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Monday, January 8, 2018

America is Dummy-Downed

Trump could not have surprised me more when he tweeted that he was a stable genius.  If he claimed to be able to walk on water that would not have surprised me as much because that would not only be immediately verifiable but it would contribute to the data that makes him certifiable and delusional, and even his evangelical followers would scoff and be offended.  But to claim genius level mental ability in light of all the observational data of this man, is truly galling.  Those data include his vocabulary that hovers between 4th and 6th grade level, his lack of knowledge of science, his lack of knowledge of history, his lack of knowledge of the Constitution, his lack of knowledge of the Bill of Rights, his lack of knowledge of policy and economics, his inability to accept a reality that differs from his delusions, and on and on we go.  He is proud to announce he does not read books.  He is not only not a genius, he is a poorly informed, poorly educated man.  Genius does not need to announce itself.  Genius is obvious. 

How in the world have we reached a point in our history where this man has adamant supporters who believe we just need to give him a chance?  There is, sadly, only one explanation I can see.

We have become anti-intellectual.  We have become stupid.  We have reached a point where knowledge, science, expertise, understanding, scholarship and research have become irrelevant when juxtaposed with arcane belief systems.

For instance, we know that people with a college degree earn 31% more in their lifetime than people with an associate’s degree, and college degreed people earn 74% more in their lifetime than people with just a high school diploma.  Of course there are outliers.  But given the dramatic difference in earning potential one would think every public school would be pushing students to go to college.  But I have sat with school board members who articulate that “not everyone should go to college.”  Really?  Is there a group of students you would like to see underpaid in their lifetimes?  Why would you want that?  Because those board members did not go to college so they have formed a belief system that is contrary to fact.

Why do conservative parents worry that if their kids go to college they will be influenced by liberal college professors?  Simply put, college professors tend to know much more than the average population and therefore tend to be liberal.  When students have grown up only hearing the conservative side of an argument and then begin to see the facts, the data, the research, they tend to become more liberal.

Have you read Descartes, Hume, Spinoza, Locke, Bacon, and Hobbes?  Our founding fathers had.  Our nation was born on intellectual principles mapped out for centuries by the best minds on the planet.  The entire notion that people should rule rather than kings or queens or military dictators is not a notion that sprung full grown from the head of Zeus in 1776.  Our democracy was grounded in great philosophy.  Liberal philosophy.  The very notion that the rich, wealthy, powerful and/or ancestry should rule was anathema to our foundation.  The notion that all men are created equal, that all should be able to pursue life, liberty and happiness, that rights of freedom of the press, freedom of and from religion, freedom to protest, freedom from false imprisonment, etc., were so important that they needed to be included in the Constitution.  We have lost sight of those intellectuals and the great work they did to establish this nation.  They were not perfect, and in hindsight we see the flaws in their practice regarding women and slavery.  But they were liberal thinkers.  They were intellectuals.

When Trump talked about draining the swamp he was really talking about removing those people with knowledge, expertise and experience from the halls of government.  There could not be a more clear declaration of anti-intellectualism than that phrase.  Trump is creating a new swamp.  His swamp is anti-intellectual.  He has made appointments for positions where family and friends and supporters means so much more than expertise and wisdom.  We now have a bureaucracy considerably less well equipped to handle the challenges of today than we had before. 

As a kid in church on Sunday morning we sang from a hymnbook.  There were not only lyrics, there were notes, keys, meter, clefs, and dynamics.  I learned to read music in church, further advanced by learning to play instruments as I grew older.  Now even that is no longer true.  We have a church service where lyrics are projected on a screen and no one can or does read music.  We are dumber.  It is very difficult to value the fine arts when one does not possess the skills of even the simplest forms of those arts.  Sadly, those services with projected lyrics are self-proclaimed “contemporary” services.  Lord help us.

As a college student I was taught to question everything.  I was taught critical thinking.  I was taught problem solving.  I was taught to examine my belief systems in light of the truth, facts, science and knowledge.  Now, to suggest to those without such skills that perhaps they may want to examine their beliefs is not only a waste of time, it may be viewed as fighting words.

“For every complex problem there is a simple solution.  And it is wrong.”  H.L. Mencken.  An intellectual who understood that the solution to immigration issues is not a wall.  The solution for creating jobs is not to give the wealthy tax breaks.  The solution for promoting peace on planet earth is not to insult other leaders.  The solution to saving the climate of our planet is not to withdraw from international efforts to do so while making the pollution of the planet easier.  And on and on.

Whether you believe it or not, scientific truths remain.  Those truths do not need for you to believe in them because they are true.  The planet is about 4.5 billion years old, not 6,000.  Humans and dinosaurs were never on this planet together.  Evolution is real and a scientific fact.  The earth is not flat.  We orbit the sun, not vice versa.  Global warming is happening.  Humans have caused and contributed to global warming.  90% of all life forms in the history of our planet are now extinct and we are in the midst of the 6th great extinction event.  There are more gifted kids in China than there are total number of kids in the US.  All true.

We should be concerned.  Very concerned.  We have in so many ways abandoned our heritage of seeking truth, seeking justice, exploring and learning.  We enjoy all the benefits of modern science and math and archeology and geology and history and physics and chemistry, etc., etc.  Would those who chose to belief false beliefs over science be willing to sacrifice all the benefits of science?  I do not think so.  But frankly I see it as unethical to ignore or deny science while using a computer, a cell phone, a microwave in an air conditioned home, and taking modern pharmacology to live longer. 

Intellectuals are not evil people.  They want the same things everyone wants.  They just study, learn, think, review, and question everything.  They would never place personal loyalty above commitment to noble causes, facts, science and truth.  If beliefs conflict with facts intellectuals will go with the facts, not deny them.


Please read a book.  Please befriend an intellectual.  Intellectuals are becoming an endangered species and we can ill afford to progress and prosper without them.

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