I, for one, am a complete blithering idiot that still needs to use his fingers to do basic arithmetic, but I was raised in a very intellectual household.
Folks that are doing their best to brighten the darkness of ignorance and expand the shores of human knowledge and understanding (scientists and educators) have only my deepest respect.
“Nothing disturbs me more than the glorification of stupidity.” — Carl Sagan
Anti-intellectualism isn’t real. Same for misinformation. I heard on a podcast that they were made up by the college-educated woke mob.
Just take enough ivermectin and you’re immune to misinformation! 💡
Much like that can’t be bird shit on your shoulder since they’re not real, either. Must be some dude’s cum.
Wait. Is that you, Monica?
Hey, Monica has has it bad enough. Literally left the country to get therapy.
Anti-intellectualism isn’t real. Same for misinformation.
There’s a kernel of truth to this. People aren’t “anti-intellectual” in the broad sense, they’re biased to a certain worldview or partisan to an ideological lens. You can get liberals and conservatives to agree on quite a bit if you just channel the message through a trustworthy proxy. You can get them to split by making them watch Crossfire for an hour a day.
Vaccination is a great example of this in action. Big church groups that value being able to meet in public do a 180 on the jab when they see the impact a disease has on its congregation. Meanwhile, woo-woo liberals living in heavily insulated suburban communities can get very cavalier about vaccination when they hear an Oprah spokesperson claim it impacts their childrens’ academic performance.
I remember when COVID first hit and we got an earful about needing to conserve medical masks. “Don’t bother wearing them, just socially distance, they don’t really help” was a thing we initially got from liberals. Conservatives were masked up and liberals weren’t. And then the zietgeist flipped and it was liberals clutching them while conservatives were tearing at the gazy discount paper covers screaming “I can’t breath! I can’t breath!”
What we like to call “anti-intellectualism” is, at its heart, a trust issue. Which professionals do you consider credible? Which personal experiences inform your worldview? What do you value - personal safety? financial success? self-expression? religious dogma?
If you’re living in a country that functionally eliminated measles 30 years ago, you can get pretty fair on herd immunity and never have to see your beliefs challenged. Then, when your bubble is breached by the outside world, all those warnings about Diseased Immigrants ruining your pocket paradise are reinforced by the same crop of reactionary news shows and fascist politicians who raised you.
Nah. Anti-intellectualism is absolutely a thing.
Why are people not trusting experts? Why are people not thinking through problems for themselves?
It’s not because they do not trust certain people. It’s because they believe their ignorant opinion is just as valid as a researched conclusion.
It’s pride, expressed in the dumbest way possible.
Why are people not trusting experts?
People are trusting “experts”. That’s how they’re getting the information necessary to distrust other experts.
Dr Oz has “Doctor” right in his name! If he goes on Oprah - the show that brings on a parade of ahem “experts” to explain the world to a population of shut-in housewives - and warns that vaccinations are why your kids aren’t Ivy League Material, people listen.
It’s because they believe their ignorant opinion is just as valid as a researched conclusion.
Their opinions don’t just emerge Ex Nihilo. And they aren’t breaking arbitrarily for or against certain topics. They’re polarized around a set of reactionary beliefs because they’re trained into it by reactionary media, reactionary politicians, and reactionary local institutions.
It’s literally ingrained into American culture.
From “ignorance is bliss” to Lisa Simpson, From Don Draper to Peggy Hill.
Anti Intellectualism is as American as Apple Pie. (Which is Dutch).
Yes, Isaac Asimov, back in 1980, referred to it as a Cult of Ignorance.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
I have been saying for years that, while America’s education system is pretty flawed, especially in the red states, our problem is more that so many people despise anyone more knowledgeable than them and therefore never learn basic shit. In a word, yep, anti-intellectualism.
Sorry, but I ain’t reading all that.
Yeah, THE biggest, absolutely. Tech giants running the world are nothing compared to that.
also am*rican celebrity worship leaking
Tech giants have so much power in part because most people are kind of stupid and don’t want to think too hard.
“Don’t use that platform. It’s owned by a Nazi and pushing right wing lies” -> “uhh but it has memes lol”
The tech giants are just propaganda machines.
and the best innoculation against propaganda is an enlightened population that can spot the BS at first glance.
Back in the day, the Nazis worked long and hard to subvert the will of countries they were planning on invading.
There are many tentacles in any takeover, and getting people to mistrust the current system is one of them.
'tis the worst AI
How would you define an anti-intellectual person ?
A person who believes their ignorant opinion is just as valid as peer reviewed research.
They mock people that know facts and they are proud to be ignorant
Maslow, but anyo-intellectualism doesn’t help
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