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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...

In public discourse, anti-intellectuals usually perceive and publicly present themselves as champions of the common folk — populists against political elitism and academic elitism — proposing that the educated are a social class detached from the everyday concerns of the majority, and that they dominate political discourse and higher education.

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We always prefer an ignorant bad man to a educated good one; since, unhappily, smartness and wickedness were supposed to be generally coupled, and like-wise incompetence and goodness.

- The New Purchase, or Seven and a Half Years in the Far West (1843) by Reverend Bayard R. Hall

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In my opinion, anti-intellectualism is one of the world’s most serious problems, these days.

What is it? It’s the belief that what is good are the “simple people”, the “common people”, who are supposedly more honest and “real” than so-called “ivory tower” intellectuals.

It’s also the belief that thinking and learning are trouble, that they lead people to unhappiness, sinfulness, asking too many questions, and such.

It’s geeks, or more intelligent students, being called “brainy” or “nerds” and harassed by classmates. It’s science being seen as a waste of time and money. It’s a political candidate winning an election because he successfully depicted his opponent as an “egghead”. Incidentally, it’s likely that one of the reasons America currently has one of its worst presidents ever is that, by being less educated and articulate than Gore or Kerry, he appeared “more in touch” with the common man (of course, one should then wonder if you really want the village idiot in charge of the most powerful nation in the world… but I digress.)

There are several sources of anti-intellectualism. Religion is an obvious one, of course, since being intelligent and learning makes one less likely to accept arguments from authority, and to question unproven assertions. An intelligent, learned man has no need for religion – therefore, we don’t want any intelligent, learned men (to paraphrase Ayn Rand).

Another reason is populism, the belief that the honest, hard working “masses” are oppressed by the corrupt, privileged “elites”. While they certainly are, sometimes (in dictatorships, for instance), populism is wrong because of its belief of “the lower, the better”, and its worship of ordinariness. Populism, like most forms of collectivism, punishes people for ability and for success – therefore, it promotes mediocrity and sameness. And a populist certainly hates and feels threatened by anyone with more “brains” or education.

...an intelligent, educated person is much more likely to question, and to see “what’s rotten”. The “unwashed masses” are much easier to keep in line. Higher education is seen as “dangerous” and “subversive”.

Finally, a lot of people simply believe the lie that intelligence and learning are mostly “theoretical” and are of no use in the real world, and can’t be used in order to improve your life.

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ORIGINAL: Edwynn



~FR~


-Stops munching his Freedom Fries and pauses the video of his Joe the Plumber compilation ... -


Does this have anything to do with why people still actually believe the media and political ideology, e.g?

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It is not at all clear exactly who you are addressing or what issue is being addressed.

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery
He's pissed, but he's unclear about what, so he's latched onto talk show solutions.

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ORIGINAL: imperatrixx

"If the country took its obligations to self-government at all seriously, the presence of Barrack Obama on a national ticket would have been an insult on a par with the elevation of Caligula's horse. However, the more people pointed out Obama's obvious shortcomings, the more the people who loved him loved him even more.

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ORIGINAL: imperatrixx

People didn't really point out Obama's shortcomings though. They just called him a Muslim and a socialist.

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ORIGINAL: RacerJim
Apparantly you live on a different planet, or were deaf to all the people who pointed out many of Soetoro's/Obama's shortcomings. As if being a Muslim and a Socialist aren't enough shortcomings in an overwhelmingly Christian Democracy.

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ORIGINAL: imperatrixx

People didn't really point out Obama's shortcomings though. They just called him a Muslim and a socialist.

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

Then you were in an echo chamber.

The major criticism of him were that he did not have the experience, nor the temperament to be the President of the US.

Firm

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY


The major criticism of him were that he did not have the experience, nor the temperament to be the President of the US.

Firm

1. The intellectual is looking for the right questions to ask; the pseudo is giving what he claims to be the right answers.

2. The intellectual is evidently motivated by a disinterested love of truth; the pseudo is interested in being right, or being thought to be right, whether he is or not.

3. The intellectual is willing to admit that what he does not know is far greater than what he knows; the pseudo claims to know as much as can be known about the subject under consideration

4. The intellectual states as good a case for his adversary as can be made out; the pseudo sets up a straw man and beats it to death for the sake of seeming superior.

5. The intellectual is deeply and constantly aware of the limitations of human reason; the pseudo makes a deity of reason and tries to force it into realms it cannot penetrate.

6. The intellectual seeks light from whatever source, realizing that ideas are no respecters of persons and turn up in the most unexpected places from the most improbable people; the pseudo accepts ideas, when he does, only from experts and specialists and certified authorities.

7. The intellectual advances an hypothesis that he hopes may be true; the pseudo propounds a dogma that he insists is true.

8. The intellectual recognizes that opposites are not always contradictory, and may indeed reinforce each other; the pseudo paints a picture in black and white, right or wrong, leaving no room for a contrary viewpoint.

9. The intellectual knows there are no final answers to human questions; the pseudo makes each tentative and provisional answer sound like a finality.

10. The intellectual is courageous in opposing majority opinion, even when it jeopardizes his position; the pseudo slavishly follows "the most reliable authorities" in his field sneering at heresies.

11. The intellectual never talks down to his audience, but tries to be as clear as possible; the pseudo talks above his audience to mystify and impress them.