General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The United States Is Awash in Public Stupidity, and Critical Thought Is Under Assault [View all]SheilaT
(23,156 posts)and I'm 64 years old.
Adlai Stevenson could not be elected President (ran in 1952 and 1956 essentially because he was very smart and that was seen as making him unfit to be President.
In high school it is football players that are glorified, not the kids who do Science Bowl.
As for the whole amnesia thing, that's also been around more or less forever. Newspapers, even very good ones, absolutely foster this. Almost every single day the stories in the paper give little or no background, and often there is little or no follow-up of any stories at all. Other than in the tabloids where the exact doings of various reality "stars" are breathelessly followed and recapped in endless detail.
History is badly taught in high school, often by the football coach, and too few students take any history classes in college. We live in a culture that says: The only thing that matters is what happens today. Forget yesterday, and don't even begin to think about tomorrow. That last part has extreme consequences because it leads people to think they never need to plan for the future.