American Anti-Intellectualism

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America has a long history of anti-intellectualism. This analysis looks at the social psychology behind why Americans believe anti-intellectual information spread by powerful people like former President Donald Trump, PragerU, & oil companies.

REFERENCES:
Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter

[Inhumanform]

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[KVL]

"When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." ( Isaac Asimov ).

[LondonEve]

What’s equally disturbing is that we live in an age where many are actually proud of their ignorance.

[JoeTheBlacksmith]

Pseudo-intellectualism in bro-culture is even more disturbing to me.

[evilkingstanley]

The worst part of this is the fact that it's so hard to pull someone out of their pit of anti-intellectualism. Trying to explain things comes off as condescending, and they get defensive and retreat to the comfort of the same old nonsense

[gregeoryl]

My big example is the same people who say school should have taught them something useful like doing their taxes are all the same people who said they never had a use for math.

[hm]

Intellectuals always question their positions. Anti-intellectuals are always right.

[philipdubuque]

In a High School classroom in 1967 (the subject was "Civics" or "Problems in Democracy") a very heated disucussion got under way between the teacher and a few of the students. The teacher was in favor of the Viet Nam conflict and the students who were opposed were dominating the debate with very precise information. The beginning of my education in anti-intellectualism came when the teacher, in frustration, finally blurted out, "Don't try to change my mind with facts!"

[captainsmileyface]

I grew up homeschooled, where watching Prager U was part of my government classes, and we took field trips to the creation museum. Even my science textbooks were Ken Ham's curriculum. God, this video is a breath of fresh air! Just moved out of my parents house finally thriving as a transgender person. Thank you for this video

[mikedewine]

getting a hulk hogan trump ad before this video is wild

[hadara]

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always 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.”
~Isaac Asimov

[renegalvan]

In the entire history of humanity, fools have always outnumbered the wise.

[Sarahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhr]

I get so angry at our institutions for allowing this to happen. For not strengthening our schools. Letting poverty and economic inequality increase. Creating secondary education that is unattainable for so many. For allowing our food standards to stoop so low. Most people don’t inherently move towards anti-intellectualism. It becomes a more palatable explanation for a hard life. It allows people to feel powerful by quickly flipping the narrative so they come out on top. It gives pride to a wounded man.

[FairLadySpiny]

My 10 year old brother had cancer in his face during covid. If he had gotten sick, he literally would’ve died. The amount of people who would argue with me that their comfort takes precedence over my brothers life absolutely broke me. I have such little hope in the good of people now.

[zacthomas]

It's a tough question to ponder whether this modern wave of anti-intellectualism has been brought on by the dawn of social media, or if it has simply been emphasised by everyone having an equal opportunity to share their beliefs. Regardless of the answer, the threat to intellectualism remains deeply disturbing.

[patrickharte]

No joke... in the middle of this vid, I got an ad about how sound waves combined with ancient pyramids can counter gravity. There's no hope guys. We live among people who believe this stuff. 😮‍💨

[Lucaat]

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.

Against stupidity we are defenseless.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[stickinug]

“Governments don't want a population capable of critical thinking, they want obedient workers, people just smart enough to run the machines and just dumb enough to passively accept their situation.” -George Carlin

[fionaanimates]

It actually scares me because people are now viewing knowledge and critical thinking as a bad thing. I worked in a COVID unit at a nursing home at the peak of the pandemic and the amount of nurses who would openly refuse to wear masks despite it being mandatory around their elderly patients was astounding. We had 7 deaths in a week. It made me sick that we are still so disillusioned with politics that some can disregard other people’s livelihoods in favor of being righteous.

[christopherhill]

It seems the dumber the person, the more confident they are.