3 ms·

The US has a very strong anti-intellectual streak. Even the children feel it in schools; I know I did. And you can see it in our politics too. I'm not sure exa

by lapcat 3y ago

The US has a very strong anti-intellectual streak. Even the children feel it in schools; I know I did. And you can see it in our politics too. I'm not sure exactly why, but I wonder whether anti-intellectualism has a religious origin.

bobthepanda 3y ago
I wonder if it's in the US's pro-agrarian, anti-urban roots. Thomas Jefferson famously thought of America as an agrarian democracy, and you see this even today where "Main St", "the real America", "small town America", etc. are all callbacks to the nation's rural roots.
- asciimov 3y ago
  I don't buy that, not all rural people are moronic hicks or hillbillies. Opportunity has often been their biggest hurdle. While most are just as smart as you or me, the chances for them to get a "proper" education and out of their situation isn't as easy as it is for an urban dweller.
  - bobthepanda 3y ago
    I never said any of that. But a lot of the anti-intellectual rhetoric today, is also anti-elite and anti-urban.
    - asciimov 3y ago
      Yeah that is a complex issue due in part to dems and liberals not having a real presence in rural communities. It's easy to blame the rich and urban when your community is broke and you see all the "help" going to the big rich cities.
      - outside1234 3y ago
        This is incorrect. Most of the help actually goes to rural areas and "red states" and that money is coming from the richer cities. See farm price supports, rural roads, block grants of money on the federal level between states: https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal-government/#red-vs-blue https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal...
asciimov 3y ago
> I'm not sure exactly why, but I wonder whether anti-intellectualism has a religious origin. No but it goes hand in hand. Don't want to people to know what your good book actually says because it's easier to control and bilk them if they can't read. An odd phenomenon I've seen in the last 15 years (I'm in South Texas) is a cohort of people that are actually proud to be dumb. For them ignorance is to be celebrated. I've even had several tell me that it lets them be more spiritual and in tune with the word of their god.

by lapcat 3y ago

bobthepanda 3y ago

I wonder if it's in the US's pro-agrarian, anti-urban roots. Thomas Jefferson famously thought of America as an agrarian democracy, and you see this even today where "Main St", "the real America", "small town America", etc. are all callbacks to the nation's rural roots.

asciimov 3y ago
I don't buy that, not all rural people are moronic hicks or hillbillies. Opportunity has often been their biggest hurdle. While most are just as smart as you or me, the chances for them to get a "proper" education and out of their situation isn't as easy as it is for an urban dweller.
- bobthepanda 3y ago
  I never said any of that. But a lot of the anti-intellectual rhetoric today, is also anti-elite and anti-urban.
  - asciimov 3y ago
    Yeah that is a complex issue due in part to dems and liberals not having a real presence in rural communities. It's easy to blame the rich and urban when your community is broke and you see all the "help" going to the big rich cities.
    - outside1234 3y ago
      This is incorrect. Most of the help actually goes to rural areas and "red states" and that money is coming from the richer cities. See farm price supports, rural roads, block grants of money on the federal level between states: https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal-government/#red-vs-blue https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal...

asciimov 3y ago

> I'm not sure exactly why, but I wonder whether anti-intellectualism has a religious origin. No but it goes hand in hand. Don't want to people to know what your good book actually says because it's easier to control and bilk them if they can't read. An odd phenomenon I've seen in the last 15 years (I'm in South Texas) is a cohort of people that are actually proud to be dumb. For them ignorance is to be celebrated. I've even had several tell me that it lets them be more spiritual and in tune with the word of their god.