Anti Intellectualism is Killing America

POSTED BY: Magonsdaughter
UPDATED: Monday, July 13, 2026 01:26
VIEWED: 26774
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MAGONSDAUGHTER

Monday, August 3, 2015 6:01 PM

I just look at existence of Fox News (or has Jo might write it = FuksNewz)and it fills me with despair. Who would have thought a Boy from Oz could wreak such havoc in the world with his media empire - the Kingmaker Murdoch.

SIGNYM

Monday, August 3, 2015 9:00 PM

Quote:
Nobody is saying that "all" Americans are anti-intellectual.- SIGNY
The article does if you read it. The author continually uses "Americans..." - GSTRING

The author uses the term "Americans" four times, "many Americans" once, and in one case "[some] American schools" is implied. ("[some] American schools, claiming to uphold traditional values..." doesn't implicate all American schools, just those claiming to uphold traditional values. That statement ties into the Bible Belt, which isn't all of America.) In one case, the word "America" is used appropriately, in the other cases it could be read as an unwarranted generalization. So, sometimes the author generalizes inappropriately.

HOWEVER...

Quote:
... when confronted with a serious problem, there IS an aggregate response: Does the nation as a whole address the problem and move to solve it in a realistic way? - SIGNY

This is the crux of the matter, your's and the author's sloppy thinking. Saying "the nation as a whole," what does that even mean? Do you think we make decisions based on some collective thought? You certainly suggest as much with those words. Which contradicts your other posts where you lament how "In America we are so weak, only the .01% make the decisions..." and then you go on to suggest there's a Nation-wide movement, that Americans believe a certain set of actions. 96% of Americans wanted greater gun background checks, but the f*cks in congress didn't. You're not consistent with your own posts. You should write for one of these online "news" rags - that kind of lumping of intent is their bread and butter.

Uh huh, and then ...

Quote:
Here's a funny one: "aggregate behavior" or "aggregate response" has been popular before - "All blacks like fried chicken." "Poor people will never better themselves." Do you believe those?

... That was A Response [to terrorism] an aggregate response of CONGRESS only, not Americans. Assigning greater meaning is what internet hacks do - which is obvious to people with open minds and critical thinking.

Ok, how about some critical thinking on YOUR part?

WHY was Congress able to make such bone-headed decisions?
Is that because Congress is mostly full of boneheads?
WHY is Congress full of boneheads?
Is that because AMERICANS elected them?
WHY did Americans (as a whole) elect boneheads?
Is that because Americans generally don't pay any attention to their candidates, unless they're involved in some sort of televised smackdown?
Is that because Americans mostly elect candidates they feel they could "have a beer with", ones that present themselves as intellectually unmotivated as most of the electorate?
Is that because Americans are typically moved by advertising, especially the expensive fever-pitched last-minute kind?
Is that because Americans as a whole are fed ... an buy into ... a load of horse shit?

The problem with trying to unload all of our problems onto corrupt politicians is that we have a democracy. EVERYTHING ... from the role of money in elections (would go away if people stopped responding to advertising) to roster of bad candidates to corruption in office... that would all go away by consistent, widespread, application of the thoughtful vote. The fact that we do not ... that we routinely engage in careless, emotional, thoughtless voting means that what "Congress" and what "Washington" do ... no matter how boneheaded ... IS the people's aggregate response.

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:You seem pretty intent on telling us that everything is A-OK, because you can't stand to admit that the USA has any problems whatsoever. -SIGNY

This seems to be a frequent question I have for you: are you lying or stupid? Where did I say anything like that? So when I agreed with you before about US errors/mistakes/bad be

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1KIKI

Tuesday, August 4, 2015 1:14 AM

"Do you think we make decisions based on some collective thought? You certainly suggest as much with those words."

Aggregate doesn't mean the same thing as collective.

Is this yet another one of your strawman arguments, is your English really that bad, or are you just that stupid?

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

1KIKI

Tuesday, August 4, 2015 9:55 AM

WHY did Americans (as a whole) elect boneheads?
Is that because Americans generally don't pay any attention to their candidates, unless they're involved in some sort of televised smackdown?
Is that because Americans mostly elect candidates they feel they could "have a beer with" ...?
Is that because Americans are typically moved by advertising, especially the expensive fever-pitched last-minute kind?
Is that because Americans as a whole are fed ... an buy into ... a load of horse shit?

"Do you think we make decisions based on some collective thought? You certainly suggest as much with those words."

So, speaking of stupid 'G'string - there is nothing in these words that indicates collective behavior. And aggregate doesn't mean the same thing as collective.

