MATERIAL POVERTY IS BAD...
BUT, AMERICA'S INTELLECTUAL POVERTY IS WHAT DOOMS US TO EVENTUAL SECOND CLASS STATUS...
AMERICA ANTI-INTELLECTUAL ATTITUDES ARE RUINING THE NATION...AND IT'S GETTING WORSE FAST!! SIMPLY PUT, AMERICAN "POP CULTURE" IS TOXIC TO AMERICA'S FUTURE...
DUBYA IS JUST THE "SYMPTOM" OF AMERICA'S REAL PROBLEM!! NOT THE CAUSE...
SURE, EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT "EDUCATION" AS THEIR MAIN GOAL...YOU KNOW, FOR THE FUCKING ... "JOBS OF THE FUTURE." WHATEVER THAT IS...NO ONE REALLY ELABORATES...
BUT, AMERICAN POP CULTURE GIVES ABSOLUTELY NO RESPECT TO INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENT... NONE!
BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, CELEBRITY FLAME OUTS...ALL ARE COVERED BY THE AMERICAN MEDIA IN EXTREME DETAIL...
BUT, WHAT SIGNALS DO WE GIVE TO YOUNG AMERICANS THAT INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE WORTHY OF THEIR TIME AND EFFORT...
NONE!! NOTHING...! NO WONDER MOST AMERICAN BOYS WOULD RATHER SHOOT BASKETS....THAN READ OR DO CREATIVE RESEARCH...
OUR POP CULTURE SHOWS THEM...INDEED DIRECTS THEM, TO WHAT IS VALUED AND WHAT IS NOT.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IS NEVER PRAISED OR TOUTED BY THE US MEDIA...! NAME ONE TIME...ONE TV SHOW...THAT WOULD INFLUENCE THE YOUNG TO PURSUE LEARNING...AMID THE DELUGE ON TRASH CABLE TV...?
DO ANY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE EVER "WATCH" NETWORK OR CABLE TV... OK PERHAPS NEWS, TALK, A FEW SHOWS ON THE BETTER CABLE CHANNELS... BUT THE REST IS A FUCKING WASTELAND...NOT A NEW THOUGHT I KNOW...BECAUSE IT'S SO PERVASIVELY BELIEVED!
"EDUCATION" IS REALLY JUST A "MANTRA" SPOUTED BY POLITICOS AT APPROPRIATE TIMES...LIKE DURING ELECTIONS! BUT NO ONE REALLY BELIEVE IT...
THEN, .....BACK TO THE BALL GAME... OR THE LATEST DISH ON BEN AND JEN ... OR TOM AND BRIT...!
NOW, AMAZINGLY, IN OTHER CULTURES....YOUTH ARE "PUSH" TOWARD ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AS SOMETHING WORTHWHILE.... !
THIS IS CLEARLY SEEN IN PARTS OF ASIA, EASTERN EUROPE, RUSSIA, INDIA...
ONLY AMERICANS NEEDED TO USE "POP CULTURE," AS THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR "GLUE," TO HOLD OUR DESPERATE AND DIVERSE SOCIETY TOGETHER...
"HOW 'BOUT THOSE CUBS...!"
IN THE US SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENT IS ACTUALLY CONSIDERED "ELITIST"...OR EVEN "HOMO!"
CONCLUSION:
AMERICANS ARE THE MOST ANTI-INTELLECTUAL SOCIETY ON EARTH...! HOFSTADTER WAS RIGHT...
IS IT ANY WONDER THAT THE AMERICANS CAN'T COMPETE IN THE NEW INTELLECTUAL GLOBAL ECONOMY?
POSTSCRIPT:
BUT WHY ARE AMERICANS SO "ANTI-INTELLECTUAL" COMPARED TO EUROLAND AND ASIA...?
MY HUNCH IS IT'S THE LACK OF AN ARISTOCRATIC TRADITION...
AMERICANS NEVER HAD AN ARISTOCRATIC ELITE AS IN EUROPE AND ASIA...
THE AMERICAN ELITES, FROM THE BEGINNING OF OUR NATIONAL CULTURE, WERE THE MERCHANT CLASS...
THE HUSTLERS...THE SELF MADE MAN...THE PLUNGER AND THE SPECULATOR...
NOT, THE CLOISTERED CLERIC OR ARISTOCRATIC "PLAYER" IN THE ROYAL COURTS OF EUROPE.
YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO FRANKLIN AND JEFFERSON IN EUROPE TO SEEN THE "CULTURE SHOCK" EARLY AMERICANS HAD TOWARD EUROPEAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE...
BUT IN SOME CASES THEY LIKED WHAT THEY SAW...
THE AMERICAN "POP" CULTURE OF THE SELF MADE MAN AND THE GREEDY HUSTLER...HAS IT'S DOWN SIDE...
AND NOW WE SEE IT EVERYDAY IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
