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How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America

by: Terrence McNally, AlterNet

  Sad but true: Intelligence is a political liability in the US. Author of The Age of American Unreason Susan Jacoby explains why.

    “It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.” Barack Obama finally said it.

    Though a successful political and electoral strategy, the Right’s stand against intelligence has steered them far off course, leaving them – and us – unable to deal successfully with the complex and dynamic circumstances we face as a nation and a society.

    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; roughly 30 to 40 percent believe in each. Their president believes “the jury is still out” on evolution.

    Steve Colbert interviewed Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland on “The Colbert Report.” Westmoreland co-sponsored a bill that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but, when asked, couldn’t actually list the commandments.

    This stuff would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous.

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