
Anti-intellectualism in American Culture - jey
Does it exist? Should it exist? How does it compare to the situation in other countries?
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Zuider
The sleep of reason produces intellectuals. It is worthwhile making the
distinction between a healthy suspicion of the intelligentsia and a hostility
to thought.

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david927
I don't know what you want to discuss, really. Yes, there is a strange element
of anti-intellectualism in America. It stems from its form of capitalism and
it's a shame really, because America has essentially lost its production
capability, so if it doesn't compete intellectually, it's not going to compete
at all.

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dangph
Huh? Manufacturing output in the US is at record high levels.

<http://freetrade.org/pubs/pas/tpa-035es.html>

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jsmcgd
I think what is meant is that the US is not a manufacturing world leader and
is not as high as it should/could be.

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dangph
From the executive summary at the link I provided: "And despite all the
stories about the erosion of U.S. manufacturing primacy, the United States
remains the world's most prolific manufacturer--producing two and a half times
more output than those vaunted Chinese factories in 2006."

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david927
Too bad no one wants it:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_current_ac...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_current_account_balance)

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neilc
Hardly: the US exports more than $1 trillion USD of goods per year. The fact
that it imports _more_ than that doesn't mean that "no one wants US exports",
or that the US "has essentially lost its production capability". Your argument
would be more persuasive if you cut out the hyperbole.

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david927
Ok, I'm being dramatic. But that export number includes, for example, when
Ford produces a car in Mexico, with Mexican labor, and sells it in Mexico.

We've been outsourcing not just blue-collar work, but more and more white-
collar work as well. While this is essentially inevitable, it will, in the
end, demote America to a second-world country, divided into starkly wealthy
areas and dirt poor areas.

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dhimes
Yes, anti-intellectualism exists in the US (Canada? Other Americas? I don't
know). It always has.

That doesn't mean it's the prevalent thought. But intellectualism is hard,
anti-intellectualism, as in hiding behind a doctrine that has been "thought
out" for you (say by a church or a political party) is far easier. If you
adopt what others say, you immediately belong to a social network and have all
the "answers" to the hard questions. If you have to think for yourself, the
road is much more lonely and difficult.

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neilk
You would have to define what anti-intellectualism means first. And the USA
compared to what?

Most people in the world live in cultures that have an uneasy or hostile
relationship with their educated classes -- namely, traditional and
authoritarian cultures.

I think it would be fair to say that Americans don't have a sort of automatic,
institutional relationship with their elites. Let me put it this way. If
Canadians heard that all of their scientists said that X was bad and we should
stop it, they'd nod their collective heads and get about to implementing the
changes. The scientists are considered to be on the side of our general
interest and enlightenment. This is the way it goes in most Western
democracies.

In the USA, there's no such automatic acceptance. The urbanized half of the
country is similar to the other Western democracies, but there's another half
that has no such allegiance. They look to their churches for such leadership,
and in their estimation, urban elites have caused nothing but trouble.

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timr
Given the prevalence of "college is for suckers" comments in _this_ forum, I'm
surprised that you need to ask.

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icky
Little known fact: the mortarboard, or "thinking cap", grants all college
graduates uncanny powers of logic and memory. It is impossible to become an
intellectual without one.

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jsnx
So if I just buy the mortarboard, I don't need all that fancy book learnin'...

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Zuider
Don't even need no mortarboard if your head's already flat.

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michaelneale
But, its got electrolytes !! Its got what you need !

