Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

[DC_DEEP]

Oh shit. Now I'm going to have write some horrible long essay nobody will read explaining American anti-intellectualism goes back to Plymouth colony and is backed by a number of social factors.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Lots of things track back to the puritans, don't they?:biggrin1:

<...>
Constantly applying the GIGO procedure to our brains, till it gets almost barren of any real knowledge at all.

Ha, is that a typographical error for "FIFO?" Or am I ignorant of a similar term?

 

[2322]

Lots of things track back to the puritans, don't they?:biggrin1:

It's much more than that.

Here's a Nast cartoon from the 19th century showing a boxer and an intellectual.

Here's a more modern one.

Ha, is that a typographical error for "FIFO?" Or am I ignorant of a similar term?

GIGO is a nerd term used by programmers meaning, "Garbage In, Garbage Out."

 

[Drifterwood]

Oh shit. Now I'm going to have write some horrible long essay nobody will read explaining American anti-intellectualism goes back to Plymouth colony and is backed by a number of social factors.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'll read it. :smile:

 

[Rugbypup]

Yes.

 

[Ethyl]

Americans aren't hostile to knowledge. We'll learn whatever is necessary that will be more profitable for us..

After reading today's news, I think we're just hostile.

 

[Rugbypup]

Ive had a few disagreements with some lovley USA'ians on here and have to say, ive been a liitle shocked with some peoples level of understanding and general knowledge.

But to be fair, dumb isnt the preserve of the American nation alone.

 

[ClaireTalon]

The author of seven other books, she was a fellow at the library when she first got the idea for this book back in 2001, on 9/11. Walking home to her Upper East Side apartment, she said, overwhelmed and confused, she stopped at a bar. As she sipped her bloody mary, she quietly listened to two men, neatly dressed in suits. For a second she thought they were going to compare that day’s horrifying attack to the Japanese bombing in 1941 that blew America into World War II:
“This is just like Pearl Harbor,” one of the men said.
The other asked, “What is Pearl Harbor?”
“That was when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War,” the first man replied.
At that moment, Ms. Jacoby said, “I decided to write this book.”

Which once again tells us that looks can be deceiving. A good suit doesn't make a smart guy. I guess I have never seen so much confusion and so many mix ups in a conversation this short.

I don't think, however, that this is an American phenomenon. The argument for this is in the text, the empire of infotainment doesn't stop at the American border. I guess a search on the net would deliver similar results from other countries. But whether that is hostility towards knowledge is a different question. Probably it can be called anti-intellectualism, but no hostility.

I could, however, add this little cold-war joke. I only know about three people who have the "background" (I fear to call it like that, it makes matters sound more complicated than they are) to understand it. If you manage to do so without Google or Wikipedia, you can PM me, and I'll send you a t-shirt as a proof that you understood it.

A Red Army Colonel storms into Breshnev's office and exclaims, "Comrade Breshnev! There are hundred soldiers sitting around the Red Square, and eat!" President Breshnev just shrugs and dismisses the Colonel.

An hour later, a Red Army general bursts into Breshnev's office and exclaims, "Comrade Breshnev, thousands of soldiers are sitting around the Red Square, all eating!" Breshnev is slightly inconvenienced and says, "Well, probably they're hungry." He dismisses the general.

Another hour later, a Red Army field marshall bursts into Breshnev's office and screams, panicking, "Comrade Breshnev, a million of soldiers are sitting around the Red square and eat!" Now Breshnev gets angry and screams, "You have been bothering me with eating soldiers for three hours now! Tell me one reason why I shouldn't send you to Siberia for that!" And the marshall replies, "Comrade Breshnev, they're using chop sticks."

Now let's all have a good laugh.

 

[DC_DEEP]

GIGO is a nerd term used by programmers meaning, "Garbage In, Garbage Out."

D'oh! I remember now. I think both FIFO and GIGO are conspiring to make me stupid!

"May I be excused? My brain is full."

 

[Drifterwood]

After reading today's news, I think we're just hostile.

