Is America anti-intellectual?

Question

With the rise in religous conservatism over the past few years (baby boomer generation getting older, the current administration, 9/11, fear being propagated by the media), I have noticed far less emphasis being placed on free-thinking and more on confomity. Are we heading back to the 50's? Thoughts?

Answer 1

If you have an IQ of 120 you are considered "gifted". The average IQ is about 100. I didn't find actual numbers on the population in each level, but I assume there is a "bulge" in the middle with fewer very, very intelligent people so that the "bulge" is fatter in the middle, but becomes very flat on the smarter end and blunter on the dumb end. There are fewer people with IQ's of 140 than 60. I think to be considered mentally defective the IQ would be 60 (or a little higher). If a person has an I Q of say 140, he might be smarter than 95% of everyone. The nuance of differerent word meanings is very important to understanding concepts. It's too difficult for a person of average intelligence to understand complex issues or have the patience to study political issues in depth.

People who are smarter can balance more concepts at one time, that gives them an edge in giving value to things. If a person isn't so bright, things are usually black and white, yes or no. For a smarter person, there is a rainbow of possibilities, because they simply can understand the complexity and put it in order

I have noticed that when genocide occurs in the world, the more gifted are targeted. They are the doctors, writers, and artists. They kill them 1st, even if they weren't part of the government (They kill everyone that isn't like they are) because the average person and below, were easily persuaded that these people were evil or the intelligent people were not so easily convinced, given black and white alternatives and targeted as enemies.

I think the Republican party has done well to use black and white answers to complex social questions. The issue of the "War on Terror" is one. I've experienced a lot of remarks by people i know that tag everyone that does not agree with them as traitors. They are either using this black and white answer intentionally to bully or aren't very smart and can't think in terms of gray. Intentions to improve the universal human condition by the Left is not as important to the Right as domination by the Right.

The Neo-con ideology is a legitimate position, people that hold that view should be allowed input into the discussion, but part of this ideology is that group rights are much more important than individual rights. We are losing individual rights and seeing the foundation for protecting the remaining erode. I think the people whose reaction to intellectual conversation is profanity and a single short sentence is comparable to throwing stones at Socraties and his students (or making him drink poison) The real words of violence comes from right winged talk radio and tv. and the black and white answers they provide (they don't make you think, they answers are supplied). Slamming and labeling liberal people (the word liberal is not a four letter word) is the method of communication. But if you had the people who were the most vocal in their comments tested on political history, I'm sure most wouldn't know many of the answers without Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh slipping them the answers (and these answers would be tailored to conform to the right wing agenda). The world is very complex and it is easy to twist facts in a debate, especially in 5 minute takes.

President Bush's policy is not to allow individualism, especially in people that work for him. It is a closed group that likens to the time before modern view of government. they think they are our rulers and have taken steps to ensure that by the stands they have taken in civil rights, taxation and personal privacy. People don't get it that: by opening our phones and internet to being scrutinized, we give them a fool proof way to look for other issues as well, such as dissent or even strategy of the opposition...It was exactly what Nixon did when he had the opportunity (although tapping then was illegal). But if tapping is legal, there is no stopping them. It's not really short sighted of the neo-cons, because the liberal don't believe in such tools and woulkd be shy to use them, but the republicans will and the law will remain intact for the next republican administration.

The whole thing is a concentrated political attack by the Right, and they don't fight fair.

Answer 2

I dint think we are anywhere near being like the 1950s. Free thinking is evident everywhere you go. Although I think there is a sizable portion of the population that would like to return to an era like the 1950s. People are not so much anti intellectual as just ignorant and selfish. Most people are only concerned with obtaining the most material goods they can..or at least as many as their neighbors. We are in no way as conservative as the 50s. Then you had a general conservatism, fiscally, socially and politically. Now we seem only to be concerned with the political. There's not enough support though out the whole population for social conservatism, except in certain regions. In no way is anyone in this country fiscally conservative. Americans have become comfortable in their superiority and isolation, we dont feel we have to work for anything anymore. Note the lack of engineers, scientists and doctors who are not foreign born. It is ironic to think about that our leaders and most of the people in charge were shaped during the 60's the height of free thinking, what happened to all those ideals?

Answer 3

Wait a minute! I am a baby boomer! So is my older sister!

There has been a shift toward the conservative. Wild when you think we were the generation that marched in the streets and thought Timothy Leary was the profit! I was 17 at Woodstock, my sister was 21. We traded our free thinking anti establishment ideas for a corporate paycheck and a new SUV

If you think we aren't still just outside the box, it is because the box moved toward us. Now the sexual freedom is a reality, and we can dress pretty much as we please. Long hair is accepted, and if I want to worship some odd spirit, I can.. We have mellowed as our kids are now in their 30s, and our grandkids are becoming teenagers, but we still have some free thoughts! Tempered by that 80 thousand dollars we paid for our kids education, and the 401k dropping in value!

Answer 4

There has always been an anti-intellectual thread in American culture. And many of us believe it has got worse, at least in terms of how much influence the anti-intellectual and anti-science groups wield. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd concede the battle ground to them just yet. For example, I don't think the loud athletic Christian types actually do constitute the numbers their noise would suggest. It seems to me they are being used cynically by very secular right wingers to keep their political positions.

More importantly, it is the contributions of the thinkers that will propel the country out of the morass this crop of neo(lithic)-conservatives have got us into. There are still enough Americans that aren't fooled by these incompetents.

