PLUS you must also prevent them from gathering together into a movement. After all, a smart one in the group might clue the others in on "the truth" so best to keep them seperated. The Internet is perfect for this!

Lastly, tie everything into a "belief". ANY belief will do really - Jews are bad, we are the master race, liberals are killing America, whatever - and then you've literally cemented the propaganda into place. The #1 hardest thing to change in a human being is their belief system. Get them to believe the limited info you've given them (the Earth is only 6,000 years old, dinosaurs are a hoax, liberals want to take your guns, etc) and you can get a population to put up with anything.

Totally agree.

Social media has allowed an moron to post as much stupidity as they can come up with and make it seem to be real information.

Give every fucking loser a smart phone and a fucking FaceBook page.

[MiamiBoyz]

[ilnjscb]

interesting biology triggered there.

i reread the article, the author doesn't mince the conclusion, he points to religion and corporations creating/forcing a lack of reason in Americans. While i don't disagree, it's revealing (to me anyway) that an article in Psychology.com glaringly leaves out a serious consideration- the impact & influence psychology has had on young males
mostly through our education system.
the entie ADHD epidemic for instance. The "No child left behind" legislation that was supposed to raise the bar? it in fact encourages kids to be diagnosed ADHD so they get easier testing, consequently higher scores.

This is very true. Giving what is effectively meth to developing brains so you can sell some drugs and so they'll be "quiet". You have to wonder if these people are actively malicious or just really really stupid.

[directfiesta]

I think another, and possibly far worse, problem is pseudo-intellectualism. And I think the author of this article is guilty of it.




.

Back to OP : very interesting article , that creates a valid debate, which is needed .

[Mutt]

There are some points I agree with BUT here's the truth about the Charleston church massacre. It was done by a lone alienated loser, on his own website he decries that even in cracka country he can't find any racist organizations to join, the KKK is pretty much dead as are others so in his own words he decided that if no one else will take any action than it's up to him alone.

Look at the demonstration in Charleston, almost half the people who showed up to march were white. We aren't dumber overall, we're smarter.

White trash racists stand out today because they have become such a small pathetic sub species of cartoon characters.

Remember that intellectuals came up with the wonderful solution to the injustice of the world - they called it Communism.

Straw man argument to me from this author, ' it is beyond dispute that critical thinking has been abandoned as a cultural value' - utter bullshit, he draws this conclusion from the dumbest of the dumb, Internet comment section trolls, fundamentalist Christians who believe dinosaurs were on board Noah's Ark, the Congressman who brought the snowball in to deny global warming, etc. He doesn't mention at what point in the history of America critical thinking was such a treasured cultural value. I'll presume he means the 1960's, the decade that gave us a drug culture,50% divorce rate, horrible child rearing. The intellectuals blame anit-intellectual culture and society for the ills that create these monsters - who created that culture - the movies, the shock jocks, the drugs, latch key kids with mom off at some job because feminism told her being a good mom isn't enough, sexualized children/teens and on and on - it sure wasn't the dumb anti-intellectual conservatives he points his finger at.

There are plenty of dumb intellectuals, they may have educations, but their ideas are dumb and/or unworkable. Dumb goes both ways, intellectuals are as blind to their own failings as the dumbest bigot.

I do agree with him that base racial hatred the perpetrator of the massacre possesses really only comes from a bottom feeder class of people. On the few occasions I've read Stormfront, the racists try very hard to impress each other with their knowledge of history but it's easy to see that the vast majority of them are pretty low IQ social rejects. But that's hardly news, I think almost everybody can agree with that.

His argument is too simplistic, he assumes as most intellectuals do that intellectuals are superior in raw intelligence and highly rational people and that if everybody else thought exactly like them what a grand world it would be, therefore the riff raff who don't think just like him, the anti-intellectuals are what's killing America. America is hardly dying, with all its faults show me a country close to its population that is superior.

[ilnjscb]

There are some points I agree with BUT here's the truth about the Charleston church massacre. It was done by a lone alienated loser, on his own website he decries that even in cracka country he can't find any racist organizations to join, the KKK is pretty much dead as are others so in his own words he decided that if no one else will take any action than it's up to him alone.

Look at the demonstration in Charleston, almost half the people who showed up to march were white. We aren't dumber overall, we're smarter.

White trash racists stand out today because they have become such a small pathetic sub species of cartoon characters.

Remember that intellectuals came up with the wonderful solution to the injustice of the world - they called it Communism.

Straw man argument to me from this author, ' it is beyond dispute that critical thinking has been abandoned as a cultural value' - utter bullshit, he draws this conclusion from the dumbest of the dumb, Internet comment section trolls, fundamentalist Christians who believe dinosaurs were on board Noah's Ark, the Congressman who brought the snowball in to deny global warming, etc. He doesn't mention at what point in the history of America critical thinking was such a treasured cultural value. I'll presume he means the 1960's, the decade that gave us a drug culture,50% divorce rate, horrible child rearing. The intellectuals blame anit-intellectual culture and society for the ills that create these monsters - who created that culture - the movies, the shock jocks, the drugs, latch key kids with mom off at some job because feminism told her being a good mom isn't enough, sexualized children/teens and on and on - it sure wasn't the dumb anti-intellectual conservatives he points his finger at.

There are plenty of dumb intellectuals, they may have educations, but their ideas are dumb and/or unworkable. Dumb goes both ways, intellectuals are as blind to their own failings as the dumbest bigot.

I do agree with him that base racial hatred the perpetrator of the massacre possesses really only comes from a bottom feeder class of people. On the few occasions I've read Stormfront, the racists try very hard to impress each other with their knowledge of history but it's easy to see that the vast majority of them are pretty low IQ social rejects. But that's hardly news, I think almost everybody can agree with that.

His argument is too simplistic, he assumes as most intellectuals do that intellectuals are superior in raw intelligence and highly rational people and that if everybody else thought exactly like them what a grand world it would be, therefore the riff raff who don't think just like him, the anti-intellectuals are what's killing America. America is hardly dying, with all its faults show me a country close to its population that is superior.

I guess but the strawman is being used effectively. Would you say, as a result of the lack of hardcore white racists that you refer to above that race relations have gotten better, or worse? If they have not gotten better, why not? If they are getting worse, in your opinion, what will be the outcome? If they have gotten better, in your opinion, what are you smoking and why do you disagree with everyone else?

[Captain Kawaii]

I knew a guy back in my high school days to whom advanced physics and calculus were mere child's play, yet he was one of the biggest racist biggots I've ever known.

But I agree with most of the article. The more widespread education becomes, in general, the less small-mindedness and ignorance becomes. But there are always going to be exceptions... like my former friend and classmate. Yes, he was a friend of mine for a time, until I couldn't stand his BS anymore.

Obviously on of your pals... birds of a feather...

[Captain Kawaii]

I think another, and possibly far worse, problem is pseudo-intellectualism. And I think the author of this article is guilty of it.




.

For once I agree with you.

[_Richard_]

Interesting article.

'Americans have allowed their democracy to slip away'

wow