The Dumbing of America

[kevin_standlee]

As it happens, Lisa and I were discussing this very subject yesterday, to varying degrees of despair. Thanks to jaylake for spotting it.

The Dumbing of America -- not only are Americans getting dumber, but we're proud of being dumb, too. Possibly this is why intellectual throwbacks like Lisa and I enjoy old radio programs like Jack Benny more than most modern fare.

Comments

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

I'm with Patrick here. The only real evidence for increasing dumbness I could see was the knee-jerk assumption that anything presented on video was automatically less intelligent than anything presented as a book. And that, I'm afraid, was Ms. Jacoby being stupid, not Americans. Inability to adapt to new technology is not something to be proud of.

None of which is to say that there isn't a large amount of anti-intellectualism out there. I'm just not convinced it is getting any worse just because the media and politicians now pander to it rather than condescending to it.

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

My response is to look at the cultivated anti-intellectualism of Movement conservatism, and the simple numbers on evolution denial, and say, yep, we're dumber. Not necessarily less intelligent, but deliberately choosing as a culture to turn away from rationalism.

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone is disputing the fact that there's a lot of dumbness around. But, as Patrick says, we'd like to see some evidence that people are actually dumber now than they were in previous generations. Remember that one of the things about mass media and the Internet is that they allow people to be visibly dumb in ways they never could be before.

And in any case, even if people are dumber, putting the blame on TV and surfing the Internet is just, well, dumb. If, as you say, certain political groups are cultivating anti-intellectualism, then that is their fault, not the fault of the medium they use to transmit the message.