"Dumb and Dumber"- Are Americans hostile to knowledge?

Started by Iago, February 17, 2008, 10:32:38 AM

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Novi

Quote from: Florestan on February 18, 2008, 07:22:32 AM

Does it sound like Marx, Gramsci, Derrida, Foucault, The New Left, The School of Frankfurt and their followers, i.e. the Leftist intellectuals? (I use Leftist as distinct from Left: Foucault was Leftist, Francois Furet was Left.)


Not really.

Mind you, put Foucault in a bathhouse and you might have a point ...

Quote from: Florestan on February 18, 2008, 07:22:32 AM
5. If it feels good, just do it.
Durch alle Töne tönet
Im bunten Erdentraum
Ein leiser Ton gezogen
Für den der heimlich lauschet.

paulb

Don't forget governments are against the people.
but
whaddaRUgonnadoboutit ;D

Ephemerid

Quote from: paulb on February 18, 2008, 10:08:24 AM
Don't forget governments are against the people.
but
whaddaRUgonnadoboutit ;D

Well, in a democratic republic, the government *IS* the people-- even when they no longer seem to want that responsibility. 

BorisG

Quote from: Ephemerid on February 18, 2008, 10:39:43 AM
Well, in a democratic republic, the government *IS* the people-- even when they no longer seem to want that responsibility. 

No, no, the government is the government. It is what it is. $:)

Ephemerid

Quote from: BorisG on February 18, 2008, 11:29:12 AM
No, no, the government is the government. It is what it is. $:)

But it can be held accountable, if people want it to be.  That's the whole point of a democratic republic.  If people collectively renounce their civic responsibility, they have no one to blame but themselves.  "We the people" and all that jazz.  Cynically blaming the government only gives the government the tacit nod to continue with its abuses.  You snooze, you lose.

paulb

Quote from: Ephemerid on February 18, 2008, 10:39:43 AM
Well, in a democratic republic, the government *IS* the people-- even when they no longer seem to want that responsibility. 

yes you are correct
The idiotic gov wasting money of stupid programs and  running up enormous debts, is typical of most american lives.
You certainly called that one right.
A Confederacy of Dunces.
a coalition of stupidity.
a consortium of knuckleheads
NASA >:(
WAR on Drugs  >:(
War on AIDS >:(
ad nauseum

drogulus

    Perhaps people believe Americans are dumb because of all the TV shows produced here that feature dumb Americans. Other countries have such shows, too, but they are less likely to travel around the world and be seen in 27 different languages. We're being victimized by our own popular culture. So people in other countries who watched The Beverly Hillbillies or The Munsters had deep thoughts about the "crisis in American education". Not that we're particularly well educated, mind you, it's just that it wouldn't matter if we were.
   
   Other countries have just as many dumb people, but what sense does it make to complain about dumb Uruguayans or Belgians? We'll never hear about them, so they don't count.
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pjme

Quote from: drogulus on February 18, 2008, 12:19:47 PM
Other countries have just as many dumb people, but what sense does it make to complain about dumb Uruguayans or Belgians? We'll never hear about them, so they don't count.

Strange answer!  ??? I'm not particularly fond of "stupid Belgians or dumb Uruguayans", but I do try to learn about other "cultures" - even American culture...
I've visited the US several times . Once beyond the large cities, "the rest of the world" seems to disappear. Knowledge of other languages is poor or non -existand.

BUT i do confess : I have no idea what's happening in Kansas City, or San Diego or Wichita....In spite of all the electronics and scientific wizardry, the world is just too large.

paulb

Quote from: drogulus on February 18, 2008, 12:19:47 PM
   Perhaps people believe Americans are dumb because of all the TV shows produced here that feature dumb Americans. Other countries have such shows, too, but they are less likely to travel around the world and be seen in 27 different languages. We're being victimized by our own popular culture. So people in other countries who watched The Beverly Hillbillies or The Munsters had deep thoughts about the "crisis in American education". Not that we're particularly well educated, mind you, it's just that it wouldn't matter if we were.
   
   Other countries have just as many dumb people, but what sense does it make to complain about dumb Uruguayans or Belgians? We'll never hear about them, so they don't count.

Good post.
We in the 60's we're brought up to watch stupid HolloW-wood , instead we should have been reading.
Even today, Most of the pop culture continues to  take the emphasis away from learning. Play, play play,
Girls just wanna have fun un
Thats all they wannna
Gir-a irls just wanna have fun..

Cindy Lauper

True other countries have their share of low educational masses.
I'd say germany, france, switzerland, australia all have a  higher % of educated class, more astute public as to culture and the arts. japan also has a  higher average intelligence than most western countries.
The USA is really pretty low on the scale.
especially here in New Orleans, as yall already know.
New Orleans, last in the best of things, first in the worst. ::)

head-case

Quote from: pjme on February 18, 2008, 12:43:00 PM
Strange answer!  ??? I'm not particularly fond of "stupid Belgians or dumb Uruguayans", but I do try to learn about other "cultures" - even American culture...
I've visited the US several times . Once beyond the large cities, "the rest of the world" seems to disappear. Knowledge of other languages is poor or non -existand.

