By SN
Monday February 18, 2008
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Susan Jacoby – Washington Post – February 17, 2008:
Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans’ rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.
The shrinking public attention span fostered by video is closely tied to the second important anti-intellectual force in American culture: the erosion of general knowledge.
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That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it’s the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism — a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse.
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“um…ahhh..uhm…uug?”
W.
Why should anyone care about a post in Washington?
Hay! I no how 2 point AND klik!
Can some1 pls post this 2 utube?
Ok, I agree the trend is here and observable and absent another Enlightenment, it will get worse.
The upshot will be a bifurcation of society into the scientifically oriented fewer, with the ignorantly proud republicans looking for the next tax break.
Won’t matter when everything is 60 feet under water and flooded with gamma rays. Coincidence, or gods love for each and every one of us?
Ya know, this bugs me. In America (and most other places), we have the right and the *freedom* to be ignorant/uneducated. Sure, you may have a troubled life as a result, and you will be “laughed at” sometimes, but it’s YOUR RIGHT. There is nothing unethical about choosing to remain uneducated. Nothing. Some people actually believe that ignorance is bliss, and who are we to judge that?
Numerous religions and lifestyles actually *encourage* a type of ignorance as a path to happiness and compassion. Buddhism comes to mind, but also the biggies (Christianity, Islam, etc). Why do people think that “Factual” knowledge is related to happiness and compassion?
With that being said, I’ll be the first person to point and laugh at an ignorant person. Hey, it’s fun. But when it comes down to it, I have no right to judge them.
Welcome to the Idiocracy.
This is what happens when society’s only measure of success and self worth is wealth and earnings potential.
Successful societies require educated citizens, and the fact that learning is no longer a major value is proof positive that society is on the decline.
Calling people dumb and their children dumber is a perfect way to get a vote.
Jon said, …*encourage* a type of ignorance as a path to happiness and compassion. Buddhism comes to mind.
Sorry, you are ignorant of Buddhism which is your right, of course, but please do not feel entitled to pretend your limited understanding is accurate. That myopic insight smacks of the arrogance plaguing too many in the mob today.
Last night Sixty Minutes ran a segment on why the Danes rank as most content. It appears realistic expectations are the key. The ability to set said sane goals implies the knowledge to differentiate between attainable and absurd. If one is ignorant, they can believe in fantasy and thus risk disillusionment. Equally distressing is the search for ultimate knowledge.
And therein is the return to your observation re Buddhism which counsels against such a quest; albeit from a more enlightened perspective.
can someone bullet point this? i fell asleep half-way through.
80 hour video games are proof that the video culture doesn’t have a problem with attention span. The problem is there exists an almost infinite number of sources for information. If your source isn’t good enough the audience is going to move on to something else. Which also leads to “Why memorize when I can look it up?” When you don’t know something, “Google it”.
The bigger problem is discerning which sources should be believed.
We’re acting out the opening premise of CM Kornbluth’s “The Marching Morons”.
There has always been a proportion of intellects to ignorants that doesn’t change, society is frustrated because this can’t be changed but ’twas ever thus’. Easy access to information has changed the way we view intelligence. It’s no longer a questiion of memorizing the capitals of every state, the periodic table, or algerbaic formulae, now the challenge is to know how to rapidly access needed information and apply it. It’s understandable that those that missed the information revolution, lash out in frustraion at those that didn’t. I feel sorry for poor Susan, she just doesn’t get it.
Susan Jacoby certainly is right. “Arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism” is rampant
Unfortunately not only in the US – but world wide.
And videos/television are to blame for some of the problem. Take politics as an example:
Nowadays a president has to look nice on TV. The ultimate president/politician is an actor.
A great intellect and moral values are irrelevant. Modern day “heroes” and “role models” count many actors and musicians. A large percentage of which are not very nice or interesting people. Many are alcoholics, drug addicts or worse. Decency, altruism, uprightness completely absent.
Great Americans like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson would never have had a chance in modern politics.
After all they could speak and write grammatically correct sentences longer than three words.
Nowadays speech writers, spin doctors and media consultants set up the show. The politicians learns to repeat the same short and simple messages again and again. Complex issues are never discussed nor explained. Superficiality rules.
Watching a modern political debate is less enlightening than watching a cartoon. A cartoon can at least entertain whereas most modern political debate does not – wit is as rare as political incorrectness.
Modern news on TV have gone the same way. I wonder when a journalist on TV last was selected for his or hers intellect?
To really see – do not use your eyes.
What’s a Moran?
i bet the guy who wrote the article has problems operating a computer, and gets pwned by his children at simple video games – he has to make up for that by belittling the gaming culture
fortunately, in a few years he will be worm food
#18 – A man named “Sue”.
I hope #18 is joking.
Otherwise:
Quod Erat Demonstrandum
Moran — A moron’s moron. Came into common usage when their leader pictured above first appeared on the web a couple of years ago.
Pure drivel. Claiming that Iraq is not in the news because of attention span is the height of sophistry. It could not possibly be that there is no “news” that the media or the candidates wish to report? The claims about foreign language is also idiotic. The US is a huge country. Most people are busy and generally only exposed to people that speak English on a day to day basis. Compare that with France that has, within a few hours driving, three different language countries on its borders. In addition, people that write these sort of articles always discount reading of any kind, online. As if only material read on paper is worthy of being “intellectual.”
There is no question that education, especially at the elementary through High School level and even more so in the public school system needs work. But to claim that America is “anti-intellectual” is clearly a statement coming from an elitist snob.
meh. look, people have been saying ‘kids these days …’ since ancient Greece. If the world is going to hell, I wish we would get there already!
she really lost me when she dissed on ‘Everything Bad is Good for You.’ the author makes a very compelling case that, notwithstanding the CW, the pop culture has improved over the years. Narrative has become more complex, requiring more engagement on the part of the viewer.
Think about it.
‘The Sopranos’ is better than ‘Dallas.’
‘Lost’ is better than ‘Fantasy Island.’
‘Heroes’ is better than ‘Wonder Woman.’
‘Battlestar Galactica’ is better than, um, ‘Battlestar Galactica.’ and
‘Dr. Who’ is better than um, ‘Dr. Who’
Also, because of the internet, people are probably reading (and writing) more now than ever before. Maybe Americans don’t know foreign languages, but they communicate more with people than other countries than they ever did before.
The key here is that people are now actively engaged in public discourse through their own creation of media content on the internet instead of filling their brains with the regurgitated opinions of the media elite in D.C. and New York.
These “elite” journalists (you can almost hear the author’s teeth grind as she types the “E” word) are losing their influence over public opinion and their answer is to insult everyone that won’t listen to them anymore. Screw ’em.
Print media is dying and there isn’t anything they can do to stop it. The bloom is off the rose. They just can’t deal with that fact. Long live the Internet!
Since the liberals control the education system is it any surprise?
Liberals also control the source of this rubbish article. 🙂
The article says that the Earth revolves around the Sun. That is not true.
http://tinyurl.com/36j7y3