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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.

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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.

But this merely extends the mystery: How did so many U.S. citizens become so dumb and so suspicious of intelligence? Susan Jacoby's book The Age of American Unreason provides the fullest explanation I have read so far. She shows that the degradation of U.S. politics results from a series of interlocking tragedies.

One theme is both familiar and clear: Religion -- in particular fundamentalist religion -- makes you stupid. The United States is the only rich country in which Christian fundamentalism is vast and growing.

Jacoby shows that there was once a certain logic to its anti-rationalism. During the first few decades after the publication of Origin of Species, for example, Americans had good reason to reject the theory of natural selection and to treat public intellectuals with suspicion. From the beginning, Darwin's theory was mixed up in the United States with the brutal philosophy -- now known as Social Darwinism -- of the British writer Herbert Spencer. Spencer's doctrine, promoted in the popular press with the help of funding from Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison, suggested that millionaires stood at the top of a scala natura established by evolution. By preventing unfit people from being weeded out, government intervention weakened the nation, according to the doctrine; gross economic inequalities were both justifiable and necessary.


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George Monbiot is the author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning. Read more of his writings at Monbiot.com. This article originally appeared in the Guardian.

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RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: trel on Oct 31, 2008 3:44 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You now have your own personal God. Barrak Hussien Obama.

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» Everything political these days... Posted by: ABetterFuture
» RE: Priceless! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: Priceless! Posted by: Lauren
» RE: Priceless! Posted by: lisaisalefty
» RE: Priceless! Posted by: bluepilgrim
» RE: Priceless! Posted by: john mont
RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: Lilykins on Oct 31, 2008 4:54 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The problem is the idiots force their potentially intellectual children into their "proud to be ignorant" lifestyle.
Being a child of fundamentalist parents I have been forced to leave public school at 12 because my parents believed girls should be housewives and having an education would tempt them away from that god-given duty. Later, I went against their will to take a couple of college courses at a community college. I got great grades and won a full scholarship. My entire family then banded together and threaten to never speak to me or my son again if I took the scholarship. I chose my family and have regretted it ever since. At 40, after struggling through horribly abusive relationships with religious fanatical men who believed men owned their wives, I finally escaped from Christianity and now I am living alone and putting myself through school. I've never been happier in my life.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about all the children born to those "proud to ignorant" jerks and the way their children's minds are discarded like trash so the parents can feel better about their own faith in magic. American children are a laughing stock to the rest of the world because instead of science they are taught about magic, instead of learning about the wonders of the human body, they are taught about how "evil" their minds and bodies are. Instead of being loved for who they are, they are hated and told they were born "bad" and have to spend their lives denying and hating themselves. Instead of being told that the world is full of potentials and opportunities, they are told it's evil and scary.
It sickens me. I would never judge a janitor or garbage collector; you never know what hell they may have had to suffer in their lives.

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» RE: Good for you! Posted by: Cybershaman
» Oops - I meant OBNOXIOUS Posted by: fluffmuffinmom
RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: Fishbone Soldier on Oct 31, 2008 4:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Yeah, 'cept this ignorance thing - it really affects everyone. Without the fundamentalist sheep, Bush never would've stood a chance to get elected. Have you been paying attention the last eight years? You know how much this "Crusade in the Middle East" has cost you personally? Your "make 'em slaves" argument is not without merit, but when we have enough of them that they are the ones making the decisions, who's the real slave?

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RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: johnthetreehugger on Oct 31, 2008 5:27 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
don't want to get your hands dirty?

you are a lazy motherfucker. physical laziness is just as bad as mental laziness. Monbiot should have addressed that as well. The avoidance of physical and mental work has been the age old project of the ruling classes and their camp followers in the middle classes. Too lazy to do real work and too lazy to do some real thinking.

you lazy jack asses sit around feeling superior 'cause you shuffle paperwork or stare at a computer screen all day and call that work, and look down your noses at the folks cleaning your toilets and taking out the trash? fuck you. you are lazy, unamerican scum. can't wait till your vaunted economy collapses and you find that have to get your precious little hands dirty just so that you can eat!

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» Swords don't need ammo Posted by: Damhnait
» Careful Helen Posted by: marid
» RE: Not satire at all. Posted by: sallyride
» RE: What Dreams May Come. Posted by: fluffmuffinmom
» RE: What Dreams May Come. Posted by: blitzmesser
RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: keubel on Oct 31, 2008 6:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have to say I have had these thoughts myself. It's to the advantage of Democrats, liberals and progressives, for the right to continue to think the way they do. It takes a lot of people to dig a big enough hole to bury the republican party. You really can't go on making policy on ideas that don't work, or are out and out lies. Either that or you have to bomb everyone.

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RE: HAVE YOU HAD THIS FANTASY PERSONA, LONG???...
Posted by: blurider on Oct 31, 2008 8:08 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
..OR are we fortunate enough to observe as you make it up right before our eyes?

