America's Dangerous Turn to Anti-Intellectualism

[chervilant]

48. I live in NW Arkansas,

in the poor, rural county where I spent my formative years--attending a "one-room" school with virtually the same fifteen peers from fifth grade through eleventh grade (I spent my senior year in an accredited high school in Houston, in order to make sure I could study and compete at the college level). I was the only one in my entire class who planned to attend college, certainly the ONLY female not pregnant, engaged, or married.

I have never been 'accepted' by the people with whom I attended this school. While my teachers went above and beyond to insure that I remained academically challenged, my peers ostracized me, and called me "egghead" and "Einstein." They sure got friendly when they needed help with their homework, or studying for an exam. I finally had "friends," after a fashion, when I got to tenth grade.

At that point, my English teacher, Mrs. Young, was my strongest ally. She let me be "secretary" of the book clubs, and "student librarian" most of the time. She used to make our literature class take turns reading aloud, so that students wouldn't feel inadequate when struggling to pronounce unfamiliar words. She would gently encourage each reader to "sound it out." These were my favorite times in her class, because I LOVED to read.

One day, she had me start Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." Usually each student read three-four paragraphs and then the next person in the row took up the gauntlet. When I got to that point, she motioned for me to continue. I got to read the entire short story! I put as much emotion and drama into the reading as I could, being the youngling that I was. When I reached the end and looked up, the class as one heaved a big sigh, just as the bell rang. Everyone jumped, then laughed. It was the turning point in my relationship with my peers. My peers stopped by my desk and told me I "sure could spin a good story." For them, it wasn't relevant that Poe wrote the story, only that I brought it alive in the telling.

I believe that this is true for much of the conservatives du jour, this hunger for, and enjoyment of "a good story." FOX succeeds at this, because they're repetitive and simplistic. The same words and phrases are used ad nauseum, until it's perceived as 'truth.' FOX sure can "spin a good story."

This rural county is still predominantly conservative, Christian, Republican and racist. Economic conditions are virtually unchanged from when I was a kid. FOX is the propaganda of choice, and you'd best find a church to attend if you don't want a reputation as one of them "ungodly folk." Obama is that "damned Socialist, Communist, Muslim Kenyan" who's destroying our nation. Democrats are "lazy, shiftless bums" who'd rather live on the dole than work. The irony, as always, escapes them.