Do you feel like Anti-intellectualism is alive in America today...

Do you feel like Anti-intellectualism is alive in America today? It seems like it's mutated from a general disdain for "nerds and geeks" into this praise of people like Nye and Tyson. Are we inhibiting our intellectual growth by worshiping false gods of intelligence?

Yes. Scientism is the new hip thing in which the youth, mainly, interpret some pop-scientist's word as gospel and socially eschew people who disagree with them. Also, atheism is the new cool thing.

>Do you feel like Anti-intellectualism is alive in America today?
Very much so.
>It seems like it's mutated from a general disdain for "nerds and geeks" into this praise of people like Nye and Tyson
Maybe. I think a lot of it comes from dignity culture becoming more aggressive and more about appearing postmodern and "cool" yourself while ridiculing and "roasting" your opponent.

I don't see how praising Bill Nye or NDT is anti-intellectualism. If anything, their pop science is a desperate attempt to market science to a disinterested and distrustful populace.

People still have the same distaste for actual nerds and geeks, but new pejorative terms have been developed to refer to this group as - virgins, autists, neckbeards, fedoras, STEMlords, etc. Meanwhile, the terms "geek" and "nerd" have been co-opted as labels by your average person as another subculture. I think this is partly because the anti-intellectualism of the past has been 'refuted' - to so speak - with the rise of personalities like Zuckerberg and Musk, who made fortunes doing things that were once associated with antisocial losers. Basically, the "fake geek" chic trend is sort of like a status symbol to signal that you are an intelligent person like the newest dot com success story. It's a more advanced way of conveying the same message as wearing gold chains and gold crowns did in the 90s.

I don't rate Bill Nye or Black Science Guy that highly but attacking them, out of all the imbeciles that take part in public discourse is fairly anti-intellectual in itself.

The USA has a president that can barely read and write.

Isn't your statement in itself anti-intellectual?

This.

Not to mention that shows like The Big Bang Theory only have a 'nerdy' backdrop. The show itself is pretty much made to appeal to a regular audience, dealing with mostly with normal people problems like relationship drama.

The funny thing is that the show's fanbase consists of lots of SJWs who would be the first to whine about cultural appropriation when this is exactly what they're doing.

Possibly, in what way, though?

There is literally nothing wrong with being an anti-intellectual.

It's not about hating intelligence, just anticlericalism in the XIXth century was not about hating religion, but hating the political power of the clergy, anti-intellectualism is not about hating expertise, the "nerds and geeks", but about a desire to prevent the accumulation of political power by intellectuals.

Considering the track record of ideas endorsed by the intelligentsia, such as Stalinism and Maoism, it's natural people would be wary.

Don't forget liberalism and neoliberlism. Both were pushed by an intellectual class.

You're reducing the issues with Trump into an ad hominem about his literacy skills. It ridicules the opposing party and discourages debate. I know that's commonplace here but it's still a little ironic considering we're talking about anti-intellectualism.

It should be considered that a criticism of some sorts of sciences is not anti-intellectualism per se. A lot of what you find in social sciences (e.g. gender studies) is dubious at best, yet claims for itself to be science due to being backed by some statistical data, which is often quite murky due to the generally poor understanding of statics outside of STEM.

Anti-intellectualism seems to have become politicized, particularly when it comes to climate science. Yes, there is the pop-science side of things, but that doesn't represent the population as a whole - rather a small subset.

There's a good amount of hostility towards intellectuals the further you get from cities. Generally, the feel is that the intellectuals end up disconnected from the realities of life outside their comfortable cities. Depending on the issue, there's also the basic need for survival - all those people in coal country are a hell of a lot less receptive to climate science, as Global Warming being real would mean that they would have to endure measures that would effectively kill the coal industry (in their eyes). And for many of these places, coal is all that keeps them afloat. Without it, the whole region dies.