Is this yet another one of your strawman arguments, is your English really that bad, or are you just that stupid?

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Wednesday, August 5, 2015 2:36 AM

So are you saying that it's never appropriate to refer to a country as a whole as it generalises? You can't talk about Germany's role in the European Union, or Saudi Arabia being a country of Islamic extremists, or Greece for rejecting austerity measures?

1KIKI

Wednesday, August 5, 2015 10:12 AM

Do you think we make decisions based on some collective thought? You certainly suggest as much with those words.

And again, where did I say it meant the same?

Probably in the first quote where you re-characterized what she said was an aggregate response as a collective one.

And aggregate doesn't mean the same thing as collective.

Is this yet another one of your strawman arguments, is your English really that bad, or are you just that stupid?

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Thursday, August 6, 2015 2:55 AM

Meh, it's just a discussion piece. It seems to me it's saying that there are some trends happening in the USA right now, trends which incidentally exist in other parts of the world including here as well, but because you are on alert from (written) attacks on America, you respond as you do.

Here is the definition of trend

noun
noun: trend; plural noun: trends

1.
a general direction in which something is developing or changing.
"an upward trend in sales and profit margins"
synonyms: tendency, movement, drift, swing, shift, course, current, direction, progression, inclination, leaning; More
bias, bent
"an upward trend in unemployment"
2.
a fashion.
"the latest trends in modern dance"
synonyms: fashion, vogue, style, mode, craze, mania, rage; More
informalfad, thing, flavor of the month
"the latest trend in dance music"
3.
a topic that is the subject of many posts on a social media website within a short period of time.
"for more than 20 days in a row, most of the top Twitter trends were Olympics-related"

verb
verb: trend; 3rd person present: trends; past tense: trended; past participle: trended; gerund or present participle: trending

1.
change or develop in a general direction.
"unemployment has been trending upward"
synonyms: move, go, head, drift, gravitate, swing, shift, turn, incline, tend, lean, veer
"interest rates are trending up"

I believe it's perfectly acceptable to discuss trends in politics, economics, social values and most readers would be fine with that and understand that nobody means 'every single person in ........'.

Let's see what the author says that offends you so much

Quote:
What else could explain the hyper-patriotism (link is external) that has many accepting an outlandish notion that America is far superior to the rest of the world? Love of one’s country is fine, but many Americans seem to honestly believe that their country both invented and perfected the idea of freedom, that the quality of life here far surpasses everywhere else in the world.

The author is speaking of the concept of American Exceptionalism, which I see in buckets on the Internet. It's a very real (and to me offensive) set of values that lots of people display. Of course, not everyone does. But those values are real and prevalent.

Quote:
American schools, claiming to uphold “traditional values,” avoid fact-based sex education, and thus we have the highest rates of teen pregnancy (link is external) in the industrialized world. And those rates are notably highest where so-called “biblical values” are prominent. Go outside the Bible belt, and the rates generally trend downward (link is external).

Whoa lookey here. Not even a discussion of all America, but ackowledging differences in different areas. However the real point is the

Quote:
the impact of fundamentalist religion in driving American anti-intellectualism has been, and continues to be, immense. Old-fashioned notions of sex education may seem like a relatively minor issue to many, but taking old-time religion too seriously can be extremely dangerous in the modern era. High-ranking individuals, even in the military (link is external), see a confrontation between good and evil as biblically predicted and therefore inevitable. They relish the thought of being a righteous part of the final days.

Big tick as far as I can see. Otherwise why would EVOLUTION still be a controversial topic, for crying out loud. The only arguments against evolution are based in a book of faith.

Quote:

Corporate influence on climate and environmental policy, meanwhile, is simply more evidence of anti-intellectualism in action, for corporate domination of American society is another result of a public that is not thinking critically. Americans have allowed their democracy to slip away, their culture overtaken by enormous corporatio

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1KIKI

Thursday, August 6, 2015 1:01 PM

Do you think we make decisions based on some collective thought? You certainly suggest as much with those words.

And there you are, after your question, re-characterizing what she clearly said was aggregate as collective. So you obviously didn't JUST ask a question - because you then supplied your answer.

"probably?" So you don't even know what you're referring to?

You need to look up the definition of 'probably'.

Thesaurus says "aggregate" is a synonym of "collective".

The NORMAL, PREFERRED AND MOST ACCURATE synonyms are: concerted corporate cumulative mutual shared and unified - which imply a decision reached by a group of people after mutual discussion. So, if you wish to improve your English - or your honesty - and I strongly suggest you should - perhaps you should focus on the more normal word usages.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

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