Anyway I just finished reading Susan Jacoby's insightful book The Age of American UnReason (pub. 2008) which is a must read for anyone interested in American culture and politics. It is comparable Richard Hofstadter 's seminal work Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (pub. 1963) So I came across this bit of Bill Moyers interviewing Susan Jacoby discussing the dumbing down of America. Our culture in fact promotes ignorance and a form of relativism which claims all opinions and beliefs are of equal value and are therefore valid. The Neocons use these beliefs to remake American culture and claim what they believe can be seen as reality or the reshaping of our views of reality. To paraphrase George Orwell if the Neocons and the elite including the Mass Media claim something is true it therefore becomes the truth or reality so Intelligent Design is true while evolution is false and 2+2=5 . Bush is therefore America's greatest president rather than its worst. In the present Neocon view Dick Cheney is a wise person and Al Gore & Obama are evil unAmerican traitors.
American Failure in Education, Reason- Moyers, Susan Jacoby
From YouTube user litxlit
Bill Moyers and Susan Jacoby review her book, "American Unreason." They discuss the current state of American education and discourse, and our failure to produce informed citizens. We "get the government we deserve." Regardless of political party or religious conviction, we should demand better.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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