So, lost American values that "Both" left and right folks yearn for but probably can't describe. I think you are correct. Although the word "Both" was incased in quotes and I wondered why.
John Taylor Gatto wrote the book "Dumbing Us Down" in 1991. I've been paying attention to that premise ever since. At the end of his career, George Car…
So, lost American values that "Both" left and right folks yearn for but probably can't describe. I think you are correct. Although the word "Both" was incased in quotes and I wondered why.
John Taylor Gatto wrote the book "Dumbing Us Down" in 1991. I've been paying attention to that premise ever since. At the end of his career, George Carlin had a standup bit about education that matches up to what Gatto wrote about our system of education.
Yes, it's anecdotal but does anybody disagree that one of the values we Americans think we have lost is a sense of is cultural intelligence, kindness, insight and clarity, part of the thing we called American Exceptionalism? And we used to believe that we were the fastest, strongest, best and the brightest, but as a whole, we are getting dumber and we are unhealthy. Then Donald Trump comes along and tells all the dummies, it's ok to be dummies. Be proud of that.
Carlin called consumption a civic duty. I thought he was being funny but he wasn't kidding. I take my consuming habits as a patriotic duty in a capitalist society ...(I kid). The irony is that I volunteered and fought in a war (Vietnam) on behalf of our capitalist leaders because "Communism" was going to take over the world.
Remember the 9-11 speech George W Bush gave on the night of the attack calling himself "A War President"? He literally asked us to continue to consume...keep buying stuff. And we did our patriotic duty, we went to Disney World, bought jewelry, bought stuff. A perfect example of a dumbed down president and population.
The word Culture is critical to this discussion. That is what this whole rebellion on the right is about. Millions of us do not want to accept the objective basis for science, laws and medicine. They want the illusory basis of this idea of "freedom". But pure freedom is not a friend to an 18th century Social Contract based in the premise that some limitations are necessary for a society to operate well and to exist.
Anti-intellectualism really does reign supreme in a lot of places. Somewhere along the line we shifted from "We are the greatest country because we never stop improving" to "We are the greatest because we were made that way and we don't need to try." It's the difference between "I won this race because I trained hard every day, and I am happy to share what I learned" and "I won this race because I'm bigger and taller, so stay outta my way, shrimps!"
You (and George Carlin) are also correct that there is an unmistakable link between this anti-intellectualism and rampant consumerism. "What is this really good for and do I really want it?" is a rather mutually exclusive thought pattern from "buy buy buy!" The smarter people are, the harder it is to make money off them. Who knows, they might end up smart enough to make some money of their own!
So, lost American values that "Both" left and right folks yearn for but probably can't describe. I think you are correct. Although the word "Both" was incased in quotes and I wondered why.
John Taylor Gatto wrote the book "Dumbing Us Down" in 1991. I've been paying attention to that premise ever since. At the end of his career, George Carlin had a standup bit about education that matches up to what Gatto wrote about our system of education.
https://youtu.be/ILQepXUhJ98?si=ay5FEA76R3QYJ9Eg
Yes, it's anecdotal but does anybody disagree that one of the values we Americans think we have lost is a sense of is cultural intelligence, kindness, insight and clarity, part of the thing we called American Exceptionalism? And we used to believe that we were the fastest, strongest, best and the brightest, but as a whole, we are getting dumber and we are unhealthy. Then Donald Trump comes along and tells all the dummies, it's ok to be dummies. Be proud of that.
Carlin called consumption a civic duty. I thought he was being funny but he wasn't kidding. I take my consuming habits as a patriotic duty in a capitalist society ...(I kid). The irony is that I volunteered and fought in a war (Vietnam) on behalf of our capitalist leaders because "Communism" was going to take over the world.
Remember the 9-11 speech George W Bush gave on the night of the attack calling himself "A War President"? He literally asked us to continue to consume...keep buying stuff. And we did our patriotic duty, we went to Disney World, bought jewelry, bought stuff. A perfect example of a dumbed down president and population.
The word Culture is critical to this discussion. That is what this whole rebellion on the right is about. Millions of us do not want to accept the objective basis for science, laws and medicine. They want the illusory basis of this idea of "freedom". But pure freedom is not a friend to an 18th century Social Contract based in the premise that some limitations are necessary for a society to operate well and to exist.
Anti-intellectualism really does reign supreme in a lot of places. Somewhere along the line we shifted from "We are the greatest country because we never stop improving" to "We are the greatest because we were made that way and we don't need to try." It's the difference between "I won this race because I trained hard every day, and I am happy to share what I learned" and "I won this race because I'm bigger and taller, so stay outta my way, shrimps!"
You (and George Carlin) are also correct that there is an unmistakable link between this anti-intellectualism and rampant consumerism. "What is this really good for and do I really want it?" is a rather mutually exclusive thought pattern from "buy buy buy!" The smarter people are, the harder it is to make money off them. Who knows, they might end up smart enough to make some money of their own!