There is a growing crisis in American culture today, One that we all
should be deeply concerned about. It has pervaded so deeply in our collective
psyche that it has become virtually invisible. It manifests itself most
noticeably in our current political situation and becomes increasingly
obvious in our political discussions. This “crisis” is anti-intellectualism.
When I do an internet search on anti intellectualism a whole host of topics
comes to the fore front. Topics like : anti intellectualism is taking over
the U.S. and anti intellectualism in Christianity are the top subjects of my
search anti intellectualism in education seemed to me to be the most troubling
hit on the list.
What is anti intellectualism? Wikipedia defines it as:
“Anti-intellectualism is hostility towards and mistrust of intellect,
intellectuals,
and intellectual pursuits, usually expressed as the derision of education,
philosophy,
literature, art, and science, as impractical and contemptible.”
I see this sentiment expressed frequently on social media in fact in response
to an
article describing how in a High school art class a bet was made between a
student
and a teacher that if the student received a certain amount of “likes” the
class
would be exempt from the final exam. The majority of the comments expressed a
dis
concern on the basis that art was a worthless class and a useless topic of
study so it did not matter. The popular attitude on philosophy is that it is
merely
“mental masturbation” and of little worth in the “real world” . Wiki goes on to
say:
“Anti-intellectualism is a common facet of totalitarian dictatorships to
oppress
political dissent. The Nazi party's populist rhetoric featured
anti-intellectualism
as a common motif, including Adolf Hitler's political polemic, Mein Kampf.
Perhaps
its most extreme political form was during the 1970s in Cambodia under the rule
of
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, when people were killed for being academics or
even
for merely wearing eyeglasses (as it suggested literacy) in the Killing
Fields.[2]”
What is alarming is this attitude is growing and has not been identified and
more
concerning it is a popular position in education and becoming more so due to
what
economist Thomas Sowell calls :
“By encouraging, or even requiring, students to take stands where they have
neither
the knowledge nor the intellectual training to seriously examine complex
issues,
teachers promote the expression of unsubstantiated opinions, the venting of
uninformed
emotions, and the habit of acting on those opinions and emotions, while
ignoring or
dismissing opposing views, without having either the intellectual equipment or
the
personal experience to weigh one view against another in any serious way”
Educators are creating a culture of pseudo intellectualism in this way which it
passes off as critical thinking skills and thoughtful analysis.
But is anti intellectualism a traditional
American value?
Sowell argues that America was founded on a culture of anti intellectualism
and can be understood In these historical terms:
“American anti-intellectualism can be traced to the early Colonial era, and
that
wariness of the educated upper-classes is understandable given that America was
built, in large part, by people fleeing persecution and brutality at the hands
of the educated upper classes.”
From this historical perspective we can gain an understanding of the current
political climate.
in The New Purchase, or Seven and a Half Years in the Far West (1843), the
Reverend Bayard R. Hall, A.M., said about frontier Indiana:
"We always preferred an ignorant bad man to a talented one, and, hence,
attempts were usually made to ruin the moral character of a smart candidate;
since, unhappily, smartness and wickedness were supposed to be generally
coupled, and [like-wise] incompetence and goodness."
Is anti intellectualism considered in modern America as a traditional
American value As “American” as apple pie and Mom?
I think this explains a lot about why
It is run into so often on the MD,
Why Pirsig and MOQ are often interpreted as anti intellectual
And usually interpreted this way by
Americans.
However it brings to my mind the question of anti intellectualism in
Native Culture as it would seem to me that it does link to the distrust
Of Whites and how does this square
With the root expansion of rationality?
Do these values weigh so heavily that
People are unable (or unwilling) to see the epiphany? So deep that the
redemption and expansion of intellectualism is lost on this bias?
Have they become so invested in
This value that it defines who they are?
It might seem so.
The hook inZMM seems to be baited
With anti intellectualism which often
Gets swallowed whole. People forget these books are stories with the plot
Evolving and the message delivered at the end of the journey. They identify so
much with the character
Phaedrus that attacks the academe
That they willingly over look the conclusion. That Academic hating Phaedrus is
their champion. That
David fighting Goliath and they can not let that traditional value go because
It feels so right.
How does one make an intellectual
Appeal When the skill set has been
Bred out? How does one make a rhetorically convincing case when
The author himself has failed to drive
The point home?
..
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