Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America

Social dysfunction can be traced to the abandonment of reason.

www.psychologytoday.com...

The tragedy in Charleston last week will no doubt lead to more discussion of several important and recurring issues in American culture—particularly racism and gun violence—but these dialogues are unlikely to bear much fruit until the nation undertakes a serious self-examination. Decrying racism and gun violence is fine, but for too long America’s social dysfunction has continued to intensify as the nation has ignored a key underlying pathology: anti-intellectualism.

America is killing itself through its embrace and exaltation of ignorance, and the evidence is all around us. Dylann Roof, the Charleston shooter who used race as a basis for hate and mass murder, is just the latest horrific example. Many will correctly blame Roof's actions on America's culture of racism and gun violence, but it's time to realize that such phenomena are directly tied to the nation's culture of ignorance.

While the focus of recent events is on the confederate flag and racism in general there is a deeper problem that exists, not only here in America, but across the planet Earth. Ignorance. The motto for ATS is deny ignorance, right? Maybe it should be tweaked just a bit? I would not be inclined to inform the owners of this site to do away with their motto, No! Just modify it to read something more in line with the actual public perception should be when it comes to the actions and words of ignorance, here is my take.

Recognize Ignorance for what It Is! I think I know what they are saying when they say deny it, but it seems to give ammunition to those that are ignorant to continue to be so. In other words, "how dare you deny me the right to be ignorant". I think maybe the better way to phrase it would be, "Ignore Ignorance"!

It's the product of intellectual failures.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

Looks like an interesting read. Will have to bookmark for later.

On the surface, I have to agree with what was said. We seem to have a problem with ignorance. Better yet, we have a problem with basic level of comprehension and understanding.

We can see evidence of that even on this fine website, where people do not properly comprehend what was written, do not understand the concept of context and will purposefully overlook facts and evidence to fit a certain topic or issue to fit their political or cultural desires.

We don't need to deny ignorance. We need to accept it and find a way to get people to think for themselves, not just blindly follow the herd of their choice and forego all intelligent thought for the sake of agenda.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

'Recognize Ignorance".
There is no arguing with ignorance. Ignorance recognizes only it's 'own' arguments.
So yes, the non-ignorant can argue with the ignorant to no avail, and only prove one thing,,,, that they are ignorant too.

Those of us in a perpetual state of semi-ignorance might be better served by just recognizing ignorance rather than going out and trying to deny it. Maybe then, we, in our mutual state of semi-ignorance can put our heads together and find solutions better than just banging each other over the head.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

Sometimes it is just so dang hard to ignore it and not want to jump up and smack it across the face and shake it until it gets removed from the very human condition. Alas, where there are people, there will be ignorant ones. That tree of evolution seems to have skipped some generational lines and has created a mind set where ignorance is often tolerated and even embraced by certain like minded ignorant people.

I do not know if ignoring them will matter, but I understand your predicament and share your pain.

S&F

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

I think maybe the better way to phrase it would be, "Ignore Ignorance"!

Maybe if we ignore it rather than pander to it or try to change it, we still have to know it when we see it, right! So we have to recognize it first, then ignore it or at least try, right?

The article starts out blaming religion, then barely touches upon the education system, and ends up on corporations. It's all over the place! I agree with some of what is written, but writing an article about "anti intellectualism" I think should be more intellectual.

This part is my favorite:

Americans have allowed their democracy to slip away, their culture overtaken by enormous corporations that effectively control both the governmental apparatus and the media, thus shaping life around materialism and consumption.

I agree that the corporations have taken over, but I really don't think we could have changed it and MANY have taken action and have tried. The police state was already militarized and in place once folks started waking up and realizing what was happening (such as the 1999 WTO riots).

I've been thinking lately about my naivety as a youth and how I was brainwashed into thinking the USA was the symbol of freedom and democracy. I LEARNED THAT IN SCHOOL. I was brainwashed by the system!

I feel that the article places most of the blame on individuals and offers no solution aside from saying "anti intellectualism" is the problem. If you want to claim that, there's a whoooooooooooole lot more of truth that needs to be faced. I'm beginning to believe we live in a system that was designed to fail, and we happen to be on the timeline of its decline.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just think the article has a better title than content.

Edit to add - here's an article showing how much money was paid to senators to fast-track the TPP. We can't stop this, and this is just one example!

Guardian link

Just a small snippet of the $, please read the article to see much more $ changed hands-

Using data from the Federal Election Commission, this chart shows all donations that corporate members of the US Business Coalition for TPP made to US Senate campaigns between January and March 2015, when fast-tracking the TPP was being debated in the Senate:

Out of the total $1,148,971 given, an average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 “yea” votes.
The average Republican member received $19,673.28 from corporate TPP supporters.
The average Democrat received $9,689.23 from those same donors.

It's not just anti - intellectual, destroying American people.
It's destroying humanity. Ignorance has always be strong in the minds of humanity, but now with constant hypnotism and fear blitz from media, false flags, and mentally unstable people commiting traumatizing acts...

The human species is numb to its core and has turned off reason and heart. The two coherently go hand-in-hand. It's our natural ways of navigating this earth plane as individuals; use your mind for reason and sense, use your heart to understand what is right or wrong, morally.

But now, we have am entire species, 7.something billion large, who majority of, are numb, careless, desensitized, confused, unbalanced (mentally emotionally, psychologicaly, and physically!).