I may just have to use this in my signature. :smile:

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

:05:

but Illinois is probably as important in the grand scheme of things as Hungary is. Europeans give themselves a big pat on the back because they can name all the tiny countries that their own countries share borders with. But they can't name or locate US states most of the time or identify state capitals, yet there are several US states that have economies larger than most countries in the world.

I'm not arguing that Kelly Pickler is a paragon of worldliness and wit, but she probably knows more about the geography of Texas than most residents of Budapest do. To the average teenage not-too-bright American Idol reject, minor east European nation capitals isn't really a vital bit of information. Just as to any person living elsewhere in the world, knowing that Sacramento is the capital of California is probably not that big of an issue.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

That is not ignorance, most were never taught this as Japan has a tradition of revisionism or omitting information from history. As do most nations.

Ignorance is ignorance is ignorance, whether planned or not.

I agree that many nations are willfully ignorant, as a matter of policy. In fact almost all are, including the United States and every single nation in Europe. You can tell by watching the teenagers and young 20-somethings from those various nations pop up online and start spouting their national propaganda as if it were fact. It happens everywhere. Another reason why I think it's unfair to always target the USA. Our propaganda is no more outrageous than yours.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Please let this thread be about anti-intellectualism. Anti-intellectualism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Right wing or authoritarian governments tend to be anti intellectual and anti academic. They want the masses to have a distrust of those too clever by half academic types. Those who might question and oppose the government.

It's about control.

Does this fit the neo-cons? You tell me.

yes. of course it does.

and the political hacks that do their bidding are the warriors on the front line of this assault on intelligence. "Intellectual," "ivy league," "college educated"... these and other words have been positioned as pejoratives by those who are enemies of thinking. It's very disheartening, and a pattern that can be seen many different places throughout history. Has anyone here read Hedge's The Myth of War?

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

I


Doubtful.

ha! do it! I will SOOO freaking embarrass you. :biggrin1: please.

 

[BIGBULL29]

There are stupid people all over the world. Stupidity is not unique to America. However, anti-intellectualism in the US and in other parts of hte world making its voice heard louder than ever, and the gargantuan irony is that more people are going to university than ever before.

I've been subtly and outrightly mocked and criticized for my quest for knowledge on numerous occasions. Sometimes I don't ever share with others that I have advanced degrees and am committed to learning as much as I can in this life for fear of being negatively perceived and judged. It's been really hard to deal with at times. I never knew when I was a child that thirsting for knowledge was taboo -- until I grew up. Conversely, children seem to be encouraged to learn, but just until they can barely read.:biggrin1:

 

[Skull Mason]

Friend request me on facebook and challenge me to a world geography IQ challenge and I'll beat you.

Damn I tried to friend request you but no results came up when I searched nineinchcock_160IQ. Fucking search engine sucks on facebook.

 

[eric19831]

In answer to the thread title: yes. But it's nothing new.

I was forbidden by my parents to read during Summer vacation 1971, when I was eleven. They thought my studious curiosity was a sign of deficient masculinity.

you look all man to me Bbucko! very sexy!!!

 

[SpeedoGuy]

. I never knew when I was a child that thirsting for knowledge was taboo -- until I grew up.

Exactly the same here. Exactly. I often had to (and continue to have to) disguise or downplay my education.

 

[Drifterwood]

Europeans give themselves a big pat on the back because they can name all the tiny countries that their own countries share borders with.

Do they? I am not aware of this. The only person claiming geographical knowledge supremacy here is you. I can't recall a single post anywhere in which a European has seriously claimed that they are cleverer than anyone.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Do they? I am not aware of this. The only person claiming geographical knowledge supremacy here is you. I can't recall a single post anywhere in which a European has seriously claimed that they are cleverer than anyone.

Another example of willful ignorance?

If Americans are ignorant, how do you qualify that statement? They are ignorant compared to whom? Nigerians?

 

[2322]

My geography is excellent. I can find Sao Tome and Principe, Kiribati, Nauru, the Atlases, Mariana's Trench, Mt. Erebus, Angel Falls, and a whole host of stuff. I read atlases for leisure reading.

But then I'm weird...