OP's not talking about academia really. I think he's more talking about how people view intelligent people (which is subjective, of course) they encounter in everyday life, how they treat these people, and how this ill-regard gets expressed in popular culture or the media.
>a desire to prevent the accumulation of political power by intellectuals.
Can I get a source? Last time I checked intellectuals don't have the political power you ascribe to them.
>Considering the track record of ideas endorsed by the intelligentsia
Can you give me evidence that most intellectuals endorsed Communist ideas? I'm calling bullshit.
The ""intellectual class"" is not the monolithic bloc you make it out to be. And this raises the question of which part of this class we're talking about. Intellectuals in and of themselves do not have any power. Their power derives from the broadcasting of their views, which depends on mass media, which is in turn owned by magnates who have every interest in promoting policies that favor them and blocking out those ideas that don't. (inb4 muh jews, the media in european countries is owned by non-jews but are just as susceptible to promoting the neoliberal ideas that align with their class).

Mate, check this shit out - Anti-intellectualism in American life by Richard Hofstader. It'll blow your tits.

Sub cultural appropriation at best. Even then the problem isnt so much as appropriation as it is mocking geek culture

Another fine & Humanities thread.

>HAHAHAH DRUMPF IS SO STUPID CAN BARELY READ AND RITE LMAO
>intellecshal btw

People are becoming dumber and dumber as time goes on, someone from Athens of 1000 BC would most certainly be considered an intellectual today.

The disinterested man on the street isn't really the target demographic. Popsci is trying to sell a media product to people who are interested in science, except instead of science they get sciencey things. It involves a lot of presentation of hypothesis, theories, models, and all manner of epidemiological nightmares, because those are things easy to hype up.

If I see one more fucking article about revolutionary battery tech or the unexpected but wildly drastic health effects of common foods I'm gonna scream.

>The USA has a president that can barely read and write.
Fuck off Communist Faggot

Well summed up
Always felt that people who call themselves geek or nerd these days tend to be pretentious normiefag

Can you fucking faggots get off Veeky Forums jesus christ this thread is fucking retarded

t. butthurt ""geek""

Because those men are pseudo-intellectuals.

duh

facts are fascist

Society will always be run by intellectuals though.

Society is just a term for the structures that human beings use to process information.

The people who are the best at controlling information will always have the power, in any society.

There's no way around it.

What do you think? People these days claim there are more than 2 genders with a straight face and anyone who contradicts them is burned at the stake

Capitalistic societies wont. In fact, capitalistic societies mock intellectuals.

intellectuals don't control jack shit
businesspeople do

Look carefully at who runs shit.

It's always an organization built around information.

It could be the cabinet, the board of directors of a fortune 500 company, a military high command.

It's always the people with control of information.

yes
goddamn i hate nye and that 'black science guy'

I don't see how what Bill Nye said there is bad, since there are a great many philosophers who agree with him.

I would dare to say that most modern philosophers, due to our understanding of modern science, are empiricists and materialists.

Because they're memeing up science too much, which makes those suspicious of memes to cringe at scientists.

This. I hate pseudo intellectual posts trying to sound smart, so I agree with you. I also hate you, though

Who cares what normies think? I don't think there was ever a period on history were your average folk was interested in intellectual stuff. Stop getting triggered by stupid shows and personalities.

>I don't think there was ever a period on history were your average folk was interested in intellectual stuff

That is correct, but anti-intelectualism has more to do with how average folk respected inteligentsia.

And how is that? Respect for great people has always existed.

The fact Ameritards praise apes(white or black) throwing balls over actual scientific advances proves America is a land of imbeciles. Professional sports is the greatest mistake in human history.

You are one tremendous faggot. Probably some edgy 15 yearold who gets bullied for being such and edgy insecure retard.

Sports is for fun not something to make a life goal you primitive ape.

Sad!

How has this thread been allowed to be up for 2 days. It isn't even remotely about history and is all about current events.

& HUMANITIES

There is nothing wrong with opposing the intellectual class of modern western nations since they represent a hegemony of thought.