America's Dangerous Turn to Anti-Intellectualism

[SheilaT]

50. Not to argue or even nitpick, but

this country has always had a strong anti-intellectual bent. Sometimes it's worse than other times, and right now we're in a turning to the worse.

And even in many good public schools, the kids who love to learn and do well can be ostracized. Sports are almost always consider superior to academics, and the nerdy kid who wears glasses and is small for his age and doesn't want to throw a ball and run a bunch is often bullied. With girls, the emphasis isn't so much on sport as being pretty and popular.

Most people never read another book after they finish high school or college. Yeah, even the college graduates which is kind of scary. And a very large percentage of people attend a church, and all too often their church explicitly encourages them not to think for themselves, just to believe what their particular church/pastor tells them.

Furthermore, popular culture encourages dumbness. Look at the content of so many movies and TV shows. They will have completely inaccurate things, but people believe they must be true because it's on TV or in a movie. Not to mention the vast amounts of misinformation available on the internet, and no wonder things are as they are.