The first decade of the twenty-first century brought with it much that is bad---global economic crash, increased American colonialism, increasingly harsh climate---but what is less-often mentioned is a feature primarily of American society that was quite aggravated throughout: Anti-intellectualism. Anyone who knows anything or bothers to educate themselves <i>before</i> opening up their big yap is often dismissed as a tool, a nerd, a bore. Instead, ample room was made in many a debate for anyone who was loud and exciting enough. Anyone with an opinion and a good set of vocal chords could suddenly become a respected authority. Simply having been proven wrong time and again did not enter into it; perseverance counted for much more. And volume. Lots of volume. Take, for example, this recent article, <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/01/06/abc-news-embraces-the-nonsense/" source="Discover: Bad Astronomy" author="Phil Plait">ABC News embraces the nonsense</a>, in which the poor author is beside himself watching one of the largest US networks consult <i>a former playmate & MTV reality star for her medical opinion.</i> Jenny McCarthy became <i>famous</i> for being spectacularly stupid. She may have been acting to some degree, but she has no formal training whatsoever. But she has an opinion and is strident. Check and check. She also has a great rack and blond hair. Check <i>mate</i>. So, Americans convinced that their gut feelings are infallible are happy to ignore thousands of tests and trials and actual scientific study and turn instead to their goddess/starlet instead for the gospel. Regardless of the amount of research, the true believers simply respond that they still believe in their hearts that they are right and the scientists are ideologically opposed, that the scientists didn't try hard enough. And the point is, that they are not. That's why they do experiments. When the experiments are inconclusive, they do not <i>choose</i> to no longer believe in that which could not be proven, they no longer believe it to be true because to do so would be <i>ignorant and illogical</i>. If you don't change your mind when reality fails to agree with you, it is not the rest of the world that needs to adjust. Or as the excellent beat poem cited at the end puts it: <bq>Science adjusts it’s beliefs based on what’s observed; Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved.</bq> This utter travesty in reporting---it's not even worth it to call what ABC does "journalism"---has many progenitors: A general anti-intellectualism in America actively engendered by a power structure that likes ignorant sheep, an educational system nearly completely bereft of basic building blocks like analysis, coping with the firehose of media, rhetoric or basic concepts like the difference between correlation (seductive she-beast that it is), which is coincidental and causation, which can be <i>proven</i> and a society much more interested in gut feelings than knowledge. Learning is, as they say, hard...and not everyone can do it. Since learning is quite clearly prejudiced against the stupid or lazy, we've settled on much lower standards as a society and have ended up getting not only the government we deserve (as the other saying goes) but the intelligentsia we deserve.<fn> If ever there was a time when the phrase "opinions are like assholes; everybody's got one" applied, this is most certainly it. On a very related note, <a href="http://podblack.com/2008/12/little-kitten-lyrics-to-tim-minchins-storm/">Tim Minchin's Storm (Lyrics)</a> is a beat poem by the (in)famous Tim Minchin, in which he confronts a Jenny McCarthy-like creature at a dinner party. Near the beginning of their encounter, he has not yet imbibed enough to actually pose the following question: <bq>Whether knowledge is so loose-weave Of a morning When deciding whether to leave Her apartment by the front door Or a window on the second floor.</bq> That is, certain things---like gravity---are taken for granted and internalized by even the most ridiculously illogical---dare I say, deliberately stupid?---of our coddled society's denizens. Previous societies had far fewer of these highly vocal wastes-of-Oxygen because the harshness of life tended to take care very quickly of people that didn't look both ways before crossing the road, as it were. The Minchin video is linked below for your viewing pleasure.<fn> <media src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WidsgIt3lfw" caption="Storm: A Beat Poem" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WidsgIt3lfw" author="Tim Minchin" source="YouTube" align="center" class="frame"> <hr> <ft>Consider why we hear much more often from a boil on the ass of humanity like Thomas Friedman than from a careful and unbiased thinker like Noam Chomsky.</ft> <ft>Other choice citations are: <bq>By definition, I begin 'Alternative Medicine', I continue Has either not been proved to work, Or been proved not to work. You know what they call 'alternative medicine' That’s been proved to work? Medicine.</bq> <bq>Your faith in Science and Tests Is just as blind As the faith of any fundamentalist Hm that’s a good point, let me think for a bit Oh wait, my mistake, it’s absolute bullshit. Science adjusts it’s beliefs based on what’s observed Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved. If you show me That, say, homeopathy works, Then I will change my mind I’ll spin on a fucking dime I’ll be embarrassed as hell, But I will run through the streets yelling It’s a miracle! Take physics and bin it! Water has memory! And while it’s memory of a long lost drop of onion juice is Infinite It somehow forgets all the poo it’s had in it!</bq></ft>