Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free

[RamboLiberal]

From Amazon.com

In the midst of a career-long quest to separate the smart from the pap, Charles Pierce had a defining moment at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where he observed a dinosaur. Wearing a saddle... But worse than this was when the proprietor exclaimed to a cheering crowd, “We are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists!” He knew then and there it was time to try and salvage the Land of the Enlightened, buried somewhere in this new Home of the Uninformed.

Question: What inspired, or should I say drove, you to write Idiot America?
Charles P. Pierce: The germ of the idea came as I watched the extended coverage of the death of Terri Schiavo. I wondered how so many people could ally themselves with so much foolishness despite the fact that it was doing them no perceptible good, politically or otherwise. And it looked like the national media simply could not help itself but be swept along. This started me thinking and, when I read a clip in the New York Times about the Creation Museum, I pitched an idea to Mark Warren, my editor at Esquire, that said simply, “Dinosaurs with saddles.” What we determined the theme of the eventual piece—and of the book—would be was “The Consequences Of Believing Nonsense.”

Question: You visited the Creation Museum while writing Idiot America. Describe your experience there. What was your first thought when you saw a dinosaur with a saddle on its back?
Charles P. Pierce: My first thought was that it was hilarious. My second thought was that I was the only person in the place who thought it was, which made me both angry and a little melancholy. Outside of the fact that its “science” is a god-awful parodic stew of paleontology, geology, and epistemology, all of them wholly detached from the actual intellectual method of each of them. The most disappointing thing is that the completed museum is so dreadfully grim and earnest and boring. It even makes dragon myths servant to its fringe biblical interpretations. Who wants to live in a world where dragons are boring?

[Fovea]

1. William Whyte- The Orgainization Man (1950s)

One chapter heading-

The Fight against Genius.

But it went into overdrive in 1968.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Dragons boring... oh my... that could be a smidgen of a problem

now dinos with riding saddles... British or American? Yes it does make a difference

:-)

Dinos with saddles... ooh boy... the land of the idiots!

[Prophet 451]

6. Shame it's not true

Dinos with saddles? C'mon, tell me that's not cool!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. I have to get this book for the title alone.

on edit: here's a link to the original Esquire article that led to the book...
http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0207GREETINGS

[NC_Nurse]

4. That looks awesome! I will look for it.

[david13]

5. Hofstedter predicted it. And chronicled it long ago, and in

American History. It won't ever end? Probably not. Will it get worse? It already has.
To the ignorant, ignorance is bliss.
dc

[JitterbugPerfume]

30. The Hofstedtler book was really great,

and Susan Jacoby recently (in the past couple of years) wrote a really insightful book on the same subject. You are right, it will never end because some people are proud of their ignorance.

[young_at_heart]

7. If you haven't seen "Idiocracy", then I highly recommend it

From the LA Times:

Idiocracy" is Mike Judge's pitch-black, bleakly hilarious vision of an American future so bespoiled by rapacious corporations and so dumbed-down by junk culture that the president of the United States is a three-time "Smackdown!" champion and former super porn-star. The movie begins with a comparison of two family trees. A high-IQ couple waits for the perfect time to have a child, a decision they don't take lightly, while elsewhere, in the trailer park, the dim bulbs breed like rabbits. The high-IQ couple waits too long, the husband dies of stress during fertility treatments, and their line stops there. Meanwhile, the moron population explodes.

[truedelphi]

8. I love "Idiocracy" -- I am just wishing we were not

Living it!

[Bigmack]

21. This is one of my old man's

FAVORITE movies....bits and pieces of which have been inflicted on countless guests..... Ms Bigmack

[Psychic Consortium]

9. Ignorant citizens do not make for a good democracy.

Education must be made more affordable to everyone in this country.

[pscot]

10. Sometimes it seems like the more we educate ourselves

the dumber we get.

[Psychic Consortium]

12. If college is affordable for all, we will see a better society.

Health care and education make for a better democracy.

