“Don't confuse me with the facts. I've got a closed mind,” is an infamous quote from Congressman Earl Landgrebe during the Watergate hearings.
Another quote worth noting comes from biochemist and author Isaac Asimov, “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.”
What does it mean to be an “intellectual;” is that a bad thing? Definitions and synonyms of the word include: intelligent, educated, well-read, studious, enlightened, cultured, and possessing the ability to think in a logical way. Why wouldn’t each of us aspire to become more knowledgeable about the world around us and appreciate the extraordinary benefits of continuous learning? Has our attention been seduced by mindless entertainment, hijacked by social media, or become distracted and beguiled by fiery political rhetoric? Could it be that we have become mentally lazy? Are we passively permitting others to think for us?
The strain of anti-intellectualism Asimov referred to has also been categorized as the “dumbing down” of America—which seems to go hand-in-hand with the coarsening of society, growing incivility, and a lack of restraint in discourse. When the average “person on the street” doesn’t know the names of the Vice President or Secretary of State, it is shameful. Who does this serve?
In his book, Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, veteran journalist Charles Pierce, opines, “The rise of idiot America today represents—for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power—the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is good. It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people whom we should trust the least are the people who best know what they are talking about.” A prime example of that can be found in some Facebook posts.
As we have observed throughout our recent presidential campaign in the U.S., people will say anything—whether factual or not—to forward their agenda. Posts from questionable sources repeat innuendos, rumors, and outright lies which others repost, and repost, and repost, with out doing any fact-checking.
What has happened to the polymath—the modern day Renaissance person? Why are people more content to be a “ditto head” rather than an independent thinker filled with an insatiable curiosity for knowledge in many areas of life’s rich arena?
A blatant dismissal of the importance of the development of the intellect is pernicious and harmful to the individual and to society as a whole. This insidious trend toward anti-intellectualism, and the promotion of an educational system that doesn’t instill a lifelong love of learning, encourages a dangerous cult of ignorance that undermines the very fabric of our citizenship and civilization as a whole.
Source, God, did not create humankind as dullards. We owe it to ourselves, our communities, our country to actively engage in the exercise of logical, rational, and well-informed thought. The brain is a muscle that must constantly be stretched lest it become hardened and atrophy. Ignorance and intellectual apathy are not bliss—scholarship, literacy, and knowledge are!
Another quote worth noting comes from biochemist and author Isaac Asimov, “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.”
What does it mean to be an “intellectual;” is that a bad thing? Definitions and synonyms of the word include: intelligent, educated, well-read, studious, enlightened, cultured, and possessing the ability to think in a logical way. Why wouldn’t each of us aspire to become more knowledgeable about the world around us and appreciate the extraordinary benefits of continuous learning? Has our attention been seduced by mindless entertainment, hijacked by social media, or become distracted and beguiled by fiery political rhetoric? Could it be that we have become mentally lazy? Are we passively permitting others to think for us?
The strain of anti-intellectualism Asimov referred to has also been categorized as the “dumbing down” of America—which seems to go hand-in-hand with the coarsening of society, growing incivility, and a lack of restraint in discourse. When the average “person on the street” doesn’t know the names of the Vice President or Secretary of State, it is shameful. Who does this serve?
In his book, Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, veteran journalist Charles Pierce, opines, “The rise of idiot America today represents—for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power—the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is good. It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people whom we should trust the least are the people who best know what they are talking about.” A prime example of that can be found in some Facebook posts.
As we have observed throughout our recent presidential campaign in the U.S., people will say anything—whether factual or not—to forward their agenda. Posts from questionable sources repeat innuendos, rumors, and outright lies which others repost, and repost, and repost, with out doing any fact-checking.
What has happened to the polymath—the modern day Renaissance person? Why are people more content to be a “ditto head” rather than an independent thinker filled with an insatiable curiosity for knowledge in many areas of life’s rich arena?
A blatant dismissal of the importance of the development of the intellect is pernicious and harmful to the individual and to society as a whole. This insidious trend toward anti-intellectualism, and the promotion of an educational system that doesn’t instill a lifelong love of learning, encourages a dangerous cult of ignorance that undermines the very fabric of our citizenship and civilization as a whole.
Source, God, did not create humankind as dullards. We owe it to ourselves, our communities, our country to actively engage in the exercise of logical, rational, and well-informed thought. The brain is a muscle that must constantly be stretched lest it become hardened and atrophy. Ignorance and intellectual apathy are not bliss—scholarship, literacy, and knowledge are!