Answer 5

I have seen that the exact opposite is true. Young people in America today are far more free-thinking than they have ever been, much to the detriment of our educational system.
It is not a question of learning by rote or reason any more. Today it is a question of what do I wear to school, who has the coolest cell-phone and momma, please can I get a grill?
The educational system in the US is a bad joke, by and large, though you can find pockets of good schools in most places. But if you can't afford a good school and end up in the ghetto, the teacher (and surely a member of the NEA union...) will hold you after class and do a strip-search to find out which one o' you punkass kids stole her crack. (True story...)

So, to answer your query, the US has abandoned actual education in lieu of the definitions of social status, sexuality (gay v. straight...), political affiliation and clique identification.
No more conformity is the rule, though the stress on education is to identify people, pigeon-hole them and dare them to buck the system. I hope many more start to do it and re-learn how to think for themselves.
(Of course, from the 1950's, this gave way to the 60's, which led to undoubtedly the most self-centered and self-important generation the world has ever seen. So it is actually a two-way sword.)

PS And you can see my point expressed loudly and plainly here. The divisions that become our encampments are learned. The desperation people feel about wanting to be identified for- or far more likely, as the evidence here proves- against a certain clique makes my point clearly for me.
Funny, I did not know that George Bush and the "neo-cons" were such uneducated drivel as to be elected Preseident of the Untied States twice...

Answer 6

There was once a guide known as "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life." I believe, just like the writer, that there's a "pressure" of anti-intellectualism in American lifestyles, and it existed lengthy earlier than tv or Beavis & Butthead. In the beyond, this anti-intellectualism took the type of - "I do not care what the physicists say, that is God's nation and God's construction!"; or, "I do not care what technology says, blacks are inferior"; or "I do not think within the Eastern, Ivy League, liberal Establishment." This type of anti-intellectualism maintains in these days, and may be very obvious for those who peruse Yahoo! Answers. On the opposite hand, Americans instruct different nations, have produced many geniuses, have contributed fairly slightly of highbrow estate, and so forth. We aren't dumb. We are simply a sophisticated society that occurs to have an anti-highbrow pressure as good. Anti-intellectualism has led to backwards-pondering violence (yin) as good as innovation (yang). I bet that is one subject in which all of it balances out.

Answer 7

Sadly, yes. Pop culture has such a strangle-hold on our population that not much gets noticed unless it's tagged to "Brangelina," "Bennifer," or the next Hollywood couple that orders two scoops of ice cream instead of one. I think most Americans need to wake up and smell the coffee. There are far more important things going on in the world. Yes, more important than what Britney's husband had for dinner. There's a potentially catastrophic event taking place in the middle-east. What about the North Korea situation. If people would become less celebrity obsessed more minds would be free to think about these important issues.

Answer 8

Hmm, a good question friend.

I cant speak for the Americans, but as a British European, ive seen firstly Americans reputation as a 'nation of idiots' first grow and then spread over here. It is now 'uncool' to be clever and the 'cool' kids all have to slightly retarded, myspace loving attention whores.
I think however, you guys always get a bad press in Europe, for the sheer fact mainland Europa has a real bee in its bonnet about Americas dominance. Being British, im taught from a young age to be closer to Americans then, say, the French, even thoug hthey are my cultural and geographical neighbours.

However, the growth of radical Christianity is a definate bad sign of the times for America. If thigns get any worse, the intelligentsia that remain should come to Europe. The barbarians may be at our gates, but we're not as bad..yet

Answer 9

There's a large ignorance within the majority of people. They are unable or maybe unwilling to think for themselves. They are lazy and only concerned with what directly affects them. So when someone ask them something, they say what ever they say, not because it's what they actually think, but because they want to be part of a certain group or don't want to be like someone else they know, rather than saying something because it's what they actually feel. Because of the 'good of materialism' protrayed by so many of today's celebrities, people in America are more concerned with what they have and who they know then what's right and what's wrong. So much of America is trying to move to that more rich, more estute lifestyle. Along with it they incorportate religion, christianity to be exact. There's a lot of reasons why psuedo-christianity is the choice of the rich, but I don't want to make you read the entire explination.

So the rich gather with the rich, in church, in school, at work, out shopping... they build numbers as more people want to be like their favorite celebrities. Materialism is the way of the rich, and you want to be rich and liked don't you? So you must be materialistic. Or this is at least what many think. The people are more concerned with keeping their social status now then losing their friends because they want to stand up for what's right.

Because of psuedo-christian values also, the majority has now come to view the liberals as the sodom and gamora of politics. The last liberal pres was having all kinds of extramarital sex while in office. The liberals are for gays, the sodomites. This tsunami of conservative support is really a backlash against the liberal stances many held during the 90s.

Think of it has a boat in the ocean. The liberal views of america swung the boat to once side of it's keel during and after the vietnam war, then it started going back to conservative in the late 70s, 80s. In the 90's people wanted to be free again. Now we're just going through the next conservative wave. It goes back and forth all the time. I think the question is will we ever balance out? Well probably not. I don't think one side will ever hold out forever though. Just like the balloon, what goes up must come down.

Answer 10

I dont know to much about the 1950s. But I am employeed by a firm who deals with general public. The rules I have to go by is I can not stare at a pretty woman for 8 seconds. I am not allowed to speak to the public. I can not make any comments about Race, Creed or Color not even in a joking manner or I will lose my job, I cant even smoke and this time next year I will have to keep my weight down to a certain level or loose my insurance. This is not heading backwards. This 21st Century thinking. How I would like to speak my mind.