Self-labeled 'elite'! - HA!!

Nobody called you charming, intelligent or seductive either!

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» RE: Y'all called me an elitest Posted by: Knot_Rich
» RE: Y'all called me an elitest Posted by: lthompson94
» RE: Y'all called me an elitest Posted by: blitzmesser
RE: To those that would call me an elitist: Thank you.
Posted by: Quannah on Oct 31, 2008 8:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You can put a .357 on a pig...

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» RE: Maybe not a .357... Posted by: Quannah
RE: To those that would call me an elitist: Thank you.
Posted by: helenwheels on Oct 31, 2008 9:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Well, aren't you somethin'?

Why are you up here bragging about yourself? People who are truly secure just don't do that. Your I.Q. is in the "triple digits"? So it could be a lower-than-average 100? That would be my guess.

You come off as one disgusting, hateful person who deep down thinks that only looks matter. Good luck with that, shallow moran.

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RE: To those that would call me an elitist: Thank you.
Posted by: fluffmuffinmom on Oct 31, 2008 2:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You "bed" these girls? "Bed" them? Really? PLEASE!

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RE: To those that would call me an elitist: [Most people have "an IQ in the triple digits".
Posted by: Squarehead on Nov 1, 2008 6:50 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Most people have "an IQ in the triple digits". Something to do with the selection of 'scale'.

You know, the average IQ being 100.

Of course, the arrogance you have boasted of earlier, is partly explained by your years; BUT that same attitude seems too general in USA today. People like you are part of a program, whether you realise it or not.

Check out Montesquieu, for basic wisdom on what it is to be human. I mean his comment on 'Fool! Do you not know that you lived, and that that is the greatest of your achievements?" Think about it.

IQ is a fatally flawed concept, unless you treat it with the weight it deserves. (i.e., not too much)

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RE: To those that would call me an elitist: Thank you.
Posted by: blitzmesser on Nov 1, 2008 2:36 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Who cares? What is a pig with lipstick?
I bed beautiful young college aged girls.
Right out of Dostoevsky.... LOL

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EDUCATED TOILET CLEANERS DO A BETTER JOB!!!
Posted by: X-POLYGAMIST WIFE on Oct 31, 2008 7:59 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm "BANKING ON HEAVEN" Obama wins because Abraham Lincoln freed black slaves in America. Maybe Obama will free McCain's 10,000 white slaves in Arizona.

http://www.bankingonheaven.com

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RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: PandaBear on Oct 31, 2008 8:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I want anti-intellectualism to wither because I want intellectuals to be respected as much as anyone else, and I want them to be elected to leadership roles. I have nothing against non-intellectuals, but as an academic-type I am tired of the inner voice saying I need to apologize for it somehow.

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Shouldn't you be over in the white suppremist section?..Nihilist!
Posted by: donl51 on Oct 31, 2008 9:10 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
.

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RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: willymack on Oct 31, 2008 9:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hi Honky. I appreciate the droll humor; it's a good way to start the day. While it's true that not all of us are candidates for MENSA, menial work MUST be done by someone. The stigma attached to those who do drudge work, and have low incomes, ignores the fact that there's HONOR, DECENCY, and DIGNITY in all of us willing to work for a living, regardless of its type and social standing.

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Ambrose Bierce would be proud of you.
Posted by: Ignatz deFyre on Oct 31, 2008 9:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The inevitable great unwashed have a role to play in society, and not necessarily by design. There is an argument to be made for society not having to trouble itself correcting accidents of birth.

More worrisome are the more resourceful among the idiots. As A.B. defines in the Devil's Dictionary:
IDIOT, n.
A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot's activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but "pervades and regulates the whole." He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line.

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RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: Spiritgirl on Oct 31, 2008 11:34 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just a few points to consider, (1)it's the "Jerry Springer-ization" of America! Americans have been dumbed down by so many forces - mis-education, t.v., etc.!! What we are now witnessing are the results, terrible as they may be!!!

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RE: Why do you want anti-intellectualism to wither?
Posted by: desidid on Nov 1, 2008 12:25 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Students of US History will know that at the time of the Emancipation of slaves, education wasn't important to many whites. It appears that history is repeating itself, because the Republican party is pretty white and the followers are pretty stupid. Not only do the leaders of the party revel in their mediocrity (Bush, Palin, McCain)they elevate those followers who admit the opposition's tax plan sounds better, but I'm votin' fer McCain/Palin anyway (Joe the plumber). Why because scumbags respect other scumbags. They respect those who would sell-out their friends and families for personal gain, because they have and they will again. That is at the heart of nearly every Republican I've known well. One should always dust their feet and not look back when leaving the presence of a Republican they are the vipers of humanity.

