Many things enrage me about Sarah Palin, but one of the biggest offenders is the degree to which she represents and seems to embrace anti-intellectualism. In puzzling over this troubling trend, a came across a number of insightful articles:
But one short essay, by a Christian pastor, no less, made an explicit link between religious fundamentalism and anti-intellectualism: Civic Passivity, Anti-Intellectualism Permit Poor Leadership. What this reverend has to say is important enough to bear repeating in full:
Originally published in the Lakeland Ledger October 7, 2008. Written by Rev. Robert E. Willoughby.
Civic Passivity, Anti-Intellectualism Permit Poor Leadership
With the national election bearing down on the American electorate, I feel both a touch of sadness and pessimism as I react with two main theses: First, the kind of country we get will be in direct relationship to the person we elect as president. Second, the disastrous leadership of the past eight years is related in part to the civic passivity, willed indifference, anti-intellectualism and fundamentalism of the electorate.
Sadly, the vast majority of Americans, for some years now, have been expressing a dumbing-down syndrome revealing a serious decline in reading books and newspapers, revealing a form of civic ignorance. Very few can name their own congressional representative or a Supreme Court justice.
A wave of anti-intellectualism is being seen in this election cycle, weakening the foundation of American democracy. It is reflected in the sound bits and blogs, rumors and deliberate lies promoted by neoconservatives, along with the distortions by the mass-media pundits. It becomes evident that if you tell a lie often enough, undiscerning people will begin to believe it. That is why the lie about Barack Obama being a Muslim is believed by so many, and why evidences of racism and sexism are raising their ugly heads throughout the nation in this election.
Religious fundamentalism is a real part of this dumbing-down American dilemma, with a large group uncritically believing in the theology of "end times" promoted by the books by Tim LaHaye. It is all a form of self-willed ignorance revealing a powerful correlation between religious fundamentalism and lack of education, causing them to be ignorant to the secular basis of our constitutional democracy. In fact, many would prefer a theocracy rather than a democracy.
In spite of the dumbing-down process at work in our land, I am still hopeful that a majority will assume responsible and careful selections this November. This is one of the most crucial elections in my lifetime.
My name is Becky Blitch, and this is my blog. Like my life, it's organic, juicy, unpredictable, messy, romantic, fierce, and beautiful.
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