The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year. David Brooks
I’m sure we’ve all noticed an undercurrent of anti-intellectualism developing in the US over the past decade or so.
It’s blatantly expressed on television. Think of My Name is Earle, The Simpsons, et al.
If you listen carefully, you’ll hear it in the voices of young people who can’t find anything that lights their fire outside their circle of friends and fun, fun and friends.
Anti-intellectualism helped bring George W. Bush to the White House, not once but twice. And, it has elected a myriad under-educated, under-experienced W-wannabees to Congress. You might call it a non-partisan affliction.
A disregard for credentials is obvious at polling stations on election day, when a fraction of those registered choose the handful who will make the decisions that steer our lives.
Is it apathy, ignorance, or delayed rebellion against teachers who made demands on us that prevents us from studying issues -- actually searching out facts -- before we form opinions?
How do so many people have such strong opinions when it comes to complex economic issues and the intricacies of international conflict and war? Where are people getting their information, when they contradict scientists who warn of global climate change? What books are these people reading?
From what I’ve observed and heard from friends in education, we’re turning out fewer and fewer high school graduates with the skills necessary to pursue university-level programs in science, technology, economics and foreign affairs. Yet, we’re faced with problems so complex and so dangerous that a person needs a great deal of knowledge in these fields just to comprehend -- let alone solve -- them.
We’ve gotten so lazy, we let the media do our thinking for us – CNN, Fox, Rush Limbaugh, Air America, it doesn't matter – then claim their opinions as our own. (
Add to that the polarization of rich and poor, the shrill and constant staccato of verbal attacks on talk radio and televised talk radio, plus carefully staged events that make it socially acceptable to be hateful and ignorant, and you’ve got the potential for a very serious situation.
Leave it to David Brooks to lay it all out. As you read this, keep in mind that the author is a very perceptive conservative, perhaps the last of his kind.
I will bookend this post with another containing an op-ed from a slightly different perspective, written by Bob Herbert. Taken together, these two pieces should give us reason to pause, then get to work.
________________
from The New York Times
January 5, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist
The Tea Party Teens
By DAVID BROOKS
The United States opens this decade in a sour mood. First, Americans are anxious about the future. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the country is in decline, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. Only 27 percent feel confident that their children’s generation will be better off than they are.
Second, Americans have lost faith in their institutions. During the great moments of social reform, at least 60 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing most of the time. Now, only a quarter have that kind of trust.
The country is evenly divided about President Obama, but state governments are in disrepute and confidence in Congress is at withering lows. As Frank Newport of the Gallup organization noted in his year-end wrap-up, “Americans have less faith in their elected representatives than ever before.”
Third, the new administration has not galvanized a popular majority. In almost every sphere of public opinion, Americans are moving away from the administration, not toward it. The Ipsos/McClatchy organizations have been asking voters which party can do the best job of handling a range of 13 different issues. During the first year of the Obama administration, the Republicans gained ground on all 13.
The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.
The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.
The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.
To continue, click "Read More."
I’m sure we’ve all noticed an undercurrent of anti-intellectualism developing in the US over the past decade or so.
It’s blatantly expressed on television. Think of My Name is Earle, The Simpsons, et al.
If you listen carefully, you’ll hear it in the voices of young people who can’t find anything that lights their fire outside their circle of friends and fun, fun and friends.
Anti-intellectualism helped bring George W. Bush to the White House, not once but twice. And, it has elected a myriad under-educated, under-experienced W-wannabees to Congress. You might call it a non-partisan affliction.
A disregard for credentials is obvious at polling stations on election day, when a fraction of those registered choose the handful who will make the decisions that steer our lives.
Is it apathy, ignorance, or delayed rebellion against teachers who made demands on us that prevents us from studying issues -- actually searching out facts -- before we form opinions?
How do so many people have such strong opinions when it comes to complex economic issues and the intricacies of international conflict and war? Where are people getting their information, when they contradict scientists who warn of global climate change? What books are these people reading?
From what I’ve observed and heard from friends in education, we’re turning out fewer and fewer high school graduates with the skills necessary to pursue university-level programs in science, technology, economics and foreign affairs. Yet, we’re faced with problems so complex and so dangerous that a person needs a great deal of knowledge in these fields just to comprehend -- let alone solve -- them.
We’ve gotten so lazy, we let the media do our thinking for us – CNN, Fox, Rush Limbaugh, Air America, it doesn't matter – then claim their opinions as our own. (
Add to that the polarization of rich and poor, the shrill and constant staccato of verbal attacks on talk radio and televised talk radio, plus carefully staged events that make it socially acceptable to be hateful and ignorant, and you’ve got the potential for a very serious situation.
Leave it to David Brooks to lay it all out. As you read this, keep in mind that the author is a very perceptive conservative, perhaps the last of his kind.
I will bookend this post with another containing an op-ed from a slightly different perspective, written by Bob Herbert. Taken together, these two pieces should give us reason to pause, then get to work.
________________
from The New York Times
January 5, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist
The Tea Party Teens
By DAVID BROOKS
The United States opens this decade in a sour mood. First, Americans are anxious about the future. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the country is in decline, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. Only 27 percent feel confident that their children’s generation will be better off than they are.
Second, Americans have lost faith in their institutions. During the great moments of social reform, at least 60 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing most of the time. Now, only a quarter have that kind of trust.
The country is evenly divided about President Obama, but state governments are in disrepute and confidence in Congress is at withering lows. As Frank Newport of the Gallup organization noted in his year-end wrap-up, “Americans have less faith in their elected representatives than ever before.”
Third, the new administration has not galvanized a popular majority. In almost every sphere of public opinion, Americans are moving away from the administration, not toward it. The Ipsos/McClatchy organizations have been asking voters which party can do the best job of handling a range of 13 different issues. During the first year of the Obama administration, the Republicans gained ground on all 13.
The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.
The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.
The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.
To continue, click "Read More."
