Bill Maher says Americans are dumb...Is he right.....? A WP reporter may agree.....

[suston96]

The Dumbing Of America
Call Me a Snob, but Really, We're a Nation of Dunces
By Susan Jacoby
Sunday, February 17, 2008; B01

"The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.

This is the last subject that any candidate would dare raise on the long and winding road to the White House. It is almost impossible to talk about the manner in which public ignorance contributes to grave national problems without being labeled an "elitist," one of the most powerful pejoratives that can be applied to anyone aspiring to high office. Instead, our politicians repeatedly assure Americans that they are just "folks," a patronizing term that you will search for in vain in important presidential speeches before 1980. (Just imagine: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . . and that government of the folks, by the folks, for the folks, shall not perish from the earth.") Such exaltations of ordinariness are among the distinguishing traits of anti-intellectualism in any era.

More at the link. Bill Maher often says that Americans are dumb. I used to feel insulted by his apparent and brazen elitism but after many months watching these political campaigns, he may have a point.

Voters seem to be impressed more by the impact of visual revivalisms by candidates than by the content or substance of their political philosophies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021502901_pf.html

Edited to correct headline.

[villager]

1. "Mr. Stevenson, you have the support of every thinking American"

"That's not enough, I need a majority," he is alleged to have (correctly) responded...

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Although I normally like Bill,

he really pissed me off this week with his statement that illegal wiretapping of americans is "no big deal" and that it doesn't bother him that much. I had to find something else to watch when he said that idiocy.

[WinkyDink]

3. Cant language prevails. Important men---and women!---are referred to as "guys", while alleged

(male) criminals are termed "gentlemen".

Children, no matter their circumstance (even deceased), are called "kids".

And an important newsman thinks street slang is kopacetic when referring to a Presidential candidate's daughter.

We are an illiterate and ignorant citizenry, and pugnaciously proud of it.

http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i15/15b00701.htm

[mrcheerful]

4. What else would explain that the majority of election cycles resemble a beauty queen

contest instead of electing people to make important decisions? Ever talk to teens these days? It really shows how dumb americans have gotten in the last 50 years. Take the 17 yo that I am raising for example. He can't grasp the ideal that to obtain things one has to work to get the money to save up to buy things with. He told mom that all she had to do was get a credit card and she could have everything he wanted. When she asked how was she to pay the credit card off, his solution? Thats right you get another credit card to pay off the first one.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. How can Americans NOT be dumb? Look at what is on TV these days...

Look at which movies are most popular. Look at our president the past 7 plus years.

[mudesi]

6. Yes, he is right

Witness how easily they are manipulated by the media.

[spooky3]

7. Jacoby doesn't represent the Post's ed. bd. - I don't mean to nitpick

but on Sundays, the Post publishes columns from a variety of sources. Her views don't necessary reflect those of the Post.

She's an author and does blog on the Post's website.

http://www.susanjacoby.com/about.html

[murbley40]

8. Yes!

The election of George Bush the first time was evidence of that, but then we put the final touches on our dumbness and elected him the second time. Now we just continue on in our dumbness by buying into fancy words with no substance.. We will again elect the wrong person, because we are not intelligent enough to ask what will you do and how will you do it and insist on an answer,not just more pretty speeches designed to dial up the emotions of the listener. :dunce:

[AngryAmish]

9. A nation with Florida in it can't be entirely smart

[HelenWheels]

10. Agree

I don't agree with Maher on a lot of things but I do agree with him that the vast majority of Americans are uniformed, intellectually lazy and stupid.

[BooScout]

11. I'm not a fan of Maher.......

....but he's correct. Americans, in general are dumb as a box of rocks.