Well, What Do You Think?

For many years, I've thought about the anti-intellectualism that exists in our country. It's been around for awhile, but lately it seems to have burst into full bloom, but this bloom is like the century flower, it really stinks. You know, real people don't need no education. Street smarts are more important that book smarts. I'd rather have someone just fix my toilet, not philosophize about the design evolution of water closets. As a teacher, myself, it gets discouraging to get into one of these arguments. We've all known the really smart person who didn't finish high school, yes, even in this century. Or the really smart person who never went to college. Or the really smart person who can't read, etc., etc. Interestingly enough, a lot of these people ARE intellectuals of some sort. They understand that knowledge is important, that reading is a good thing, that beautiful murals are worth something (worth a lot more than the crap on some buildings in northern Wisconsin), & that art is as important as politics. These type of people are becoming extinct, I'm afraid. We're faced daily with people proud of their dumbness, it's a badge of honor. We have people who think saying "gosh" is a way of connecting with the great unwashed. What passes for intelligence these days is how much you can screw your friends or community & become rich. "He's smart enough to be rich." Pathetic. So here is a piece about this very subject, beginning with just how stupid, in terms of knowledge, the religious right is. It's from Shakespeare's Sister.

Vance Mannion cites some interesting figures by way of Coturnix from a recent poll:

* Perhaps 15 percent of Americans participate in Bible studies.
* The number of people who read the Bible, at least occasionally is 59 percent.
* Less than 50 percent of Americans can name the first book of the Bible (Genesis).
* Only 1/3 of Americans know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount (more people identified Billy Graham rather than Jesus).
* Twenty-five percent of Americans don't know what is celebrated on Easter (the Resurrection of Christ, the foundational event of Christianity).
* Twelve percent of Christians think that Noah's wife is Joan of Arc.
* Eighty percent of born-again Christians (including George W. Bush) think it is the Bible that says "God helps them that help themselves." (Actually it was said by Benjamin Franklin.)

Much like my annoyance about the ignorance and stupidity of a certain set of Americans that rears its ugly head on a regular basis, I am becoming increasingly irritated by the evidence, via both polls such as the one producing the above results and via personal experience, that the people who repeatedly and vehemently purport to have a direct line to God and his thoughts are often the most ignorant about their own holy text. Liberal Christians, agnostics, and atheists almost unfailingly have a better hit ratio in terms of correct answers to questions such as the above than conservative Christians; indeed, I cannot recall ever having lost a debate on what is or is not in the Bible with a conservative Christian.

The two subjects—general ignorance and certitude that one’s version of Christianity is correct even in spite of evidence to the contrary—are, of course, connected. Agnostics and atheists (and probably most liberal Christians) have come to their position through critical analysis of religion and the existence of God, rather than the blind acceptance of whatever is told to them by their preachers (or their Aunt Deb) tells them. What one finds upon speaking to many conservative Christians is a void of personal exploration of their beliefs and a religion that has become disfigured from what amounts to a game of telephone—misinformation and misinterpretation generation after generation, further skewed by the personal imprints of the communicators with each passage of the message. And so sure are the recipients of the twisted stories that they are in possession of the infallible word of God that they ignore the source, assuming it confirms their beliefs, rather than letting their beliefs be guided by its direction.

Perhaps because my parents were professional educators, which certainly influenced me, I believe in learning by experience and practice; one doesn’t learn math by osmosis, by vague descriptions of geometry proofs but never actually doing one. Religion was no exception. I studied the words, the thoughts, the practices, the rituals, all the components of religion. In the end, I learned much about religion (including that it wasn’t for me), and so it is knowledge that enables me to win arguments about the Bible, and when it comes to a fact-based theological debate, knowledge trumps the faith they invoke as a mask for their ignorance upon which conservatives almost exclusively rely.

And that is the basis of the culture war that rages in America: knowledge versus ignorance. (Reality-based versus faith-based doesn’t truly get to its roots—reality is far too subjective a term, and being faithful and informed are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Secular versus sectarian doesn’t address it, either—liberal Christians fall on the side of agnostics and atheists, and most are willing and able to coexist. And the culture war is not unique to the sphere of religion, anyhow.) On any topic—gay rights, abortion, the Iraq War—one can easily find nonreligious conservatives who share the views of their religious counterparts, and the tie that binds the two is ignorance. Ignorance of the facts, lack of experience, no interaction with others unlike themselves. Conservatives are, as a whole, less educated, less traveled, and less likely to live in a diverse community than liberals. They cloister themselves in ignorance and openly display contempt for the intelligent and the well-informed. Never are they so derisive as when they sneer at a liberal with their greatest insult: S/he thinks s/he’s so smart.

Recall the assessment of Al Gore during the 2000 election, or John Kerry during the 2004 election. Both were roundly criticized by conservatives (and many swing voters) for being "too smart" or "thinking he was smarter" than them. That the president being more knowledgeable and intelligent than the voters ought to be a prerequisite for the job is a concept completely lost on Americans who are increasingly proud of their own stupidity ever since our current commander in chief made it fashionable. "Being a real American" is now akin to being a proudly ignorant fuckwit, a state of affairs that is not only totally infuriating but also embarrassing, as it handily plays into the assumptions that other countries have about Americans.

This is the real battle we face—a swelling contingent of the electorate who are not only ignorant, but determinedly and proudly so. Be the issue religion, war, civil rights, reproductive rights, or anything else, we cannot win the debate when there are so many who desire to base their opinions on a visceral reaction, a feeling, the conservative grapevine, who don’t want to be confused with the facts. The truth be told, our only hope as long as this pride in ignorance continues unabated is that the GOP becomes so resoundingly objectionable as to become unappealing even to those who revel in the fact that its current figurehead reflects their disdain for knowledge back so effectively to themselves.

It’s no wonder that President Bush’s educational mandate, No Child Left Behind, has been left unfunded. The worst disaster that could ever befall the conservative movement in America is thoughtful, well-educated majority. Why liberals are not winning is not because of unappealing candidates, support for gay marriage, or any of the other "fixable"—and thereby strangely hopeful—reasons. It is because we are in the midst of our own worst disaster: a thoughtful, well-educated minority getting smaller, I fear, by the day.