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Two Problems in American Political System
Posted by: Jbuuty on Oct 31, 2008 1:58 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Monbiot does a good job of identifying one of the real problems in the American system. It has become a very elitist setup. The wealthy and some exceptional students from the lower classes get a good education. For the rest education is just enough to get a job. The power elite don't want the average person to get an education. Check out tyrannical governments around the world, and you will see that universities are one of the first places they attack and try to control.

The other problem is the amount of money in US politics. The wealthy buy politicians.

If we could improve the educational system and get rid of the corporate sponsorship of politicians, we might actually become a democracy worthy of the name.

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It transcends politics
Posted by: Col. Jackleg on Oct 31, 2008 2:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have been a trial lawyer in the South for 40 years. Raised and educated in the universities of the Northeast, I ventured south and chose the emergent Atlanta as the place to ply my craft in the late 1960s. From the outset, I encountered judges that render Bush and Palin geniuses in comparison. Jury selection became a process of striking white fundamentalists [Baptists] and hoping for panels comprised mostly of blacks. Fact is, southern white juries are biased, neoconservative and resentful of being "talked down to" in the presentation of evidence at trial. Thus, successful trial lawyers are required to absase themselves and resort to "dumbing down" to get past jury stupidity and corresponding judicial unsophistication. It gets worse at the appellate level and if state courts are avoided and federal courts preferred, a trial lawyer quickly learns that the Reagan Revolution has succeeded wildly beyond initial projections and no federal judge is severable from the likes of Scalia, Roberts and Alito. I won't mention Clarence Thomas other than to accord him Belafonte's "porch monkey" designation and the intellectual inferior to Palin, Quayle, Bush et al. We are in deep trouble folks and as the current election campaigns are showing, stupidity reigns supreme in America and it will not change in the foreseeable future. Hope is one thing, reality is a gut check and right now the reality is that this is one stupid penal colony!

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» RE: It transcends politics Posted by: georgiaorwell
» Amen Posted by: Col. Jackleg
» Wait up! RE: Amen Posted by: sallyride
» UT got one thing right Posted by: Col. Jackleg
» RE: UT got one thing right Posted by: sallyride
» Heading to Santa Fe in April! Posted by: NoKidding
» RE: Secession Posted by: oregoncharles
» RE: Secession Posted by: icgodnu
» RE: It transcends politics Posted by: walterik
» Huh? Posted by: Col. Jackleg
» RE: Don't 'Bogart' that thing! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: Don't 'Bogart' that thing! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: Don't 'Bogart' that thing! Posted by: Squarehead
» RE: Don't 'Bogart' that thing! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: eligion isn't the problem, really. Posted by: ConnecttheDots
» RE: It transcends politics Posted by: Knot_Rich
» You make my case Posted by: Col. Jackleg
» RE: It transcends politics Posted by: grethart
Accurate, of course, but what about Europe?
Posted by: notabilia on Oct 31, 2008 2:37 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Fine points, indeed, but whither Britannia? Old Europe is not as besotted with jackleg ignorance as the colony, but it is nonetheless a font of arrant stupidity. Witness the prayer warrior Blair, and then look at the merciless racism of German burghers, then see all the western "democracies" united in center-right corporate criminal capitalism. Who are we in American supposed to look for inspiration - Iceland?

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"I've never taught and you've never thought" - Renaissance Man
Posted by: georgiaorwell on Oct 31, 2008 2:42 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thanks for the great, informative article.

All one has to really do to seriously understand the ignorance surrounding the general American public is to read John Taylor Gatto's The Underground History of American Education.

When I first read this book, I was shocked into utter disbelief as to how disingenious and calculating some of our early American industrialists were in introducing the zombie factor into the schools: teaching children to become future obedient workers for industry was the goal. Certainly not teaching critical thinking nor encouraging independent thought was the process. The educational system wanted and was used to shamefully promote their future workers into not questioning anything but to mindlessly obey. This had an added bonus in dampening labor union support. I encourage all who have not read this book to read it and weep. Most of us will recognize our own schooling backgrounds in the horrifying facts that Gatto presents. After having taught for many years, I found most of my students unable to even imagine creative endeavor, let alone able to practice it, as it had been seriously stomped out of them by the time they reached middle school on up.

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The only people who eats genetically engineered foods
Posted by: basil10 on Oct 31, 2008 3:03 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Remember the experiment? (www.seedsofdeception.com) The guy has 2 groups of mice. One group of mice eats normal foods, the other group gets forced fed on genetically modified foods (force fed because they normally don't want to touch the stuff). After several months, some of the genetic mice begins to be sick, some go in circles endlessly and die, some attacks the other ones, some eat the other ones, and finally every mouse ends up dead. Why should it be different when a human population massively eat that stuff? We are becoming massively nuts. Only in America...

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» RE: The only people who eats genetically engineered foods Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line
» RE: The only people who eats genetically engineered foods Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line