It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.’ Barack Obama finally said it. Though a successful political and electoral strategy, the Right’s stand against intelligence has steered them far off course, leaving them — and us — unable to deal successfully with the complex and dynamic circumstances we face as a nation and a society. American 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 countries in math literacy, and their parents are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution; roughly 30 to 40 percent believe in each. Their president believes ‘the jury is still out’ on evolution. Steve Colbert interviewed Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland on ‘The Colbert Report.’ Westmoreland co-sponsored a bill that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but, when asked, couldn’t actually list the commandments. This stuff would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous. In the 2004 election, nearly 70 percent of Bush supporters believed the United States had ‘clear evidence’ that Saddam Hussein was working closely with al Qaeda; a third believed weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq; and more than a third that a substantial […]
Sunday, August 17th, 2008
How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America
Author: TERRENCE MCNALLY
Source: Alternet
Publication Date: 16-Aug-08
Link: How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America
Source: Alternet
Publication Date: 16-Aug-08
Link: How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America
Stephan: Interviewer Terrence McNally, an SR reader, hosts Free Forum on KPFK 90.7 FM, Los Angeles. He makes what I think are very important points. One of the most significant impacts of the evangelical movement is that on the one hand it emphasizes home schooling while, on the other, it throws overboard whole disciplines of science, and permits only a wildly distorted view of reality.