BUT i do confess : I have no idea what's happening in Kansas City, or San Diego or Wichita....In spite of all the electronics and scientific wizardry, the world is just too large.

Belgians or Uruguayans have the luxury of sitting around talking about how the US is full of stupid people and has screwed up the world, and how if only the Americans were as wise and as cosmopolitan as they were, everything would be better.  That is well and good, because Belgians or Uruguayans have no influence on the world, and their smug opinions will never be put into effect and we will never know how much more screwed up the world would be if it were.

MishaK

Quote from: Florestan on February 18, 2008, 07:22:32 AM
Does it sound like Marx, Gramsci, Derrida, Foucault, The New Left, The School of Frankfurt and their followers, i.e. the Leftist intellectuals? (I use Leftist as distinct from Left: Foucault was Leftist, Francois Furet was Left.)

No. It does sound like you haven't really understood what they were saying, though. Thus you present a grotesque caricature of what you think is their philosophy and then overstate its importance.

Ephemerid

Quote from: head-case on February 18, 2008, 12:51:18 PM
Belgians or Uruguayans have the luxury of sitting around talking about how the US is full of stupid people and has screwed up the world, and how if only the Americans were as wise and as cosmopolitan as they were, everything would be better.  That is well and good, because Belgians or Uruguayans have no influence on the world, and their smug opinions will never be put into effect and we will never know how much more screwed up the world would be if it were.


Ain't American exceptionalism grand?   

drogulus

Quote from: head-case on February 18, 2008, 12:51:18 PM
Belgians or Uruguayans have the luxury of sitting around talking about how the US is full of stupid people and has screwed up the world, and how if only the Americans were as wise and as cosmopolitan as they were, everything would be better.  That is well and good, because Belgians or Uruguayans have no influence on the world, and their smug opinions will never be put into effect and we will never know how much more screwed up the world would be if it were.


    Combine dumb with rich and powerful and it becomes interesting.

    I'm from the Midwest originally. If you want to understand what this means, watch Fargo 200 times, and pretend it's your life.

    It's also good to remember that no one appreciates this more than people from the American Midwest. We read Sinclair Lewis, watch Coen Bros. films, and in many other ways celebrate the Great American Dumbth. The Simpsons is an American family, so they probably watch The Simpsons, right?
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head-case

#53
Quote from: Ephemerid on February 18, 2008, 12:58:52 PM
Ain't American exceptionalism grand?   

I'm not generally a subscriber to that philosophy.  The US should follow the same rules as every other country.  But if you are a tiny country, none of your mistakes or injustices will be noticed.   And even a citizen of one of the most stifling dictatorships in the history of civilization can presume to lecture us on how we should conduct ourselves.  That's fine.



Don

Quote from: paulb on February 18, 2008, 12:14:42 PM
yes you are correct
The idiotic gov wasting money of stupid programs and  running up enormous debts, is typical of most american lives.
You certainly called that one right.
A Confederacy of Dunces.
a coalition of stupidity.
a consortium of knuckleheads
NASA >:(
WAR on Drugs  >:(
War on AIDS >:(
ad nauseum

Paulb has a constant urge to dump on the USA.  Does he offer anything that constitutes an improvement?

Lethevich

Quote from: Don on February 18, 2008, 02:31:48 PM
Paulb has a constant urge to dump on the USA.  Does he offer anything that constitutes an improvement?

He apparently prefers Russia. Each to his own :D
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

head-case

Quote from: Don on February 18, 2008, 02:31:48 PM
Paulb has a constant urge to dump on the USA.  Does he offer anything that constitutes an improvement?

Where ever he thinks is better, I wish he'd go there.   >:(

paulb

Quote from: Don on February 18, 2008, 02:31:48 PM
Paulb has a constant urge to dump on the USA.  Does he offer anything that constitutes an improvement?

The problem of ignorance is not an epidemic limited to the USA, its a  world wide phenomenon.
Russia has always suffered from a  very bad case of the stupids.
This disease of the mind is most acutely manifesting its life sucking power  among the muslim populations.
Every one here with a  modicum of insight can see where this myth is taking us, there's no turning back.
This thing is driving itself and no one has any quick solutions that offer permanence.
Bandaids on a  deep fatal wound only buys the patient some extra moments.

Call me a  doomsday-er. I tend to look at things from the widest perspective. If you want to paint life as a   lovely spring flower arrangement in the vase, its your free will, your free imaginations.
Now do i have any constructive positive ideas that will deliver man from his ever growing dangers that threaten from every side?
Can't think of any. Sorry.

Sure there are pockets of life in this country. they exist, i know they do, somewhere. ::)

btw New orleans is going under. And there's not anything anyone can do to stop this process. Nothing.
It will happen.
well there is something, but i do not think that something will intervene. Anything is possible, but the probability is about as much as the probability factor for  peace bewteen Israel and the islamics.
And we all here know how much a  possibility that is. ::)