An Argument For Intellectualism

Even though this is NOT a political blog, sometimes I do get political. You may remember my rant against the Tea Party. This is slightly related. The co-editor at the WHQ, Colleen, posted this on her Facebook and I agreed with a lot of the statements the author made. You can read the article here (Between Race and Reason: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life) by Susan Searls Giroux, or just read my favorite quotes from it.

• "The U.S. has the world’s best universities and attracts the world’s finest minds. It domi­nates in discoveries in science and medicine. Its wealth and power depend on the application of knowledge. Yet, uniquely among the developed na­tions . . . learning is a grave political disadvantage.” quoting George Monbiot
• "It is important to note, however, that for [Richard] Hofstader anti-intellectuals are neither the 'gib­bering numbskulls' nor the 'screaming ignoramuses' that Monbiot and a growing chorus of journalists, scholars, and others criticize. Rather, Hof­stadter viewed them as a far more effective enemy to the educated mind and to a vibrant, democratic political culture, which requires for its very survival an abiding commitment on the part of its citizenry to critical thought, moral judgment, the capacity for self-reflection, and an acute awareness of self-limitation." (emphases added)
• "The capacity for reflective, creative, and critical thought, finely honed argumentation, and public persuasion—talents one might other­wise assume well recommend a candidate for the office of president—were transformed into the gravest of liabilities," for Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1800, as his opponents targeted him.
• "Historically speaking, the suspicion of intellect has for centuries spawned a variety of anti-intellectual commitments—the fetishization of folksiness, the cult of efficiency and practicality, jingoistic patriotism, militarized masculinity, and religious fervor. "
• "Obama is a product of this elite system and will not push against its interests, unless compelled by an in­formed and active citizenry. 'Obama used hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds to appeal to and manipulate this illiteracy and irratio­nalism to his advantage,' observes Hedges. And indeed the electorate was invited to focus increasingly on the person of this potential leader—his eloquence, his gravity, his unfailing cool, even his jump shot—and a compelling personal narrative that simultaneously invoked the triumpha­lism of America’s beloved immigration mythology and offered a redemp­tive conclusion to its most egregious racial sins."
• "I argue strongly for academics, admin­istrators, teachers, intellectuals, and others to assume their responsibilities as educators who play a vital role in molding citizens who can actively and critically participate in democratic public life."
• "In order to meet all of these political, economic, and spiritual chal­lenges, the nation’s third president understood all too well the necessity of an educated citizenry. Having survived his own bitter and contentious po­litical campaign, Jefferson had witnessed first-hand the nefarious and—as we have seen—cataclysmic danger that anti-intellectual, populist dema­goguery poses for a democratic nation."
• "For Jefferson, education was the primary means of producing the kind of critically informed and active citizenry necessary to both nurture and sustain a vibrant public sphere; he believed that democracy was the highest form of political organization for any nation because it provided the conditions for its citizens to grow both intellectually and morally through the exercise of these faculties."

Now, I don't agree with everything in the article. But I do agree with the main message: American citizens have so much opportunity to be informed and educated--they should use that education to critically think about current events and politics instead of getting carried away with simplistic ideologies.