quote:

ORIGINAL: stealthmeister

They are anti-intellectual because the ruling class like to keep the sheeple stupid. Why else would we have a tax exemption for religions? Why isn't tuition tax-deductible?

quote:

Without in any way detracting from the contributions of immigrants (a group that includes my own ancestors), it's tricky, I think, to tease out whether their achievements reflect the influence of U.S. culture, their native cultures, both, or neither.

quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

It's the repubs fault.....all of it!

KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I blame our addiction to instant gratification and shit television. We want to be entertained, not educated. We don't care about facts, just fun.

And this is why I don't watch most of the regular television programming that so many US citizen find interesting. I don't buy or read, most of the publications that so many US citizens find interesting. I enjoy learning and don't care that so many people accuse me of forgetting where I came from, because I choose to actually USE my brain and learn shit.

quote:

ORIGINAL: PeonForHer

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML
"Teachers! Leave them kids alone! All in all it's just another brick in the wall. All in all you're just another brick in the wall. We don't need no education . . .

Never one of my favourite Pink Floyd sentiments, I have to say.

quote:

ORIGINAL: kdsub
People seem to forget the so called religious extremist right is a very small portion of the population where the religious are large but varied in its political beliefs.

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML

quote:

ORIGINAL: stealthmeister

They are anti-intellectual because the ruling class like to keep the sheeple stupid. Why else would we have a tax exemption for religions? Why isn't tuition tax-deductible?

Because students normally do not pay taxes?

quote:

ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

As an academic in a country (Australia) where anti-intellectualism is a national hobby, may I offer a few observations based on personal experience?

Firstly, anti-intellectualism seems to me to be primarily a Western phenomenon. In Japan or China, for example, professorships are prized, the most prestigious positions available. Knowledge is treasured and those who create, accumulate and propagate it enjoy an exalted social status.

In the West, anti-intellectualism seems to me to be most pronounced in English speaking countries. Fucktoyprincess' observation that it is less readily observed in Continental countries seems spot on to me. It might be relevant that English is, AFAIK, the only language where accents can be class-based as well as regional. One's proficiency in English also has a huge class dimension.

From the Enlightenment on, intellectuals have been distrusted politically by the powers that be. Their radicalism challenged existing orders in religion, in sciences and especially in politics. This made intellectuals easy targets for demonisation, something that intellectuals themselves played into by their chronic inability to communicate their ideas in easily-understood sound grabs (this post might be a case in point). Communicating complex ideas simply and accurately is an Art.

There are a few local factors that play into our national hobby too - the wonderful climate here facilitates an outdoor physical climate, as does the history of 'taming' a 'raw' undeveloped harsh land, which values physical masculine actions over thought. A can-do culture is preferred. It's far easier to develop sporting prowess than intellectual traditions of excellence. A history of immigration from multiple cultures with its associated communication difficulties makes deters popular consumption of complex ideas. Most Australians can tell you who our best swimmer is, but but far fewer could name our Nobel Prize winner in Literature let alone claim to have read him.

It seems to me that all these factors play into the anti-intellectual stream in our life here.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML

quote:

ORIGINAL: stealthmeister

They are anti-intellectual because the ruling class like to keep the sheeple stupid. Why else would we have a tax exemption for religions? Why isn't tuition tax-deductible?

Because students normally do not pay taxes?

Quite untrue.I not only paid taxes while I was in college and grad school but while I was in grad school, my big $600/month stipend that came with the graduate fellowship became taxable in the midst of the biggest (to that date) tax cut for corporations and the wealthy.
It was called "Trickle down economics" I seem to recall.

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML


Quite untrue.I not only paid taxes while I was in college and grad school but while I was in grad school, my big $600/month stipend that came with the graduate fellowship became taxable in the midst of the biggest (to that date) tax cut for corporations and the wealthy.
It was called "Trickle down economics" I seem to recall.

quote:

That's not what I said at all. I didn't pay tuition when in grad school as I had a fellowship.
That was taxable. Now if my tuition assistance was taxable, why shouldn't someone who pays tuition get a tax break? The government of the time decided to have their cake and eat it too. tuition one way is taxable but the other way, it isnt a deduction.

quote:

ORIGINAL: vincentML

quote:

That's not what I said at all. I didn't pay tuition when in grad school as I had a fellowship.
That was taxable. Now if my tuition assistance was taxable, why shouldn't someone who pays tuition get a tax break? The government of the time decided to have their cake and eat it too. tuition one way is taxable but the other way, it isnt a deduction.

I totally sympathize with you, Hill. My point however is a student cannot claim a tuition deduction if she is not working cuz she has no income.

And btw, I had this grad student issue with the IRS way back in the day when may first wife [may she rot in hell] had a teaching assistantship. I sneaked into Nova Law Library and found an obscure tax court case that held where a stipend was given in a program that REQUIRED a teaching or research assistantship, no tax liability existed. The local IRS guy bought it when I visited him. Or maybe he just couldn't be arsed. Sometimes if you catch them on a busy day . . . yanno, you get lucky.

quote:

ORIGINAL: atursvcMaam
actually "I'm smarter than you so you should listen to me" Or "You're not smart enough for me" is as much a bullying tactic as "I am stronger so you are mine" Tough guy with a doctorate, are ya? Learn to communicate with people at all levels and I will be far more impressed.

quote:

ORIGINAL: atursvcMaam
actually "I'm smarter than you so you should listen to me" Or "You're not smart enough for me" is as much a bullying tactic as "I am stronger so you are mine" Tough guy with a doctorate, are ya? Learn to communicate with people at all levels and I will be far more impressed.

quote:

ORIGINAL: dcnovice

quote:

and it is true that the Forrest Gump character is a recurring one in American media

I'm having trouble thinking of other examples. Any that come to mind?