George Monbiot: The Triumph of Ignorance: How Morons Succeed in U.S. Politics

[babylonsister]

The Triumph of Ignorance: How Morons Succeed in U.S. Politics

By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com. Posted October 31, 2008.

Obama has a lot to offer, but until our education system is fixed or religious fundamentalism withers, anti-intellectuals will flaunt their ignorance.



How was it allowed to happen? How did politics in the United States come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance? Was it charity that has permitted mankind's closest living relative to spend two terms as president? How did Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle and other such gibbering numbskulls get to where they are? How could Republican rallies in 2008 be drowned out by screaming ignoramuses insisting that Barack Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist?

Like most people on this side of the Atlantic, I have spent my adult life mystified by American politics. The United States has the world's best universities and attracts the world's finest minds. It dominates discoveries in science and medicine. Its wealth and power depend on the application of knowledge. Yet, uniquely among the developed nations (with the possible exception of Australia), learning is a grave political disadvantage.

There have been exceptions over the past century: Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy and Clinton tempered their intellectualism with the common touch and survived; but Adlai Stevenson, Al Gore and John Kerry were successfully tarred by their opponents as members of a cerebral elite (as if this were not a qualification for the presidency). Perhaps the defining moment in the collapse of intelligent politics was Ronald Reagan's response to Jimmy Carter during the 1980 presidential debate. Carter -- stumbling a little, using long words -- carefully enumerated the benefits of national health insurance. Reagan smiled and said, "There you go again." His own health program would have appalled most Americans, had he explained it as carefully as Carter had done, but he had found a formula for avoiding tough political issues and making his opponents look like wonks.

It wasn't always like this. The founding fathers of the republic -- men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton -- were among the greatest thinkers of their age. They felt no need to make a secret of it. How did the project they launched degenerate into George W. Bush and Sarah Palin?

On one level, this is easy to answer: Ignorant politicians are elected by ignorant people. U.S. education, like the U.S. health system, is notorious for its failures. In the most powerful nation on Earth, 1 adult in 5 believes the sun revolves around the Earth; only 26 percent accept that evolution takes place by means of natural selection; two-thirds of young adults are unable to find Iraq on a map; two-thirds of U.S. voters cannot name the three branches of government; and the math skills of 15-year-olds in the United States are ranked 24th out of the 29 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/story/105447/the_triumph_of_ignorance%3A_how_morons_succeed_in_u.s._politics/?page=entire

[mediaman007]

1. Pretty much nails our system.

Trace it back to Freud's nephew: Edward Bernays

http://www.corporate-aliens.com/articles/pdf/bernays.pdf

[Wetzelbill]

2. Could you imagine Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton sitting down to talk with

Bush, McCain and Palin? lol

[mediaman007]

3. What astonishes me, are the millions of well-educated people that

buy the "trickle down" economics and voodoo Christianity. Its almost like Coke vs. Pepsi, or PC vs Mac.

[seemslikeadream]

4. How did the project they launched degenerate into George W. Bush and Sarah Palin?

[fasttense]

5. I think this article leaves out a few things.

As the first poster pointed out with his link, the corporate media has a lot to do with the dumbing down of Americans.

This article also leaves out the fact that intellectuals tend to work for the powerful, wealthy elite. Milton Friedman is a good example. He used his knack for economics to push a theory that supported the outright theft of money from the middle class and poor. His theories have been used time and time again to force unwilling Democracies into poverty to the benefit of corporations.

Intellectuals can provide the bases for free and open Democracies or they can provide the foundation to support royalty, kings, queens, and despotism. But when they are combined with a monolithic press and money hungry religions, it is a recipe for the flourishing of ignorance.

[laststeamtrain]

6. They're loud. They're proud. They wave toilet plungers in the air & scream.

Maybe they're from another planet?

[babylonsister]

7. Honestly, that's just plain embarrassing. nt