Just simply a broken species, that indivusally make up the whole, and the reflection is what is going on in the world today!

We need everyone, possible, to equipped themselves wit reason, turning their brains/minds ON, .
Morality, intuition, turn their individual hearts ON! This collectively will restore what our species is missing, and bring us back a whole that can overcome any obstacles.

Or go back to sleep, shut everything off. Continue to allow rogue governments and secret societies, corporations and avatars... to control your life, and everyone you know.

You decide.

a reply to: searcherfortruth

The problem for this is that all too often, the so-called intellectuals among us are the first to fall victim to anti-intellectual mentality. In today's society emotion trumps true reason. The statistics are out there and they speak pretty clearly on issues such as gun violence to anyone who really looks at them with a logical, rational mind.

However, what the quotes you pull demonstrate quite clearly is yet another emotional appeal.

For example "gun violence" is a misnomer. Guns are not violent. They are tools. The real problem is violence in our society, and we ought to be talking about where that comes from, not wasting our time on the tools lying around. That discussion distracts. You can try to take away the tools, but that won't address the real problem.

The emotional appeal here, of course, is to link guns directly violence - gun violence - which invites the reader to form a mental image of scary guns shooting themselves. Then you compound the emotional appeal by inviting the reader to feel good about themselves by joining the intellectuals who will "do something" and stop those scary guns from shooting violently. And it implies that if you fail to go along, you are "ignorant." Another emotional appeal.

Very little reason here at all which makes it anti-intellectual. There is no rational discussion at all only appeal to emotion.

Our written language is going to hell also. I read somewhere that in another couple of decades we wouldn't recognize our written languages, as they are becoming more and more abbreviated into something like "text talk'. And think of it even going to pictures to express yourself. I mean, think emoticons! Sad, really.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: TerryMcGuire


NM

edit on 6/24/2015 by angeldoll because: (no reason given)

The PROBLEM is all these stupid psychologists that think they know more than everyone else!

I don't think there is more ignorance in America than anywhere else in the world.
Though a particularity I percieve, at least in some areas of the USA, is a high value on ignorance ... or "anti-intellectualism" as in the OP title.

We are all ignorant of some things. Unfortunately, the less we know of a given subject, the less aware we are of our ignorance! The more you learn, the more aware you become of how much more there is to learn.

It seems to me that especially in the middle of the country, in the rural midwest, and the bible belt, there is a purposeful rejection of education and intellectualism. I was once involved with a site that had mostly people from that area, and it was common to see them rise up together against anyone that posted anything that seemed intelligent!
Using big words was collectively condemned as trying to be uppity and sometimes reacted to as if someone was using shocking pornographic or violent language.

The hostile reactions to any ideas which began to go beyond their collectively agreed upon ones, or even that expanded upon those, was very curious. It seemed to me that enriching ones education, knowledge or thinking skills was actually percieved as a sin.

Perhaps my perception is skewed, and that was a very peculiar group that is not accurately representative; but I recently had a relative that is a professor remark that on each coastal area, there is a mentality of appreciation of knowledge and reasonable attitudes, but in between, ignorance and irrationality prevails. (it was just her opinion, I apologize to people from that area who feel offended at that).

The extreme independant attitudes in our country also tend to make us a bit closed to being corrected or our ignorance pointed out - our egos are big and fragile. (a generality, not everyone of course.... but I think collecive culture has an influence). If you admit that you have ignorance, that implies you have need of others, their knowledge or guidance, which we don't really like too much....

a reply to: searcherfortruth

I watched Idiocracy last night. I lost count of the times I've seen it before. I've been thinking of it (and examples of ignorance and stupidity that I see) all day. What do I see when I'm checking things on ATS? This thread.

a reply to: Skid Mark

I believe the term is synchronicity!

originally posted by: toms54
The PROBLEM is all these stupid psychologists that think they know more than everyone else!

Obviously you are suffering from a shifting phenomena that will become clarified through boundaried and diverse practice, and eventually you will be left with an insight into the inaccuracies of your world. But as your intellelect, As intermittent derivatives become reconfigured through studious and personal practice, your psyche is left with an epitaph for the darkness of your existence.

That is to say, the cognizant yearning soon becomes finessed into a manifesto of lust, leaving only a sense of what could have been and the prospect of a new synthesis. Moreover,the ephemeral nature of relationships; What starts out as vision soon becomes corroded into a paradigm of distress, leaving only a sense of unreality and the dawn of a new order.

Hope that helps...

a reply to: raedar

Part of what is being said went over your head, perhaps you should go start a thread about corporations and their greed, instead of trying to hijack this thread.

It is completely about all types of ignorant actions by ignorant people being furthered by the actions of other ignorant people. Ignorance comes in all forms and I think the OP and the article did a fine job.

a reply to: ketsuko

No the real problem is ignorance.

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure the stats show more are literate the world over than any other time in history. I think we've always had the majority as fairly ignorant, and think we're actually perhaps more tolerant now than ever before. Lots of work still to be done, but I'm not sure we can ever hope for the majority to meet the intellectuals standard for "knowledgeable" (the opposite of ignorant, no? ).

The Progs that rule HIGH ACADEMIA have shot their own foot.
THAT ISN'T anti intellectuallism it's resistance to an unwelcome social movement.
If they keep whipping out THIS sort of crap ,HELL NO I don't support that.dcgazette.com...