The cult of ignorance, anti-intellectualism and "dumbing down"

Fretwired

The article below is about the US, but could equaly apply to the UK. It's the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility.

Mark Bauerlein, in his book, The Dumbest Generation, reveals how a whole generation of youth is being dumbed down by their aversion to reading anything of substance and their addiction to digital "crap" via social media.

Reality TV and pop culture presented in magazines and online sites claim to provide useful information that can somehow enrich our lives. After all, how else can one explain the insipid and pointless stories that tout divorces, cheating and weight gain? How else can we explain how the Kardashians, or Paris Hilton are known for being famous without actually contributing anything worth discussion? The artificial events of their lives become the mainstay of populist media to distract people from the real issues and concerns facing us.


https://www.sott.net/article/313177-The-cult-of-ignorance-in-the-United-States-Anti-intellectualism-and-the-dumbing-down-of-America

Drew_TNBD

When I was a wee lad, I swear the middle section of the newspapers never used to be such dross.

This is why I was happy and celebrated when Gawker got pwned by Hogan and Thiel - my favourite wrestling team!! - because they pedalled this sort of garbage and directly contributed to the downfall of Western civilisation.

We need more John Locke in our lives.

fob

tl;dr

Emp_Fab

Short version; It's the chavs' fault.  Where's my ammo....

Jalapeno

Fretwired said:

The article below is about the US, but could equaly apply to the UK. It's the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility.

Add intolerance, the recent election was full of faux outrage, it was sickening.

ICBM

Junk food and celebrity 'news' - bread and circuses for the 21st century.

LuttiS

Unfortunately it's now "cool" to seem dumb.

Shows like "Only Way is Essex" etc, they all act dumb as fuck on the show, but in reality they are all fairly highly educated and majority have launched brands and successful businesses off of it..

Shows like big bang theory has done something for it being ok to be smart, problem is they are all portrayed as losers/geeks/nerds what have you who are useless at life..

Elections are won by those who can slag off the other party/candidate the best..

chillidoggy

We never had celebrities when I were a lad, that's a recent invention. And funnily enough, as ignorant as we were, we managed quite well without them. Now it's chewing gum for the eyes for not only the young, but also those of my generation. My missus is always watching "Real Housewives" cobblers on ITVBe, which appears to be tarty Amercian women who lunch trading insults with each over what the rest of us would see as petty things. She even records it, FFS.

Ravenous

I don't get it. It has ALWAYS been cool to be dumb.  In some ways that's what "Cool" always meant - being slow to engage emotionally or with enthusiasm (example James Dean, coolest guy imaginable, died of showing off unless some forum dickhead has a conspiracy theory for us).

What's new is people like us whinging about it on the internet.

Fretwired

LuttiS said:

Shows like "Only Way is Essex" etc, they all act dumb as fuck on the show, but in reality they are all fairly highly educated and majority have launched brands and successful businesses off of it..

I think you'll find the celebs have done bugger all - their agents have negotiated deals on their behalf with existing companies. I doubt most of them have much more than a few GCSEs between them.

CabbageCat

fob said:

tl;dr

It basically said, "Why can't everyone be as great as me!?"

LuttiS

Fretwired said:

LuttiS said:

Shows like "Only Way is Essex" etc, they all act dumb as fuck on the show, but in reality they are all fairly highly educated and majority have launched brands and successful businesses off of it..

I think you'll find the celebs have done bugger all - their agents have negotiated deals on their behalf with existing companies. I doubt most of them have much more than a few GCSEs between them.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tom-pearce/towie-tom-pearce_b_1599171.html

Granted, may have exaggerated when i said "all are fairly highly educated" - but some seem genuinely intelligent. 

I'm not defending the show.. can't stand reality tv, just think it's interesting how acting stupid results in the monies..

chillidoggy

Fretwired said:

LuttiS said:

Shows like "Only Way is Essex" etc, they all act dumb as fuck on the show, but in reality they are all fairly highly educated and majority have launched brands and successful businesses off of it..

I think you'll find the celebs have done bugger all - their agents have negotiated deals on their behalf with existing companies. I doubt most of them have much more than a few brain cells between them.

FTFY.

LuttiS

  

Rocker

I did not read the article yet but dumbing down of everything seems to be happening all around us. You will find it difficult to get a decent cup of tea or coffee in any city or town. Music has been stripped of its essence for streaming purposes. Newspapers hardly ever have any news. The cult of 'me' has been exploited by companies as diverse as mobile phones to clothes to makeup. Me equates to not us, a selfish and self centred world where the betterment of everyone has been ignored. Weddings for example. Stag and Hen dos are now scheduled for up to a week rather than the traditional single night. All me. And so on.

Some things are better, it is getting more difficult to identify them.

digitalscream

The cult of celebrity has been around for ages, but the trend for wilful ignorance seems to be relatively new, having popped up in the last five years or so.

About a year ago, I was having a debate with a guy on Facebook who I'd locked horns with a few times. My last interaction with him was when he sent me this (we'd been talking about whether we'd lost our sovereignty to the EU):

"Don't give me your statistics, I'm not interested. My opinion is what matters because that's what I'm voting on, and no amount of 'facts' quoted at me will ever change that."

That seems to be the ruling viewpoint now, and no amount of discussion or education can make a difference. I find it rather terrifying.

CabbageCat

Did anyone else have that moment as a youngster where someone from a previous generation displayed an embarrassing failure to keep up with the changing world and then promise themselves that they would never be like that?

chillidoggy

And have you noticed that it's always someone else's fault, and never the fault of the perpetrator? Always blame some other poor bastard for your actions.

I have noted that my son is spectacularly good in this respect.

LuttiS

digitalscream said:

"Don't give me your statistics, I'm not interested. My opinion is what matters because that's what I'm voting on, and no amount of 'facts' quoted at me will ever change that."

That seems to be the ruling viewpoint now, and no amount of discussion or education can make a difference. I find it rather terrifying.

I think that about sums it up..

Lewy

chillidoggy said:

My missus is always watching "Real Housewives" cobblers on ITVBe, which appears to be tarty Amercian women who lunch trading insults with each over what the rest of us would see as petty things. She even records it, FFS.

Ok, but is your wife a moron? I suspect she's not - I think a lot of people see this stuff as entertaining drivel but don't let it influence their world view at all. They want a bit of escapism to help them switch off from their reality. It doesn't become their reality, and they're not dumber as a result of consuming it.

Are there little kids out there who say they want to be youtube stars when they grow up? Sure there are. But no more than say they want to play *insert sport here* for England? Is that any less ridiculous or corrosive? I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem to draw the same invective.

I think you have to filter a lot of this sort of article for what essentially amounts to "I remember when bikes were bikes...."

Much more terrifying is the cowardice exhibited by political leaders, which is leading to anti-intellectualism being fostered and unchallenged at the highest level. But there, the dangerous people peddling that agenda are people with commercial or religious interests, not people leafing through Heat while they're taking a shit.

digitalscream

chillidoggy said:

And have you noticed that it's always someone else's fault, and never the fault of the perpetrator? Always blame some other poor bastard for your actions.

I have noted that my son is spectacularly good in this respect.

Yup, my daughter also displays this tendency, as do all of her peers (at least, the ones I've met). The worrying part is that without a sense of personal accountability or responsibility, a person can never acknowledge their faults or shortcomings and can therefore never actually improve. And, as I've noticed, their friendships tend to be much more short-lived - most likely as a result of everyone blaming each other for their own mistakes.