Anti-intellectualism in American Culture

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=93537

by jey • 19 years ago

9 37 19 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Does it exist? Should it exist? How does it compare to the situation in other countries?

Zuider2• 19 years ago

The sleep of reason produces intellectuals. It is worthwhile making the distinction between a healthy suspicion of the intelligentsia and a hostility to thought.

david9276• 19 years ago

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.

dangph3• 19 years ago

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

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

jsmcgd• 19 years ago

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.

david9276• 19 years ago

Huh? An opinion piece from the Cato Institute?

kingkongrevenge2• 19 years ago

> a strange element of anti-intellectualism in America

There is a healthy distrust of elites claiming authority on the basis of intellect and education. "We are in charge because we're smarter than you and know how to take care of you" really does fly in a lot of other countries. Call it "Mandarinism"; its hallmark is examinations and elite institutions. In America, opposition to this sort of thing goes back to the defeat of the Hamiltonians.

As for a general disdain for intellectual pursuits in the culture at large, that's just a bunch of bullshit. It's no different from any other country once you take demographics into account.

david9276• 19 years ago

I'm an American living in various countries in Europe for the last 12 years, and really, there's a difference. Americans have a wonderful distrust of those claiming authority. But there is also a lack of respect for education and intelligence. Americans worship the rich, not how they got there. They venerate Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, not Alan Kay or Steve Wozniak.

Trust me, there really is a strange element of anti-intellectualism in America.

timr4• 19 years ago

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

icky• 19 years ago

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.

michaelneale2• 19 years ago

Ssshhh.. you aren't supposed to share that.

jsnx2• 19 years ago

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

aswanson3• 19 years ago

There may be a fair amount of criticism of college as it exists today on news.YC, but I think it's also fair to say that the average poster here is not hostile to knowledge itself.

timr4• 19 years ago

Regardless of one's position on "knowledge", criticism of college is a form of anti-intellectualism.

jsnx2• 19 years ago

Being hostile to the college system is not the same thing as opposition to book learnin' in general. I always liked books -- I just don't like paying thousands of dollars to people who give me crappy books and make me listen to them talk for hours and hours a day. I suppose good college is not for suckers -- but when I say "college is for suckers" I mean most college is for suckers.

dhimes• 19 years ago

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.

michaelneale2• 19 years ago

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

neilk• 19 years ago

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.

Anti-intellectualism in American Culture

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