[stray cat]

20. Lets start by educating the populist in K-12 - why wait until college for people to get an education

We can't wait until age 18 to get people to actually study and learn.

[lovecanada56035]

18. That's true

After all, it would be more difficult for the powers that be to control us if we were aware of what they are doing.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. Going to college is no guarantee of becoming educated

If people go to college and major in one of those recently-devised majors intended to prepare them for specific corporate slots (Human Resources Management, Corporate Health and Fitness, Financial Management, Management Information Systems), they can graduate dumber than when they entered, because they will have been indoctrinated into corporate values.

If I were in charge of all K-12 education, kids would learn to read by reading real books of high quality, not reading textbooks. They would study history, geography, and science through books, movies, and, in the case of science, hands-on experiences in nature. They would learn to write coherently, spell correctly, and use proper grammar. (This actually helps a person think more clearly.) They would learn to sing and play real music and learn the principles of drawing realistically. They would learn athletic activities that they could continue for a lifetime. They would be given specific instruction in how not to be taken in by propaganda.

If they went to college, they would have seen alternatives to the corporate script.

[pscot]

11. Our library system has a dozen copies

And I'm number 3 on the hold list. Thanks for the tip.

[MountainLaurel]

13. Hadn't heard of this one

I'll have to check whether the public library has it yet.

[groovedaddy]

14. The Creation Museum in Kentucky and now this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=226966&mesg_id=226966

[Captain Hilts]

15. This is not new. FDR - and Eleanor's - political mentor taught both NOT to act

like the smartest guy in the room because no one likes the smartest guy in the room.

[david13]

19. I think clearly Bush the younger tried to portray himself as dumber

than he actually is. So that may be absolutely the situation with the Roosevelts. Remember Stevenson was criticized for being an 'egghead' 'intellectual', and worst of all a ... 'college perfesser!!'.
One a them thar.
dc

[Captain Hilts]

26. Yep. nt

[madaboutharry]

16. I think I need to read this book.

It sounds very interesting.

[lovecanada56035]

17. Sounds like an interesting book

And I'd definitely agree with what the author is saying.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

22. People

who think The Flintstones is a documentary
Very entertaining book

[gk88850]

23. I should check that out

[david13]

24. Who was it what said "public school is a place where children go

to be raised by other children, so they receive a lowest common denominator of culture.
American colleges promote what the most? Woof woof woof, guzzle beer and root for the ... football, basketball, etc., team?
Religion requires a certain stupidity, gullibility; they must be easily duped or it won't work.
The problem the world faces today is overpopulation, and what is the only thing we hear. Ah, the babies, aren't they cute, ah, the children, we've got to do this that and another thing for the children ... no.
They are the problem. But the problem is first with the parents.
dc

[ki83760]

25. sounds like a great book

[zeos3]

27. I just finished it. It's a great read.

Pierce lists the Great Premises of Idiot America.

The First Great Premise: Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units.

The Second Great Premise: Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough.

The Third Great Premise: Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.

My favorite paragraph is near the end of the book.

"But Idiot America is a collaborative effort, the results of millions of decisions made and not made, to reduce everything to salesmanship. Debate becomes corrupted argument, in which every point of view is just another product, no better or worse than all the others, and informed citizenship is abandoned to the marketplace. Idiot America is the development of the collective Gut at the expense of the collective mind. It's what results when we abandon our duty to treat the ridiculous with ridicule. It's what results when politicians make ridiculous statements and we not only surrender our right to punish them at the polls but also become too timid to punish their ideas with daily scorn - because the polls say those ideas are popular and therefore they must hold some sort of truth, which we should respect."

[netsurfer2]

29. No suprise here

Just look at all the idiots out there who say they won't get their kids vacinations.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[eleny]

32. I just got it from the library to read this week

A year late but I'm sure the same idiots are still around.

:hi: