"Ten Commandments in both the House of Representatives and the Senate" - lets not forget the Whitehouse. Based on the past indescretions of our politicians, the wars etc.. this might not be a bad thing.. maybe add a few religious houses of worship to this list as well.

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"All childhood memories are unreliable. We construct narratives to justify what we now think." True statement!

The e-mail probably went on past that - which is to say, it's probably quoted out of context (how anti-intellectual is that?) - but the statement is undeniably a fact.

The writer wasn't accusing her of deciding to become an atheist at age 7 (as Jacoby even admits!); the writer was merely making a simple, clear, factual statement. If Jacoby is hanging her defense of intellectualism and "reason" on her memories as a 7 year old, that is a thin thread indeed.

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Anyone running for public office should have to pass a test showing above-average understanding of:

Math
Science
Ecology
Comparative Religion
Sociology
Biology
Economics
Reading comprehension
and most especially, Constitutional Law

If they can't show proficiency in these areas, how can they possibly be trusted to make decisions concerning them?

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The truth is the American people have been lied to for so long by the newsrooms, intellectuals and specialists foisted on them by the Corporate Media this is the way they feel.

These intellectuals told them that free trade was a great idea, and lost their jobs or know someone who has. The experts told them that Sadam was helping Bin Laden, that the war would be a cakewalk and here we are in a disaster. The corporate economists told them that tax cuts for the rich would benefit everybody.

The American People justly denigrate those of supposedly higher intelligence because they have been lied to over and over again and they know it. And a simple look at the policies of McCain and Obama shows why the American people are not amused by authors like this when the lies are so apparent. They pass this skepticism and cognitive dissonance to their children.

The propaganda from the Corporate State has worked. You either believe their untruths and lies or you tune them out.

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On April 16, 2008, the Los Angeles Times published an article by David Shipler titled, "The Resonance of Racism."

Part of it said, "'Elitist' is another word for 'arrogant,' which is another word for 'uppity' -- that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves."

I have been voting in presidential elections since 1956 and this is the first time in my memory that a candidate (Obama) has been called "arrogant."

My sensitivity to the word comes from being was raised in the Deep South by liberal white parents who taught me never to say "nigger." Even writing the word for this comment makes me feel queasy. But let's talk straight about what Republicans have done and are doing now when they call Obama "arrogant."

They are saying through an easily understood code word that he is an "uppity nigger" -- a term I heard thousands of times during my childhood. For closet racists to suggest other otherwise shows they think tolerant Americans are either stupid or inconsequential.

McCain campaign ads are almost always negative. Several TV spots feature a Mussolini-style image of Barrack with the eery sound of a crowd chanting ominously in the background, "Obama... Obama... Obama...." There can be no mistaking the intent of those commercials-- to stir up primal race-based fears among white voters without addressing the major problems facing our nation, such as rising unemployment, worsening inflation, skyrocketing energy prices, jobs going overseas, the unending Iraq War.

What does that say about Senator McCain, who had promised early on to run a clean campaign? For the answer, read what former POW Phillip Butler, an ex-Navy pilot and Naval Academy graduate, wrote in an article published in June 2008 by Military.com.

Believe me when I say that back then I would never in a million years have dreamed that the crazy guy across the hall would someday be a Senator and candidate for President! John was a wild man. He was funny, with a quick wit and he was intelligent. But he was intent on breaking every regulation in our four-inch-thick USNA Regulations book. And I believe he must have come as close to his goal as any midshipman who ever attended the Academy.

I could tell many other midshipman stories about John that year and he unbelievably managed to graduate though he spent the majority of his first class year on restriction for the stuff he got caught doing. In fact he barely managed to graduate, standing 5th from the bottom of his 800-man class. I and many others have speculated that the main reason he did graduate was because his father was an Admiral, and also his grandfather, both Naval Academy graduates.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.

Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60’s and 70’s. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John’s age (71) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for four or more years.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced firsthand. Folks, quite honestly, that is not the finger I want next to the red button.

That's the kind of advice freedom-loving Americans should pay attention to.

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam vet [For the benefit of first-time AlterNet visitors]
Seven Reasons to Vote Against Unfit McCain

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This article is spot on about many things, such as American exceptionalism and the difference between technological and intellectual intelligence.

The conclusion or remedy, however, is rather silly. We have deep, serious, long-term cultural issues and a largely hard-coded national character. These aren't going to go away just because we reduce our kids' TV time and spend more quality time with them...which brings us back to a point the article starts to make: that the Left is often as naive as the right.

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It starts in school, when they cut the "advanced" or "gifted" classes in favor of ESL classes, and "mainstreaming". the smart kids ALWAYS suffer.

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We are now living in a "Post Literate Society".

This Bush administration has reduced the United States to a third world country.

Sad!

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..."Elitist" has become the new "Liberal"(hawk and spit)...

The first bush tax "rebate" was an advance on the next years tax return, the next Bush "stimulus" check was money borrowed against the national debt. And now they want us to be stupid about the situation with Russia and Georgia. How about keeping Georgian troops out of South Ossetia, (talk about a larger country invading a smaller one).

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She stated: "Well, I have just been told that all of my memories of growing up are wrong, because memory is absolutely inaccurate. It's only a 'narrative.'"

This is probably from the postmodern idea that we contruct our own reality. The addition of the subjecitive compent to the matrix of reality is a major advance to a beginning of TRANS-rationality (not anti-rationalith) that the postmodern philosophers gave us; the abolutism that we create our own realities is a groos fallacy that misinterprets what the best of the postmodern thinkers said, and it is a very common misconception. See Ken Wilber's later works for more (beginning with "Sex, Evolution, and Spirituality".)

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We, as a nation, are stupid and doomed. It's been that way for some time. Hard to swallow, I know, but facts are facts.

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Think about this:
Eight years ago, the American people decided to send a corrupt, hideous, half-witted frat boy to the White House because the thought his opponent was a "smarty pants", "a policy wonk". The idiot from Texas seemed like such a "regular guy". The people said - in poll after stupid poll - that they would prefer to have a beer with George W. Bush instead of Al Gore. And you wonder why we are the laughingstock of the Milky Way?

Someone once said that a nation gets the leaders they deserve. I enthusiastically agree. This idiotic nation deserves eberything that is currently happening to it. The only silver lining is the fact that people like us (we AlterNet readers are so freaking hip!) will be able to laugh at the fools who actually believed that sending this murderous little thug to Washington was a really neat idea. I'm loving it!

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
Jerome Corsi is a Liar and a Pervert

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Emotional intelligence ... But it doesn't matter if you're kind to others and you understand them if you don't know anything about your society and history.

Intellectuals will never make a dent on the conversation until they realize and admit the importance of emotional and social skills. How can one even begin to persuade another to their way of thinking without kindness? There's a reason it's always been standard practice for Western imperialists to send the Christian missionaries in first.

The more simplistic masses have long suspected that highly educated people looked down on them. With the advent of the internet, they no longer have to guess.

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Nothing's changed! Gulivers' travels is a study in both human stupidity and moral depravity, with some surprisingly accurate science thrown in.

I do not agree with Mr. Swift that humans are in the final analysis salvageable. Humans seem to be just getting dumber and dumber as the decades pass. And as Obama says bragging about their self inflicted and enforced ignorance.

Being a Whynnum at heart I concur. The sooner the humans join the Dodo and Pachycephalodon the sooner horses, dogs, pigs, cows and Kangaroos can live in peace and relative harmony.


Well, maybe not relative harmony but tended in that direction. I mean after all spats happen.

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I thought it was a great article, even though I am still a "believer". It touches on all sorts of factors, and there are plenty of other factors. As a society we don't distinguish between information, knowledge and wisdom (seeing things more in their principles). We think "education" only happens at school, and ignore the brainwashing of TV, effects of mass media, and overall attitudinal influence of our whole culture. There is a place of realizing too that we don't just "think" or "educate" ourselves into a new way of acting...we have to also act our way into a new way of thinking. Aristotle said, "As a man is, so does the end appear to him...", which I translate to mean: "As a man is, so do life and reality appear to him." What we experience becomes part of us!

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A great post on the anti-intellectualism infecting our society today.

Regarding the Ten Commandments, it would be instructive if people would actually learn more about them!

The truth is that they’re not ‘God’s word’, but are a small part of a large code of primitive taboos intended for the tribe of Israel, particularly that of Hebrew Males. This ‘law’ was largely borrowed from the ‘Code of Hammurabi’, a complex system of laws and punishments that existed in the Kingdom of Babylon more than 1,000 years before the Hebrew commandments. Let’s review just three examples of penalties for violations of these ‘laws’.

1. Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The Penalty: "If thy brother, son, daughter, wife or friend…entice they [to] serve other gods…thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die.” (Deuteronomy 13:6)

2. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain". Penalty: “He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall surely be put to death.” (Leviticus 24:16)

3. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy". Punishment: “Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 31:15)

Transgressions of the other 'commandments' have similar ridiculous consequences or punishments.

But good luck even getting a "believer" to listen to such information! It's much easier to blather on about our need to "live by the ten commandments" without knowing their origins. One should not need commandments (or religion for that matter) to do the right or moral thing when given a choice.

My favorite summary on being a great thinker http://tompetrie.net/id14.html. (It was from a GRE exam book, so the author is unknown. I memorized it 29 years ago.)

Forty years ago, Albert Schweitzer, M.D., (the great humanitarian and doctor), was being interviewed by the New York Times and was asked: "What's wrong with man?" He thought for a moment and answered: "Men simply don't think." Sadly, he's still right.

Please encourage your friends and neighbors to turn off their televisions and do more reading and studying!

Tom, Nutritionist,
http://tompetrie.net

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The Why-Haven’t-You Impeached-the-President Tour

Two corrections.

I found a factual error by Rahm Emanuel:

“He has been impeached by current history,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “He is going down as the worst president ever. The facts are in.”

The facts are in? What facts? They are not 'in' without an impeachment hearing and he knows it. Rahm is involved in the cover-up and conspiracy. He deserves to be under investigation too for his role in treason.

2nd correction.

It was printed that there was no effort to impeach Pelosi. Wrong. Here it is:
Sign a Petition to the US House of Representatives

Because the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has failed to take her oath of office seriously we signatories are asking the House to vote to either impeach her or replace her with a Representative who will take his or her oath seriously.

Can we get this thing to go totally viral by the end of the weekend?
If we have to impeach her first, so be it. Obstruction of justice is a very serious crime.

How many signatures do we need to be taken seriously?

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... But I'm not sure if Jacoby its the best champion.

Obviously, the concept of nurtured, applied thinking is under increasing attack in our society. No dispute, there. I recall quite vividly (accuracy of memory being found, simply enough, in what we carry away from it) entering public High School as a sophomore after years of home schooling & immediately being under intense social pressure to dumb myself down. Even in Honors classes. & that was in the early 90's.

This is clearly a serious problem, both in terms of our immediate lives &, by extension, our interactions with the larger world.

That said, I found Jacoby's various arguments to be surprisingly unfocused & sometimes contradictory. Granted, this was an interview, so some leeway should be given. But one could be forgiven for hoping that someone arguing in support of increased respect for intelligence could actually have a consistent definition of the term.

I'm speaking of one of the last exchanges in the interview, when Mcnally brings up the concept of different types of intelligence, & Jacoby shuts him down cold. She states that she doesn't believe in such differences, end of story. She then immediately defines one such difference (emotional) back into existence, if only to dismiss it as being lesser in comparison to other (non-existent?) forms. She basically contends, after providing numerous critiques of our technology-based myopia & social disconnects, that the ability to empathize with others is not an important skill.

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't wash. Empathy is one of the most basic defining aspects of our humanity, & an essential spur towards gaining further understanding. In fact, it may be the only hope for bridging the growing gap between those who respect intelligence & those who have been taught to fear it.

Duh.

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Remember Candidate Bush and "fuzzy math"? No one called him on this. He just refused to grapple with the facts, and he got away with it.

Think of Dick Cheney, who substitutes a growl and a sneer for careful thought. He said he didn't care if the majority of Americans opposed the war in Iraq, and no one called him on this.

Now, think of John McCain, who tried desperately to graduate at the bottom of his Annapolis class, but missed even that dubious distinction. He makes blunder after blunder in foreign policy, supposedly his strength, and no one calls him on this.

It's not just anti-intellectualism, but a total lack of accountability at the highest levels of government.

And obviously our "role models" aren't exactly the best for encouraging kids to excel in school.

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Let me refresh your memory - he's the "clinical psychologist" who relies on emotion, hyperbole, and deliberate misstatement to make his arguments, misstates the position of those he's maligning, so that he CAN malign them, feeding straight into one of the most troubling anti-intellectual ideas permeating our society: that those who are, by virtue of years of study, the "experts" actually know nothing compared to the regular folks with thier common sense.

Alternet's Rush Limbaugh, in other words.

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Good god, the media pundits are shocked that America is the haven for the dumbass. Such pearls as: voodoo economics; its the economy, stupid; that's just legalese; you do the math; that's playing with numbers; dumb and dumber; soccer moms and NASCAR dads; "reality TV;" lotto, casino gambling; poker tirnaments; Barry Zito getting $126 million from the morabund SF Giants and too much more to iterate. This crowd is just now getting it? Oh well, time for the Washington Post writers to tell us in this book about stats from another book that will require explanation in yet another book that will cause critics to write a book in rebuttal and evoke the necessity to give mindless interviews about subjects that everyone walking the streets of this penal colony knows or should know. This is pablum and all readers of Alter Net are beyond such diet, or are we?

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The one-eyed man is king. How else do you explain the fact that- two, not one-boneheads have occupied the White House-for TWO terms each, yet-in recent years.

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Where do they get this shit from. I am a life long Dem and HATED RONNY & his Regime (Cheney, Rummy, wolfie..)
Reagan scared the hell out of me- thought for sure he'd launch WW3 when he was running (JUST GEARING UP FOR W?).
Realized he had some mental issues when he couldn't remember what he had for Breakfast.
Sounded like a bumbling fool like W does.
Reagan was a Union buster, mad Military spender, ignored AIDS until it reached the White heterosexual groups,Deinstutionalized the mentally ill- which began the Homeless population explosion, Took credit for bringing down the USSR & the Berlin Wall- Which Fell because of Economics, He swung the door wide open for Financial Gambling and Scandals (Mac's Keating 5)
Ronny was the Original Actor for CheneyCorp!
And WHO started this Oxymoron of 'Reagan Democrats'- The Clintons!
Who has not figured out yet the Clinton machine was bought and paid for by CheneyCorp.
Who has not figured out- with the numerous pieces of Evidence Hillary provided, that Hillary is a Corporationist!Not a Republican or Democrat, just that shadow Party who has stolen Our Democracy and country from under US!
Sure she is shaking Obamas hand, but the other one is behind her back with a sword!
"obliterate Iran" (bomb bomb bomb Iran)
Mac has 'crossed the commander in cheif ' Threshold'
Failure to provide oversight from the Armed Service Com (con)
Geraldine & Bills 'Race card' toss
Split Womens issue Out from Minority issues (One in the same- Equal rights for ALL)-Typical Divide & Conquer Neo Con tactic
Scorning the 'Audacity of Hope'- Democratic mainstay value
Demanding to remain on Ballots which the Primary was 'invalidated' by DNC
Counted votes which came from these Debunked Primaries- claiming 'Popular vote'
sucking money off Obama supporters when her 18 million could clear up her debt with a $1.25 each.
Flooding Obama's campaign with Her Donors and Advisors ( all with connections to Corps and past corrupt dealings)- An ultimatium- take them and be seen as 'in their pocket' or refuse them and suffer the consequences
Refusal to Concede
Now the Roll Call???
Hillary is NOT A Democrat, Nor a Republican.. She and her minions (DLC) are Corproationist- same Party as Cheney, Rummy, Wolfie, LIEberman, Gramm, Graham (and the rest of Mac's string Pullers) and those who have been playing both sides for decades under the guise of 'Democrat'- Levin (Big 3 whore...Pushers for the Oil Corps and their Foreign sponsors)
As for Nadar & Barr they are Red herrings Planted to divert attention and votes. Nadars been on the pay roll for decades!
There are Real Public Servants still around in both the Democratic Party & the Republican party- they have just been held captive by the Corp'ists. Let's rescue them and hand them the 'Gold'.


OBAMA/HAGEL '08!!!

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For example: I haven't watched TV since 1979. I have always had a good dose of brains and used my mind creatively and rationally, so I've never been dumbed-down. My biggest problem with this is when people ask me if I've seen this or that show. I'm even asked if I "know" a certain commercial. I don't think it even registers that I don't own a TV. Some people just continue to drone away about how who did what and when.

I remember when I made this decision: night-time soaps had just been presented and the people I worked with had conversations about the characters as if they were real people. The amount of energy and emotion that they invested in these characters was shocking. It was as if we were living on different planets and here we are today, living on different planets or different realities, at least.

When I enter a place where the TV is running, I am accosted by the ugly drone/noise of an invasive, blithering idiot box. I swear, I can hardly stand it.

So, I think there is a rationale for watching less TV. TV takes thinking out of the mind and replaces it with subliminal waves of gratification rather than amber waves of grain. Why watch programed life? Why not live it?

Because no one knows how anymor; because life is not an hour show. It's real, it takes real energy, lasts longer and the outcomes are not neat and packaged.

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Isnt it amazing how US schools have been "dumbed down" for the sake of federal dollars? Why make the students smarter (gee they might actually have to do some work) when you can just make the tests easier. Makes them look smarter and keeps the federal dollars rolling in. What a joke.

JT
Ultimate Anonymity

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I am a tech writer/editor for a defense contractor. When I first started this job, the editors were told to edit all tech manuals down to a 7th or 8th grade reading level. Recently, we were instructed to aim for a 6th grade reading level. What's next? Pop-up books?!

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"THOSE WHO CAN MAKE YOU BELIEVE ABSURDITIES CAN MAKE YOU COMMIT ATROCITIES."

So, are the people being conditioned and primed for an American holocaust?!

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The very worst things Orwell and Huxley foresaw are happening right in front of our eyes, and as they probably foresaw too, nobody has a clue. The indoctrination is very, very deep. More here - They're Building a Box - and You're In It . (And for something positive, a vision of where we have fought them off and made a 'we the people' place - Green Island .First we take back our brains - then we take our country.

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I went to see "The Dark Knight" the other day. Not a bad little morality play and tolerably entertaining. But when the crowd started laughing and cheering for the Joker as he went about his mayhem I was chilled to the bone. Settling into my movie seat I had willingly suspended disbelief, sure enough. But the Joker as portrayed by Heath Ledger was himself chilling, by word and deed, a force of anarchy, chaos, the absence of meaning and value. Scarred, vicious, insane. Out to prove his hypothesis that everyone else is ultimately the same. The crowd loved him. Did that crowd suspend disbelief? Or was there any disbelief left for them to suspend?

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Bush's first 'signing statements' exempted him from obeying :
The Ten Commandments
Our Constitution
The Golden Rule
Laws of Nature
Urine Testing

Flipping the Golden Rule is the most obvious violation coming across the MSM. The Republicans always 'do unto others what they would never do unto each other' To them, the Golden Rule is just for Liberals, Progressives, Third Parties... and all the other Suckers out here that they can drain and victimize.

Inkling

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In 1787 at the Constitutional convention in Philadelphia, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton argued for a monarch-style of government. Even Washington backed such a government style. Thomas Jefferson on the other hand believed that a government in a free democracy depended on an educated populace. In 1788, in New York, as compromise was reached between the two factions - The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists - which became our Constitution, with the Bill of Rights added on one year after ratification. Read the Constitution carefully, and you will see some subtle things: The Senate was to be not elected, but appointed by governors from educated men of business, not ordinary citizens. The House was to be elected by the people, but was to be overseen by the Senate.

Now go Google The Federalist Papers, and read what Alexander Hamilton and other Founding Fathers of the Federalist movement thought of the "ordinary" citizen. John Adams was the first president to attempt to take over the government, and thankfully, was voted out after one term, and replaced by Thomas Jefferson. GWB is the only President to successfully create a monarchical Executive Branch that guts the compromise Constitution, and create the government John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wanted so badly. He has created what Thomas Jefferson feared most - an ignorant populace that abdicates it freedom to those who would rule them absolutely!

So if Ms. Jacoby talks about knowledge framework, maybe she has something to say that is worth listening to in this day and age. When you understand that our own Constitution was written by politicians who played on the lack of education of citizens and wanted them kept ignorant, you begin to understand why Thomas Jefferson worked hard to get public education as a priority in this country. It is a shame that we have let an ignorant party boy and his virulent slug of a VP ruin that in this nation. Now another man who was more rich party boy and dilettante than scholar is saying to America that we are so stupid that we will not understand how pathetic he is and elect him President.

Having an education is not only a privilege, it is an imperative for a President and a citizen in a free democracy. It is not elitist - contrary to Hillary Clinton who gives new definition to elitist in all the wrong ways - it is common sense. You need someone who has the knowledge framework to make good decisions - whether on who to get information from, how to make good decisions (even unpopular ones),and how to think through all alternatives before choosing since the wrong choice could be catastrophic or fatal. It is not elitist to work to develop those skills through education. It is imperative!

As for childhood memories, a quick note: They are part of who we are, and they are valid. If you know anything about knowledge acquisition, it has been proven that we begin to retain true memories from about the age of 3 on, and any 7-yr. old child will remember quite accurately what occurred in their lives. How it affected them is open to personal interpretation by them. False memories are those instilled in people through brainwashing, torture, abuse, and mental manipulation of all forms by others. These memories are the ones that most of the fundamentalists in psychiatry and psychology work to overcome and bring out so that they can be debunked. From Jacoby's comments it would appear that the person who e-mailed her is as ignorant as those she writes about in her book.

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To be totally fair, on the show Rep. Westmoreland managed to recall three of the ten commandments.

Maybe that's why he wants them in stone: so he can remember them better!

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From all this stuffy elitism

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>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;

So, believing there is life in other parts of the universe, with people at varying levels of evolution is ignorant?

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It is good to read a piece such as this but it is kind of pointless. The people that need to read it will not - because dumb people do not read - that is why they are dumb and ignorant!
I lived in Europe during the Reagan years and I was ashamed of being American. The "stupid American jokes" were everywhere. Now Reagan is remembered as some kind of hero! Americans are not stupid because of culture or location, they are stupid because the owners of the coutry want it that way and because Americans like being stupid - it is easy to be stupid. You don't have to do any hard work, concentrate or try very hard - it just happens! There is a lot of money to be harvested from stupid people, they will buy anything. They pay $200 for shoes made for a couple of bucks in a sweatshop in Asia because a overpaid sports star wears them. They think baseball is a sport, Budweiser is beer and reality tv is real! Look around and you will see the a population of chronically unhealthy people - both mentally and physically. Of course they believe in God - easy, don't accept evolution - easy, blame the schools for the kids being dumb -easy. In my job I talk to a lot of people every day, Americans are awfully ignorant. They are spoon fed their "opinions" and they question nothing. They get very aggresive and angry if asked to qualify why they think what they think. Most Americans are racist! They believe we are the greatest because it takes no effort and it feels good and anyone that would cast doubt on that belief has to "hate America". If we can draw examples from human history as to the fate of willfully stupid arrogant populations the future does not look bright. I seems they only turn to reason when the suffering becomes extreme and millons perish. I don't believe that Americans are a bad people. I think they, like all humans, have the potential to be compassionate and decent, unfortunately this coutry is controlled by sociopaths and their servants and the current state of affairs suits their interest. If the majority of the people was asked to make a serious effort to educate themselves, understand the problems and challenges that we face and by doing so attempt to solve them in a resonable and eqitable manner - or watch some football, which do you think they would choose?

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needs to read more. Seems reading can eliminate misspelled words. Makes ya look smarter, too. Poor guy, guess he thinks more than he reads. Most good ol' boys seem to consider reading is for sissies, too bad...by golly...

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You cannot be intelligent? But IF You believe in God, You ARE intelligent?

Neither 'belief' can be 'proven' by Human standards, so How are We to determine WHICH is believable? Any aurgument for or against each belief can be equally applied to the other, so the 'truth' of each is brought down to a personal choice of the individual.

Maybe the Aurthor or anyone else can explain something to this ignorant person. Like How do You explain the differing 'versions' of the Bible. When God gave Man the Bible, Did He dictate more than one version, like one for each different race? Or maybe You could give Me some insight into this question: If God created Mankind in His own image, doesn't that imply Man is God like? IF it does, that would also imply Man is Gods grreatest creation, So this makes Me wonder, If Man is the best God could do, doesn't that imply God has a few problems of His own?

This is important to understand because, in the Old Testament there is the phrase "An eye for an Eye", Yet in the New Testament, We see "Turn the Other Cheek". There is NO way You cannot see the contradiction between the two phrases, IF You use 'intelligence'! I do not believe EITHER phrase came from 'God'. These were Mans' influence to seek power & CONTROL over the masses for Their OWN ENDS! And how does ANYONE believe or justify Torturing, maiming or KILLING in God Name? This is nothing more than attempts to play to each Persons EGO that 'They' are special or Better than the 'enemy' being fought!

Those who proclaim to be God Fearing should take a little more time to absorb the PRINCIPALS put forth in Their belief system: Thou shalt not: Steal, Kill, Covet, Lie etc! No where that I know of does it say, "But only if it doesn't stop Me or Mine from getting what I WANT"!

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A dummied-down populace is easy to control. You just tell them what their sky fairy thinks they should do and, viola! They do it!

Religion is the opiate of the masses and now religion and corporate-created materialism have been combined to make the uber-opiate of all time.

The late, GREAT George Carlin said something about the "freaks" we see on Jerry Springer are actually the norm nowadays. I'm starting to believe it.

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...of how many Americans think Russia has invaded the other Georgia? The one with Atlanta and Savannah?

I mean, we make jokes about it but I would probably hate to see the poll figures.

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My own experiences during a five year study of the national discourse found all the same kind of didn't-know-what-they-were-talking-about ignorance and stupidity. But to pretend that the "morans" (sic) who propose legislation concerning matters about which they know nothing are limited to one party or viewpoint is ludicrous.

The fact, for instance, is that vile invective and personal attack comes by an almost two to one margin from the left. More, the person who rails and fulminates concerning matters about which he then betrays abysmal ignorance is more often "liberal" by a more than two to one (almost three to one, matter of fact) margin. Anyone willing to peruse or take part in the various opinion sites on the Internet will quickly realize the same.

J.S. Mill may have remarked that while all conservatives aren't stupid, he had observed that most stupid people were conservative, but my own objectively conducted survey suggests that there may have occurred a sweeping and significant change in that regard. We are an ignorant, even stupid, society and nation; and that's a fact being played out daily and right before our eyes.

"Morans," indeed.

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An uneducated man can reason, solve problems, or adapt to new problems, learn new material, comprehend and profit from experience, can't he? Same is true for the educated.

An intelligent man can be stupid...slow to learn or understand, like how to change a tire. We all can be ignorant of something, simply NOT AWARE.

What we all need is WISDOM, common sense, good judgment, insight, the ability to judge what is right. When our so-called leaders stay up all night trying to think of ways to DECEIVE us, are they intelligent? You bet they are intelligent and they profit from past experiences of deceitfulness. We may be unaware of the lie.

We are ignorant if we are unaware of what is the truth and what is a lie. A bigger percent of the public than expected cannot tell a lie from the truth. Do we lack intelligence? I don't think so.

I thought that the 2006 Democratic win in Congress would change things in the good ole USA. I was stupid !!!! ... SLOW TO LEARN....and did not profit from my past experiences in the voting booth.

What will happen this election cycle? I am a slow learner. Some of the commentors on Alter-Net have really given me an education !!!! Thank you.

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Our country was founded on the belief that the average citizen knows what is best for him. To believe otherwise is anti-American and anti- democracy.

The elitists believe that our country should be run by a small intellectual minority. This has devolved into rule by a small wealthy minority,

Why is majority rule the best?
1. Because we have a thousand times as many experts outside the government than we have on the government payroll. These outside experts aren't influenced by the political party in power.
2. We have thousands and perhaps millions of people outside the government who are tackling solutions to social problems that the "experts" in Washington aren't even aware of.
3. All progress comes from sources outside the government. Abolition of slavery, womens' suffrage, the rights of labor, civil rights, the end of the Viet Nam war, the end of the Iraq invasion were all opposed by the governments' "leaders".

4. The only time that elected government officials should lead, is in a dire emergency. For instance, in the case of a natural disaster or in case of an invasion by a foreign invasion. Then later, they should be held accountable for their reaction to the emergency. For day to day operation of government we have the federal departments. The elected officials should be accountable to to the people for their oversight of these departments.

In short, the government should follow the citizens direction. The citizens are then responsible for oversight of the operation of the entire government. At every election the majority has the opportunity to approve or disapprove the performance of their employees.

In my opinion this is how democracy works.

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This book is what I would call the DNA of how our nation became so corporately controlled. We have built a society on mindless quicksand and now we are sinking like The Titanic. If we had allowed just a little independent thinking into our culture as the Baby Boom generation has matured into pseudo-grownups, maybe the mess we find ourselves in now would at least not be so deep.

The Last Horizon

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Brought to you by the "education president" and his merry band of anti-intellectuals. And apparently very few see the contradiction... the state of "education" is such that it serves the nanny welfare state for the wealthy. Has a single student in these times ever learned about Angela Davis? I don't know...but doubt it. More to the point, has anyone been taught anything of use in school besides rote math, rote history, rote everything? Because I believe that since the occupation (thanks, Rush! - we now have a nightmare of our own)....no deductive, irreverent, or off the rails thinking is allowed and any attempts at such will be quashed by depression of wages, enslavement by corporations, sky high prices of everything, and swiftboating of any reasonable concepts of taxation and government that are brought forth by any citizen or for that matter by government itself.

May the average citizen not think too hard about what is happening to him, so we can continue the surge of the "idiocracy". If the minions get stirred up, why just offer them another pretty little Apple gadget that they can stand in line to get and go broke paying for....then they're just too busy being good little indebted consumers supporting the nanny welfare state for the rich..(and stupidly thinking they're going to get rich too by doing so).....to see what is happening, or to do anything about it. And what is much, much worse is the absolute apathy that they have. Why, even protesting has been made to seem "embarrasing" by the idocracy. After all, we wouldn't want to get too deep or too responsible, emotional, or too moral, now, would we? Because then we'd have to admit we'd been thinking, thinking really hard - and worse, getting angry about the perilous state of the nation and the myriad of injustices forced upon us.

Legacy of the frat boy administration - let's not have any real thinkers in society. Party like it's 1984 (I mean Orwell's of course).

Let the corporations and credit cards enslave you all...while you watch dumb game shows with no skill requirements like Deal or No Deal. Intelligent TV, radio and the like must be paid for....it must not find its way easily into society. And rampant consumerism and star worship for all! To keep your pretty little heads occupied while we rape the economy.

Lastly we cannot overstate the importance of being "dumb" to fit in - this is the proper new American and patriotic stance. If anyone should actually be caught thinking and not mindlessly following the edicts of the current occupation, the thought police will surely eradicate this - by continuing its support of "sound bite" society, where nothing is ever completely analyzed, heuristic decision making is the norm, and political campaigns are reduced to mindless drivel and pandering.

As I said, party like it's 1984! The nation does indeed get the government it deserves....

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And the world's most prolific village idiot now occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.

And what does that say about the "morans" who voted in numbers sufficient to put him there?

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From today's Los Angeles Times:

ASPEN, COLO. -- An offhand remark Sen. John McCain made to reporters Friday morning is adding kindling to the controversy over an inflammatory new book about Sen. Barack Obama.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was asked by a reporter if he had a response to the best-selling "Obama Nation" by Jerome Corsi, which repeats discredited allegations about Obama and portrays him as a stealth radical with extensive Muslim ties.

McCain stepped toward the reporter, and the journalist repeated the question: "The Jerome Corsi book? That book, 'Obama Nation,' Jerome Corsi, that some people are asking . . . "

The senator replied, "Gotta keep your sense of humor," and the media were escorted from the room as scheduled at the end of a breakfast meeting.

Ask "Songbird" McCain about his treasonous POW record and see how hard he laughs!

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam veteran [For the benefit of first-time AlterNet visitors]
Seven Reasons to Vote Against Unfit McCain

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Their are two sources to blame. Like the article said their is The Right and The Left. So briefly I will state what I blame on each side of the political spectrum.

The Right = Religious Fundamentalism and Neo-Cons

The Left = Secular Fundamentalism and The Liberal Media / Entertainment Industry

The Right is obvious, The Left in its thinking that the Right is always wrong creates the idea that the left has to be right. However, this to is not the case.

The entertainment industry these days has people obsessed over such superficial shit its unbelievable. When you wonder what happened to the intellectual arm of America these days it is not to hard to find. Just look at the entertainment industry, people are addicted to the latest simulations instead of the most pressing issues.

However, we cant just blame these entertainment giants, nor religious fundamentalists but the people themselves, I mean really we as the consumer society should have known better but we didnt now we are fat, forgetful people wasting away our lives in front of a TV or over the latest pop culture drama.

WAKE UP! NOW!

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A great interview and it sounds like an excellent book. But let me add one thought:

While we have the most expensive healthcare and higher education in the world, it is Not the Best.

Begin with healthcare: even at our elite academic medical centers, fully insured patietnts suffer many more medical errors than in other developed nations. This is because, unlike other developed nations, we don't have elctronic medical records. This leads to many more "medication mix-ups"--and deaths.

Patients in our hospitals also are more likely to suffer from hospital acquired infections. Rather than putting money into systems that reduce infections, we pour money into cosmetics that will attract well-heeled patients: atriums, water-falls, nice carpeting, private suites etc.

These are the things that attract wealthy Americans. Give them information about infection rates and they ignore you. They just want to be in a nice suburban hospital with hotel-like amenitiies and a largely white staff.
(Being rich doesn't make you smart.)

European hospitals have many fewer amenities. But you're more likely to get out alive.

Roughly 30,000 Americans die each year as a result of what doctors call "iatrongenic disease"--disease caused, inadvertently, by medical care.

Then there is the problem with our universities. I know young people who have graduated from places like Harvard and Yale and cannot write. They don't know grammar. They misuse words. And these are extremely bright young people.

But their education consisted of picking courses that sounded interesting. There were few requirements. And either they wrote few papers, or the grad students grading them didn't care whether or not they were well-written.

My daughter went to McGill in Montreal. There, she had many required courses, and wrote many papers. Standards were very high. And, as a freshman she was impressed by how well her CAnadian peers wrote when they entered college. (She had gone to one of the "best" high schools in the U.s.)

It was hard work--and she's not someone who loves being in school. But she came away feeling that she got a much better education than many of her friends who went to very good universities in the U.S.. She now can write fluently and easily, can do research, and think very clearly. After graduating from McGiil, she earned a graduate degree in the U.S. She found the work very, very easy.

So I'm afraid that even wealthy Americans are not getting "the best" healthcare or higher education. Yet most don't realize it because they live in such an anti-intellecual and material society that they judge excellence based on status and appearances.

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Pretty much the arguments about the supposed intelligence of the mass of americans is a moot point. Daily I see evidence that the dumbass is the predominant american archtype. Good luck in a challenging world and oh yeah, pray to baby jebus and hope that he comes back and brings rapture with it. Otherwise enjoy your new lifestyle, you certainly deserve it. America will get what it deserves good and hard and I relish the coming of that. Finally culling the herd and making this once again a country of achievers and not "whiners" Good riddance.

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A great deal of American political discourse is shaped by the need to deny that America has a ruling class, to deflect peoples' anger away from that class and to frame problems in such a way that the ruling class does not bear the cost of the solution. "Elite" is used as a stand-in for "ruling class", sometimes to sow confusion and sometimes to disguise meaning. Thus the meanings "best and most accomplished" and "most powerful" are conflated. This is used by the professional sowers of confusion to turn the peoples' righteous anger away from our rulers and direct it against anyone of great accomplishment, particularly any such persons who offers us leadership and understanding.

It doesn't help that many of the well-educated and accomplished people who come to us asking for our support - such as Kerry, Gore, Dukakis, Clinton or Obama - do in fact have one foot (or one-and-a-half feet) in the camp of the ruling class. The people, even if they can't articulate this, sense it, which may explain how a "toff" like Bush or McCain can hurl the charge "elitist" at them and have it stick.

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her attacks on public education are wrong. The US actually ranks among the top 15 in math and science compared to other countries (she's using the right's favorite data that compares unlike standardized tests rather than the international testing data). Also, she fails to reconcile the fact that Japan (remember what a threat they supposedly were in the 80's?) which has pushed math and science (and does score better on tests) has been in the tanks for a while. There is no correlation between testing well on standardized tests and economic or social success.

Now, as to the rest, Jacoby is right on the money as far anti-intellectualism and America. As a teacher, I encounter this through my students who bring their parents' ignorance into the classroom. Luckily, working with such diverse kids, I'm not the one who has to "correct" them--I let their peers do that. We don't give enough credit to how much the youth of America really do know--and how they use alternative media sources to achieve that. Wish I could say it was my teaching, but I have faith in the next generation--the ignorant will always be around, but they are a dying breed. I think we're going to see a real change in the next 15-20 years (if the fundys don't destroy the world first).

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A few years ago I threw numbers from the OECD (economics and quality of life measures), TIMSS (education), and PISA (education) into Excel, and created a large correlation matrix from the twenty different variables. I tend to be systems oriented and intellectual, so I was looking for trends across systems, particularly Western developed countries.

What I found largely corroborates the idea that average educational ability has a fairly strong negative correlation with economic inequality, as well as numerous quality-of-life measures; essentially a stupid populace equates with having gross economic divisions, as well as people having relatively less well lives.

The US epitomizes these correlations, and I only wonder how they came about. Another correlate needing verification, which I believe exists, and seems true from a holistic review of the matrix, is the effect of having a strongly gender-divided country; it seems to reduce quality of life, education, and increases economic inequality.

Something needs to happen to change this, a kind of social rebellion from the people to want something better than the existing cultural backwardness, either that, or top-down change driven by the elected. I'm far more liberal than most, but a Democrat in office we be a great thing, both economically and socially, as well a step in the right direction.

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Four years ago my wife and I retired to a small Dutch island. We had lived near Washington DC in a town with some of the best-rated schools in America, peopled with highly trained professionals.

We have been amazed that our new neighbors understand the issues facing America better than our former American neighbors did. And even with our limited command of the language, we find the news on Dutch television to be strikingly more informative than American news programs, which we can barely bring ourselves to watch now.

I'm sorry for my generation. We face poverty in our old age, living in a country in decline by nearly every measure. We will indeed be "strangers, and afraid, in a world we never made." But, of course, that is exactly the problem.

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This is an important article, but it seems to have gone off course in one way: sneaking into the discussion is the arrogant stance of the ‘Brights’ movement, the New Atheism’s botched secularism, and the implicit Darwinism of the criticism of evolution critics and resisters.
The fact of the matter is that that one part of that dumbing down lies in the liberal wing of the Darwin fanatics who have pushed an unreasonable and culturally barren version of scientism on the public that is left with no option but to resist.
The issues that Jacoby raises are important ones, but it is time to ask just how intelligent the current field of scientists really is after the exhibitions of rank ignorance from the New Atheists, the propaganda of the Darwinists, and the inability of ‘liberal Darwinists’ to grasp the latent Social Darwinism of their stance, something any ‘intelligent’ group ought to be able to do.
Dumbed Down Darwinism

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Where I would challenge Jacoby's thesis is the emphasis on the proliferation of media and how much people do and do not engage with it.

Propaganda and fluff existed before TV and the internet. BS predates written language.

Perhaps the emphasis on media ends up distracting from the real point which is that critical thinking is simply not taught, not encouraged, and has been negatively framed as elitist.

Interestingly enough, The Colbert Report and the Daily Show are use incisive humor to interrogate current news and the framing of that news by the MSM.

An almost visceral aversion to TV seems to prevent many intellectuals from focusing on efforts to develop critical thinking skills - particularly among children and youth.

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I'm sorry? I assumed intellectualism was incompatible with religion and conservatism. I mean, isn't it logical to assume people who ban books don't (possibly can't) read?

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Basically, it seems to me that all Bush and Cheney really are (and this goes for the vast majority of corporate America) are marketing gurus. Hmmmm. How can we get what we want for us an our friends.
Well, you bascially just market what you want to the masses. You sell it to them in a way that makes it difficult for the average Joe to reason past the bull. After all, you have the knowledge and the information where the average working man does not (Because of a sold out, lazy, and corrupt media) So, you just use basic marketing skills to control the masses. It is corporatism at it's finest, but it is not coming from them. (the corporations, not directly anyway) It's coming from the world of politics and it is being jammed down the throat of the public, to a large extent because the powers that are supposed to protect us (the free press mainly), through the simple act of calling "bullshit!" on a massive scale, have been bought out or so marginalized as to be inconsequential.

We are being marketed into believing that our leaders know best. That we couldn't possibly know or understand what is happening around us because we don't have the info that they do. And even if we did have it, we wouldn't know what to do with it. It's just disgusting.

The solution? Impeach and imprison those who have been lying so blatantly over these past years. Revoke corporate status for those companies not serving the public good. Can you say term limits? Can you say multi-million dollar fines for spreading misinformation over the public airwaves along with loss of priveledge? Can you say sunshine laws? Can you say no signing statements? Can you say one bill at a time? Can you say public approval rating less than 30% for over 6 months calling for an immediate removal and replacement from office?

I'm sure some of these thoughts aren't all that good and I am just rambling more than anything..
but let's get a move on shall we? Let's do something to slow this madness down!

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A new book, MODELS, MYTHS & MUDDLES, by Coralie Koonce takes a different tack on the problem of people not thinking. At this point it is actually a matter of species survival. She points out the habitual and even ancient thinking patterns that underlie failures to think in ways that help our survival. Besides critical thinking, Koonce proposes species consciousness and something called participating consciousness, which seems to be a combination of getting more direct experiences and thinking for yourself.

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I just couldn't read anymore after the second time the interview distorted American students' scores. Both the left and the right use these distortions. if you actually look at what educational researchers say about this, Susan, and take the time to be fully informed as you accuse everyone else of not being, you would find that when scores are disaggregated the US is in very good shape. it is the minority and poor students who aren't keeping up. See all the works by David Berliner ( The Manufactured Crisis ) and Biddle. Time to cut the bullshit about our schools....also jacoby is very hard on parents of autistic children who believe vaccines have caused their childrens' autism. She brought this up in an interview with Leonard Lopate on WNYC and he stopped her cold. He has an autistic son who was perfectly normal until he received a vaccine. Lopate is no ignorant slouch but an intellectual on an NPR affiliate who has interviewed everyone who was anyone; he said it is not right to call parents ignorant for noting their kids' symptoms started right after a vaccine. The evidence may not show a direct link, but parents are saying they see a correlation. Jacoby could only stutter an apology; she had been cold-cocked by a rational argument and had no good answer. An agnostic myself, i don't trust her after this.

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Aside from his public speaking,around the oval office Bush is considered quite intellectual. So was Rummy,Cheney, Ashcroft,
Clinton,Bush 1,Reagan and the rest. The trouble is they talk to us like we are the ones without intelligence,and that's the problem. They treat us like if there's more than two choices for President,we won't be able to choose. Fact is the Party's have done great advance work and found a marketing tactic that says 'If you sell the poeple on the idea that our guy would be cool to have a beer with or loves cats or scrumbs his ass with a luffa,we'll vote for them.HORSESHIT!!!!
We never have more than two choices because they make damn sure that no one else can by TV time,newspaper space,or be heard on radio. So
much for the laws set up for equal time. Equal if you can buy it.
These asses are running a 250 billion dollar beauty pagent. Because our votes don't really mean shit because of the Electoral College,we're told it's because of low voter turnout that we get leaders we don't like or believe in. Once again treating us like we are the dullards,the dolts,the poor fools that can't make an informed choice. Maybe if we were truly informed there would'nt be a Republican or Democrat in office at all.
Let's not blame ourselves for not being smart enough and put the stink on the right pile. We have a controlled media,controlled
lifestyle,a controlled educational system and
a controlled justice system set up by intellectuals,run by intellectuals,for them.
You and I? We're just a target for them to blame for their misdeeds.
FUCK THE SYSTEM!!!!
Write-in Jeffrey7 for Prez '08

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Here's an interesting definition of intelligence, i.e., intellect:

Intelligence (also called intellect) is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn. There are several ways to define intelligence. In some cases, intelligence may include traits such as creativity, personality, character, knowledge, or wisdom. However, some psychologists prefer not to include these traits in the definition of intelligence.

Sounds reasonable to me.

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"We are the better people. We are smarter, we are humane, we are more compassionate, we are better informed. We are better citizens, we are more cooperative and realistic. we are winners- not losers, and we deserve everything we get. We are spiritually superior. We are centered and balanced, calm and insightful. We are on the right side of history. We are building a better world.

The general public does not realize that we are the better people, and the ones who should be making the decisions. Of course the only logical reason for this public oversight is because- “Republicans are able to take advantage of the people's stupidity and ignorance and turn them against us.”

As Liberals we understand that most of the problems in the world are the result of stupid people running things. If “We the smart people” were in charge, all of the problems could be solved with science and technology and rational social planning.

Class analysis, and the struggles of working class people against tyranny have no place in modern society. They are obsolete and passé, and only something that we read about or see in movies. Romantic as those stories are, they are no substitute for hardheaded practical reality, whether we like it or not. This is a matter of being a mentally healthy, modern, well-adjusted adult in society. None of the lessons from history apply, because things are different now. Only strange maladjusted people are attracted to obsolete political ideas. They are all obviously losers, and are a great danger, almost as much of a danger as the Republicans are.

Since politics and economics in the traditional sense are dead, we embrace a new paradigm of self improvement and self-actualization. Anything that interferes with our focus on ourselves and our pursuit of creating ourselves as an actualized being is to be rejected. The way to achieve the perfect society is first to create a perfect self. Meanwhile, so long as the authorities do not interfere with our self-actualization, we must comply in all ways with that authority. This allows us perfect self-expression within perfect social conformity. Anyone who attacks our personal choices is the enemy, and anyone who attacks the social system based on personal choice is also the enemy.

As fully-realized liberal-progressives we understand that our enlightened self-interest is the ultimate engine of social progress.

Others, however, who do not share our values are not to be given personal choice, when and as we can prove that their personal choices are wrong, often with our righteous claims that their choice impacts us somehow. We support the police state and massive incarceration of people, so long as they are being harassed and imprisoned for the right reasons. Any variance from our idea as to how people should be is quite naturally the right reason, by definition.

We believe that we must “be the change we wish to see,” and the change we wish to see is more people like us: polite, talented, beautiful, intelligent, calm, successful, clever, enlightened.

So we merely need to be ourselves, focus on ourselves, and serve ourselves. Those who cannot or will not become like us need to back down and get out of the way.

We fully support aristocracy, capitalism, corporate domination, and consumerism, provided that they support our self-actualization and afford us the personal lifestyle choices we prefer."

Liberal, thy name is hypocrisy. What's new?

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Didn't like the first one? Here's another definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary:



Main Entry:
in·tel·lect Listen to the pronunciation of intellect
Pronunciation:
ˈin-tə-ˌlekt
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin intellectus, from intellegere to understand — more at intelligent
Date:
14th century

1 a: the power of knowing as distinguished from the power to feel and to will : the capacity for knowledge b: the capacity for rational or intelligent thought especially when highly developed2: a person with great intellectual powers

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Loved the article; agreed with it 100%. But if the interviewer wants to make a point about anti-intellectual Americans, he ought to use correct grammar. "More importantly" is wrong; "importantly" is not a word, and there is no adverb form for the word "important". I am so tired of seeing this I could scream.

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In America only 20 percent of the population has a college degree.That's 2 people in 10.Example on the "View not long ago the women debated wheither or not the earth was flat.(A question answered 500 years ago if you weren't greek). An educated polulation would be much harder to control. Tired, over worked and frightend people are sheep. And we are fleeced and killed,then told we should be happy and proud of our country.Viva vagra suckers

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During a speaker's forum featuring Barack Obama and John McCain in Lake Forest, California, hosted by Rev. Rick Warren on August 15, 2008, the Arizona senator played his well-worn POW card several times.

On one occasion, he described being tortured by the North Vietnamese. In his 1999 autobiography, Faith of My Fathers, McCain said the torture took place in an enemy prison camp called "The Plantation."

On March 25, 1999, two POWs, Ted Guy and Gordon Larson, told the Phoenix New Times that they could not guarantee McCain had been tortured before his interrogations.

Said Larson to the New Times, “Between the two of us, it is our belief, and to the best of our knowledge, that no prisoner was beaten or harmed physically in that camp [The Plantation]. My only contention with the McCain deal is that while he was at The Plantation, to the best of my knowledge and Ted’s, he was not physically abused in any way. No one was in that camp. It was the camp that people were released from.”

In 2005, the late great war hero, Colonel David Hackworth, a popular TV guest commentator who received 78 combat awards, including the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and eight Purple Hearts during Korean and Vietnam conflicts, wrote the following about McCain:

Accounts by McCain and other writers tell of
the horror he endured: relentlessly beatings,
torture, broken limbs--all inflicted during
savage interrogations. Yet no other POW was
a witness to these accounts. A former POW
says, “No man witnessed another man during
interrogations. We relied on each other to
tell the truth when a man was returned to his
cell.”

The United States Navy says two eyewitnesses
are required for any award of heroism. But
for the valor awards McCain received, there
were no eyewitnesses, less himself and his
captors.

Col. Hackworth ended his article with:

McCain certainly doesn't appear to be a war
hero by conventional standards, but rather a
tough survivor whose handlers are overplaying
the war hero card.

During Rev. Warren's speaking forum, McCain was asked about his greatest test of courage. Again playing the POW card, he said it was when the North Vietnamese offered to release him early and he turned it down.

Col. Hackworth addressed that issue as well in his article by asserting:

McCain refused an early release. An act of
valor? Three former POWs told me he was
ordered to turn it down by his American POW
commander and he “just followed orders.

Hackworth didn't state the obvious, that had McCain violated his POW commander's order and gone back to the United States early, he would have humiliated his family and ruined his Navy career.

To Vietnam veterans who know about the senator's REAL war record, he is a traitor who gave up military secrets in return for hot coffee, cigarettes and other special favors from the enemy. For that reason, the North Vetnamese contemptuously nicknamed him "Songbird." Some Vietnam vets call him the "Manchurian Candidate."

Most certainly, rather than a principled patriot, Songbird McCain is a pandering politician who will say anything to win an election. Unfortunatey for freedom-loving Americans, the war hero charade will probably work.

Get ready for another four years of absolute rightwing Republican misery.


Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam veteran (for the benefit of new AlterNet visitors)
Seven reasons to vote against Unfit McCain

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"and their parents are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution;"

I take this as ridicule of the idea of extra terrestrial intelligent life.

That is not fair to the idea of ET Life. If one species of life is intelligent in every galaxy, then there are approximately 100 billion intelligent species in the universe.

We have no idea what scientific discoveries may have been made by those probable intelligent species.

Indeed, some may be able to travel the vast distances "faster" than the speed of light. Therefore, apparently violating the "rules" of physics.

So please don't ridicule the idea of "flying saucers."

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So many things are wrong, and I can't even begin to touch on all of it.

America has never been a great intellectual land. We place primacy on applied intelligence, because that gets us jobs. Business, social breeziness, and the love of visual stimuli, sports, and competition (including warfare) are hinge-points of our national character. We've had great intellectuals, yes - some of the best in history - but this is changing. Liberal arts degrees are seen as a waste of income potential. "Liberal arts degree? Ha! I like my fries extra crispy and piping hot."

TV is only part of the problem, and as others have pointed out, it's not 100% bad. Every grocery checkout in America has garbage celebrity gossip rags and soap opera guides, and those things fall in the same realm, among other things, which brings us to...

Advertising and media saturation: I say this a lot, but the entertainment and advertising world is aimed directly at the center of the bell curve, where they can sell the most. It is worth it to them to keep Americans as shallow and uninformed as possible too. No knowledge, no guilt = no problem buying.

Education? Our vaunted secondary schools/colleges are gateways now for literally anyone who can afford them, primarily to get a job, not for the love of learning - this includes many of our future teachers. Textbooks and curriculum are thin too. I don't remember reading any Enlightenment-era literature or any philosophy in high school, even if we were briefly told about it in history class. Someone mentioned our disdain and often open animosity towards other languages. This needs addressing too.

The culture of "cool" is a horrendous thing that I wish would go away. When nerdy kids get picked on for appreciating something "uncool" or saying something intelligent in class, or performing poorly in gym, or liking the wrong music, the country (and the world with it) takes a massive step backwards - every time. Great souls are crushed through this ridiculous perpetuation. Music tastes have became aligned with physical fashion, and now often the most talented musicians are too ugly, too fat, too uncool, or too nerdy to be pumped out at the masses for music sales. Simultaneously, we now have underwear models with guitars and an edgy look, ironically sold to the public by big business as if they are part of some subculture. People wear uniforms announcing what music they like - two things that should have nothing to do with each other. I don't recall ever hearing of the "punk rockers" of 1910 wearing special clothes and adopting a special attitude because they liked Stravinsky's iconoclastic music.

Our whole definition of "class" skips right by the traditional patrician intellectual merits too, and is defined strictly by income in the US. Penniless begger today who comes by a $10,000,000 lottery win? Congrats! You're now "upper class"! Nevermind that you have no refinement. Just wear this Omega watch and buy this bottle of Chateau Petrus! People find Mercedes cars to be "classy," and surprise - so do corrupt African cabinet ministers and warlords who are a generation removed from the bush. You don't just buy sophistication like that.

Related to the bullying of the exceptional kids in school, I think there is quite a bit of jealousy and fear involved. Woody Allen wrote a great movie about the McCarthy days, "The Front," where adults bullied the intellectuals too, and I can't think of a better way to explain it than this Wikipedia quote:

The blacklisting — the professional humiliation, personal destruction, and death — of established comic actor Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel) exemplifies McCarthyism's true, impotent nature — the mediocre destroying the talented.

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As a professor I've spent the last seven years getting college Freshmen at a state university to engage in "critical thinking," and they fight it every step of the way, preferring ignorance and "first thought best thought" or even more disconcerting, they don't voice opposition when they disagree with someone during class discussion because "it's not worth it" and "it doesn't make any difference."

Know-nothings indeed! Ironic that we've become a society of "a-gnostics" in a time of religious fundamentalism in the majority, since they claim to know everything and that it's all in a two thousand years old book. No wonder the U.S. is falling behind!

I will say though that this interview got off to a really weak start. It is true that memory is often inaccurate and incomplete, but I don't think that invalidates every memory. Personal narrative is a useful device, even if imperfect, because sometimes the point of interest isn't what's factual or not, but rather what emotional baggage is attached to it.

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Dude, I really dont see what all the fuss is about. Its just another day!

BJ
http://www.anondo.alturl.com

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"We'll get the president we deserve," has been oft quoted. And who has placed him in this auspicious position? The American voter. This is the voter that gave Bush 8 disastrous years in the White House and still believes McCain is on the "Straight Talk Express," which has, in reality, derailed. McCain emphatically says that he will not be four more years of Bush, but his words belie the following statement. In 2005, McCain stated on Meet the Press: "The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush. So, have we had some disagreements on some issues? Particularly domestic issues? Yes, but I will argue my conservative record voting with anyone's, and I will also submit that my support for President Bush has been active and very impassioned on issues that are important to the American people. And I'm particularly talking about the war on terror, the war in Iraq, national security, national defense, support of men and women in the military, fiscal discipline, a number of other issues. So I strongly disagree with any assertion that I've been more at odds with the president of the United States than I have been in agreement with him." The public have rejected Bush, yet many are supporting McCain under the misapprehension that he is a "maverick."

The biggest threat to democracy in this country is voter ignorance. Many voters do not base important electoral decisions on an understanding of the issues, and the backgrounds and positions of the candidates. In fact, they operate from a level of ignorance that is profound. The majority of people in this country believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks on 9/11. And, then, after the 9/11 Commission had established, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, fifty percent of population still believed Hussein was responsible for the attacks. Probably many of them wouldn't even know the location of Iraq. Ignorance in the realm of politics, government, and geography is pervasive in this country. Recently, a college student who was planning to become a teacher was asked where Beijing was located. She had no idea. When a college graduate does not know the name of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, this country has a serious problem and alarm bells should be ringing. Such a profound lack of knowledge is the most outstanding threat to our democracy. One of the major reasons for this ignorance is that the educational system in this country no longer emphasizes the teaching of civics, history, and geography. Every student who graduates from high school should have a working knowledge of the Constitution, the structure of the federal government, political issues, domestic and international issues, and geography; otherwise, the leadership in this country will continue to fail the populace. The last 7 1/2 years is a prime example of this failure, which was of monumental proportions. One additional point, the media's lack of honesty and leadership have created an additional roadblock to an informed public. Thus far, the media have given McCain a free ride. Are they afraid of the reporting the truth or questioning dubious pronouncements?

Forget about the idiocy of wondering which of the candidates is more patriotic, who is saluting the flag or wearing a flag pin, the public ought to really be asking themselves: what are the actual positions of these candidates. It is disheartening that the voters have not learned from the last 7 1/2 years of obfuscation and deception, and, once again, are buying the spin. Fasten your seat belts, folks, it's going to be a nasty, bumpy ride. We could be headed for four more years of hell, and then some.






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AlterNet displays a high level of anti-intellectualism in its writing......the authors have an 'agenda'.

How about this ' third of Americans believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible'. I'm sure the author can reference this, but how really accurate is the reference? Sort of like the article is that great paper of the hoi poloi, USA Today....'Sleeping More can lead to Earlier Death'.

There are Truth, Lies, and Statistics. AlterNet writers often use them to promote their agenda....and that is the true definition of 'Anti-Intellectualism'.

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I wish to thank AlterNet for posting this interview. I am an American-born European who has lived in Europe for nearly 20 years now, and the dumbing down of my native country has been absolutely horrifying to me. I believe that the author and Ms Jacoby identify many of the things that are responsible for this, but one issue went missing. Fundamentalist religion in America goes together with the outlandishly pernicious concept of home schooling. I am fully certain that there are parents who home school their children into intelligent adults. I am also certain, however, that there are a great many home schooling situations which could be defined as "bigots training new bigots." Or, perhaps, "willful ignoramuses ensuring that their children will also be ignoramuses." Just a cursory look at books such as Hannah Rosen's "God's Harvard" and the terrifying documentary film "Jesus Camp" make this amply clear. Fundamentalism in America teaches that God's word is exclusionary, and it teaches to hate. That is bad enough in and of itself. But fundamentalism also teaches the exact opposite of what I grew up believing. I grew up believing that information is added to the total sum of knowledge each day, and we are richer as human beings for learning that new knowledge. Fundamentalism teaches that knowledge must be subtracted, ignored and tossed away if it does not conform to the Bible. Fundamentalism refuses to recognize the fact that if every word in the Bible is literally true, then none of it can be true, because the Bible contradicts itself repeatedly (who were the first four disciples, the concept of "eye for an eye" against "turn the other cheek"). Fundamentalists are shrieking hypocrites, because absolutely none of them observe everything that the Bible instructs them to do. I do not believe that a single fundamentalist church this weekend sacrificed any animal on the altar. I do not believe that many fundamentalists, if any at all, eschew absolutely all of the things that are forbidden in the Bible, including foods such as shrimp, clothing such as nylon and, for that matter (and as we have seen with just SO many fundamentalist preachers) sex outside marriage. I grieve for America, I really do.

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According to Frank Rich:

Most Americans still don’t know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.” Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.

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simply telling someone to turn off the screen ... now how hard is that going to be when the child and generations prior all grew up on the teet of electronica ... all of us here at alternet ... sucking away ... now it is almost downright natural ... the screen has replaced the mother and father, is more interesting, is more loving and more present.

talk about rehab. can we send four generations out to that place in colorado ... four generations of everybody to kick the big habit ... electronica, the life milk itself, it is so good and so sweet.

as far as educating the little ones ... every parent really needs to be a home school in addition to where ever and whatever the child is getting elsewhere ... to miss being exposed or to ignore the potential of the body, mind, spirit experience is sad for any one.

may all beings find pure potential.


now, as far as the myth of americacca ... can we please, even here on alternet, please stop referring to the us governement as coming out of the primordial gooo ... there were many many cultures here before and we are part of that lineage as well, not just the eurotrash lineage folks claim as superior.

there is a continum, lets speak of this rightly at least here at alternet.

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The idea that Americans are more religious because of the separation of church and state is, in my view, totally wrong. I'm Dutch and I live in France; in my former country, Holland, where the state has long been organized along religious criteria (typically with the Catholic Party and several Protestant Parties joining together to thwart Labor), church attendance is still high. In France where the separation of church and state is even stronger than in the US, no one goes to church.

I think it is more likely that the church has been rejected in countries where it concentrated money and power (the Catholic Church in France and Spain, the Anglican Church in England), and that this rejection did not take place in countries where the church was more modest (because of its division, e.g. the US and Holland, or because of communism, e.g. Poland).

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I couldn’t help feeling alarmed after watching the August 15 speakers’ forum hosted by Rev, Rick Warren that featured McCain and Barack Obama.

Going first, McCain answered questions by Rev. Warren that were supposedly kept secret before the evening event. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, McCain “had the easier task in the back-to-back interviews before about 2,800 members of the evangelical church in Lake Forest. He drew frequent applause with crisp answers intended to reinforce his conservative credentials.”

“McCain, an Episcopalian who attends a Baptist church in Phoenix, has frequently been criticized by evangelical leaders for failing to speak as openly about his faith as Obama and for relying on well-worn stories about how he found God as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He did not diverge from that practice Saturday night.”

When asked about abortion, according to the L.A. Times, “McCain immediately responded that a baby's rights begin at conception. Perhaps seeking to tamp down alarm among conservatives over his recent comment that he's open to a running mate who favors abortion rights, he continued: ‘I will be a pro-life president, and this presidency will have pro-life policies.’"

McCain’s uncompromising position on abortions should worry women who believe in choice -- Democrats, Republicans and independents. It so happens they were Hillary’s core constituency in the primary elections. No one can better represent their interests than Senator Clinton.

If Obama chooses someone else for his running mate, he will pass up the opportunity of winning over the 18 million Americans who voted for Hillary in the primaries. In that case, Barack will lose to Unfit McCain and our national rightwing Republican nightmare will continue.


Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam veteran (for the benefit of new AlterNet visitors)
Seven reasons to vote against McCain

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Do the same people that call Obama an elitist, proclaim that,"America is the greatest country in the World", if they do they are elitist by their own definition.

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I'd like to offer the perspective of someone who made a midcareer transition into education. I brought with me three advanced degrees as well as teacher certification.

The primary problem in education today is that our society doesn't value teachers, we don't ofter to pay them much, which results in very few highly-credentialed people going into the field, producing results that validate the assumption that teachers aren't worth very much. Until this circle is broken there won't be any change in the proper direction.

Meanwhile, the ability of those in the teaching force to get the job done has been systematically undermined by various notions of how education works, notions that are among the most strongly-held beliefs of people who consider themselves liberals.

I write this because during my short stays in a series of schools, by employing a pedagogical approach that was considered "conservative", my students would usually achieve an average of 1.6-1.7 years progress each year. The "liberal" approach had resulted in these same students advancing typically only .7-.8 per year. (1.0 per year is considered standard progress.)

The notion of content-free education, the view accepted by the student who suggested that he need not know anything because he could always find it on the internet, is part of the "liberal" approach to education. Those of you who consider yourselves "liberal", but bemoan the results, need to think this through.

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It has struck me how knowledge has become something to be suspicious about among Americans, but it should not surprise anyone--in particular outsiders like me. As a Canadian, it has constantly shocked me how little Americans know about their friends to the north. Once while chatting with an American teacher during a back-packing holiday in Europe, I couldn't believe he had never heard of my province of Saskatchewan. Granted it's sort of a so-so place, famous for very little, but you'd think a teacher would have a pretty good knowledge of North American geography. And heck, Joni Mitchell, the late actor John Vernon and other famous people were born there; William Shatner even lived in my hometown for a time.

My point is knowledge, not just of fairly quiet places like my province, but of as much as one can learn in a lifetime, is absolutely essential--for both social and political survival.

I would like to hope things will change in America, but I think the portion of the population that values knowledge and learning will remain more or less the same size fro quite some time.

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Unfortunately, the stupification of America is in no way a new topic, and its use is an old one used by earliest manipulators. People have been seeing it for decades. The issue is that it has taken on a fevered pitch over about the last decade- but there is a reason for it. You can see it just about everywhere- youth culture, acedemic standards (or total lack thereof), etc. Also, unlike what the author says here, not even christianity was always like this. Thomas Aquainas and many other deep thinkers- many of whom contributed mightily to philosophy, science and other disciplines- were very intellectual. Unfortunately, what has been rediscovered by those with influence and power is that ignorance is a source of raw power- or rather, it is a way to access the raw power of others. The power of the people has always been measured in numbers. The more people you have fighting for you, the more power you have. One of the best ways to get vast numbers on your side is to turn off their ability to reason and offer to do it for them (its the old 'find a needed service and provide it' idea some business models base themselves on). The powerbrokers in modern society have done this through the media, nationalism, religious faith, you name it. Like the Khamer Rouge, if you make being an idiot a requirement for being a good (american/christian/muslim/man/woman/corporate workerbee/etc.), it will grow like mold and in time you'll have idiocy as the norm. We've outsourced our thinking to people who dehumanize us and see us as nothing more than unfortunately necessarry tools to use and cast aside. The 'elections' are just one example, if you care to really examine what is going on. The only way we can really fight this growing trend is to reclaim our thinking from these monsters. I don't know we can do that, but until we reverse the idea that ignorance is strength and intelligence and reason are the true marks of power, we will continue down this road.

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Religions, especially fundamentalist forms, are the root of ignorance in the USA. Until religion is curtailed we will continue to decline as a nation until the majority have the intellectual depth of a GW Bush.

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect." - James Madison

"History furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes." - Thomas Jefferson

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I went on a blog site called Delphi Forums. The majority there was conservative. I like to improve my debating and writing skills. I thought, What the heck! I tried to have intellectual conversation with them. Sorry to say, my intellectual arguments were too much for them. I got kicked off the forum. Now, I know why they are mostly conservative.

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There is a famous phrase (probably now archaic) which is, "thick as pig s***" The meaning: Very thick (i.e. stupid). This phrase can be applied to your average American. Sadder yet, they are proud of it.

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Are you kidding me? A child creates a personal narrative? Maybe we could allow that inexperience and forming language skills may limit the reliability of memory, but to discount anyone's recall of experiences at any age strikes me as ludicrous. Arguing in absurdum, when does the personal narrative take the place of recall? At what age does memory become valid? When is the first judge going to say to a witness that their firsthand testimony is just some sort of personal narrative. It's worse than newspeak, it's nothink.

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Dear Terrence McNally,

I've been reading on the subject of UFOs for over 50 years.

Your statement essentially equating "belief" in "flying saucers" as somehow proof of someone's ignorance is itself evidence that you know very little on the UFO or "flying saucer" subject.

There is abundant evidence that UFOs exist that defy any known explanation. Many of these were described by witnesses as looking like "flying saucers." So it isn't unreasonable to "believe" that they exist, even if the evidence isn't conclusive.

The astronomer J. Alan Hynek of Project Blue Book fame, at the end of his career, said in interviews that the only thing he could prove with scientific certainty was that UFOs exist, they display intelligent control, they intentionally avoid human contact, and they behave oddly. He also held "beliefs" that they were flown by living creatures from other worlds, but he never claimed to have proof of that. He understood the difference between his scientific conclusions and his unproven "beliefs." That isn't being anti-intellectual.

Please don't confuse "beliefs" formed by genuine scientific interest in the study of "flying saucers," with the misinformation, hoopla and sensationalism on the subject, of which there is already too much.

Best regards.

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The main reason for failure of the educational system is the lack of homogenity in the clasroom and the nea. Your attack on the right for anti intellectualism cannot be appreciated unless you give equal time to the anti - intellectualism of the left. I have been to many mensa meetings which amply demonstrated that stupidity is an equally distributed trait.

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Very interesting interview. I don't agree with
all of Susan Jacoby's conclusions, but it is good
to see someone of her intellect grappling with this
important issue.

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they are the folks that are doing us in. You remember them, they were the ones in high school who took General Math while the rest of us were taking algebra, or shop while the rest of us were in Chemistry. They are the ones who dropped out when they were 16 so that they could get married and get a job, while the rest of us were taking all of those hard college prep courses. You know, the dumb asses.

They are the ones who now are own there own plumbing and electrician businesses and have the summer home in Florida, but who's keeping score on that shit now. They are still dumb asses who have been voting against their own self-interest for the last 20 years.

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The author gets close to the real difficulty, the materialistic (philosophical definition), mechanical method that the human brain draws conclusions and fills in the blanks when allowed to do so. Only strenuous education and checks and balances can alter this process, and even then only to an extent. At least I am aware of things I "believe" to be true, and aware of the fact that as a human I am electro-chemically unable to avoid that procedure. The majority has no awareness of their thought processes, or if so, no scientific understanding of them. Until we codify the dangers of believing, something that will likely never happen outside "elitist" institutions and a few enlightened homes, we will continue to be drawn on by the tides of belief and faith, and goggle-eyed science will remain the commentator. Good point a few comments back about home-schooling. My god has anyone here TALKED to people in their teens and beyond that were home schooled? It's utterly terrifying. I hear they burned a witch in Texas last week...

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Back in my religious days (oh yes, I was one of THEM), seek first to understand was a mantra of the "believer." Now, as a staunch agnostic, I find it useful in all matters in life. And, this article sadly points out the dearth of understanding we seek of one another. Especially troubling is the person who challenges the author's memories from childhood.

A question for Alternet members then. A friend recently commented that race relations would likely worsen if Obama were elected. I am very troubled by this. He is a conservative (a friend from my old days). Does anyone know what he means here, and what the church is preaching at him that he is coming to this depressing conclusion? The thought keeps me up at night. TIA. And I thank the universe that Alternet exists.

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I understand that any candidate has to pay lip service to the religious fanatics but Obama has gone way beyond that. He has convinced me that he really does believe in an imaginary friend called god. That makes him unsuitable for president. I’ll be voting Green on that issue alone.

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