America dumbs down

[guno]

"The U.S. is being overrun by a wave of anti-science, anti-intellectual thinking. Has the most powerful nation on Earth lost its mind?"

America dumbs down: a rising tide of anti-intellectual thinking

 

[FJO]

"The U.S. is being overrun by a wave of anti-science, anti-intellectual thinking. Has the most powerful nation on Earth lost its mind?"

America dumbs down: a rising tide of anti-intellectual thinking

Not surprising that that article was featured in a Canadian magazine.

It was probably written by a Canadian whose only pride is the oft mentioned mantra by Canadians: "I am certainly not an American".

 

[Unkotare]

Guano-boy there certainly seems to be doing his damnedest to bring the average down.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

I cannot agree with you on that one, Unkie. Guno has exquisite taste in Classical music. He's hardly average.

 

[boedicca]

Guano-boy there certainly seems to be doing his damnedest to bring the average down.

And I bet he supports the federalization of public education which has destroyed learning in favor of indoctrination.

 

[Unkotare]

I cannot agree with you on that one, Unkie. Guno has exquisite taste in Classical music. He's hardly average.

The racist, hateful, block-headed little punk is well below average as a human being regardless of what kind of music he likes. Doesn't take a genius to listen to music, champ.

 

[Unkotare]

Guano-boy there certainly seems to be doing his damnedest to bring the average down.

And I bet he supports the federalization of public education which has destroyed learning in favor of indoctrination.

I bet he doesn't understand the difference between the two.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

"The U.S. is being overrun by a wave of anti-science, anti-intellectual thinking. Has the most powerful nation on Earth lost its mind?"

America dumbs down: a rising tide of anti-intellectual thinking

Here's a clip from your link..

The trends are not encouraging. In 1978, 42 per cent of Americans reported that they had read 11 or more books in the past year. In 2014, just 28 per cent can say the same, while 23 per cent proudly admit to not having read even one, up from eight per cent in 1978. Newspaper and magazine circulation continues to decline sharply, as does viewership for cable news. The three big network supper-hour shows drew a combined average audience of 22.6 million in 2013, down from 52 million in 1980. While 82 per cent of Americans now say they seek out news digitally, the quality of the information they’re getting is suspect. Among current affairs websites, Buzzfeed logs almost as many monthly hits as the Washington Post.

_____________

This is only one subject among quite a few the author addresses. Our reading literature speaks volumes about us as a society. What is America reading? 50 shades of grey. I hear the author was not an exceptional writer in any way yet the books flew off the shelves? How is that? I have a friend who is a 93 yr old published author. His writing is superb and yet his books didn't become a best seller. Why? His writing is so eloquent and detailed it requires the reader to "think". People have become mentally lazy. They do not want to think. Hand them a People magazine and they consider themselves informed. It's pathetic.

This is a serious matter because some of the problems facing America are very complicated and require our attention and yes, ... reading! Our enemies are counting on our laziness to continue. We have to shake off this complacent attitude towards our future as a nation and turn things around while we still can.

The other day I posted a video by a man I know is an atheist. He is an intellectual. No question about it. Someone was shocked and said, you cannot quote him! He is an atheist! If I cannot quote an intellectual because he is an atheist - I am shooting myself in the foot. We need intellectuals because they see the world through a different lense and there is wisdom in many counselors. I have recently learned that there is quite a vitriolic attitude towards intellectuals... it as if they are expected to apologise for being intelligent! Why should they have to lower their standards to accomodate the mentally lazy? Is that fair?

_________

On the author's mention of Genesis:


On the matter of Genesis and creation. Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 there are likely billions of years in between. They get 6000 years from the Torah scripture A day is like a thousand years to the LORD. The problem is - we are not addressing the 6 days but what happened prior to dividing the darkness and the light ( night and day ) ... that is where the answer lies. imo.

 

[jillian]

"The U.S. is being overrun by a wave of anti-science, anti-intellectual thinking. Has the most powerful nation on Earth lost its mind?"

America dumbs down: a rising tide of anti-intellectual thinking

that's what happens, historically, every time theocrats start making a huge amount of noise.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

I cannot agree with you on that one, Unkie. Guno has exquisite taste in Classical music. He's hardly average.

The racist, hateful, block-headed little punk is well below average as a human being regardless of what kind of music he likes. Doesn't take a genius to listen to music, champ.

I hope you are in a good mood today because I don't want you to fuss at me. I'll make it short. Here is a link to support my theory that music selection is indeed a sign of intelligence. See link below at your own leisure.

Your Taste in Music Can Reveal How Smart You Are [Chart]

 

[Marianne]

Nobody's religion should be playing a role in state affairs. From a biblical standpoint I see no reason why the mammoth can't be a state fossil. Evolution should not be the only answer given to the question of where do we come from because it's not the only answer.

Society has dumbed down. Somewhere along the line we decided we want everything given to us in a nice neat package without us having to think much about things. It's why we have corrupt politicians,our jobs are overseas,and we are having mass shootings everyother week. Americans don't want to do the work of investigating and in general paying attention to what's going on in our communities. We'd rather wear blinders and worry about what Jay Z is doing next over what to do about the national debt or healthcare. The education system has gotten into the habit of making excuses for children who don't make the grade and pass them along whether they deserve it or not. My local school system has gotten rid of cursive, only gives spelling tests up to 5th grade and allows calculators in class instead of making the child learn how to do the math. This means our future generation is being taught to be more ignorant than the last generation and in the event of the collaspe of internet/computer age, they are basically screwed. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

 

[SteadyMercury]

Newspaper and magazine circulation continues to decline sharply, as does viewership for cable news.

Shit like this causes me to dismiss this "source" as drivel, obviously the rise of the internet and the ease of consuming content online is a big factor in newspaper, magazine, and cable news. Only someone with an agenda would purposely ignore the obvious and try to look at reduction in magazine subscriptions in a vacuum to lay out evidence of less intellectual thinking.

The three big network supper-hour shows drew a combined average audience of 22.6 million in 2013, down from 52 million in 1980. While 82 per cent of Americans now say they seek out news digitally, the quality of the information they’re getting is suspect.

And how exactly does author quantify "suspect" for internet content compared to what was on supper hour shows in 1980? I submit the availability of content from different sources and different motivations is far superior to 1980 when you pretty much had to pick your major TV network to get your information, very little choice and definitely not much on TV that wasn't produced from a large corporation.

What is America reading? 50 shades of grey.

Actually the best selling book of 2013 was Inferno by Dan Brown, the 4th in his series which included Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. Fiction yes but hardly fluff and having a lot more historical depth than most fiction novels.

1980's best seller list included Fire Starter and Princess Daisy, have we really devolved so much?

I have a friend who is a 93 yr old published author. His writing is superb and yet his books didn't become a best seller. Why? His writing is so eloquent and detailed it requires the reader to "think".

Logical fallacy, you can hardly prove the reason his books didn't sell is because it requires the reader to think there are so many factors in whether a book is a best seller and your personal opinion of it is hardly weight enough to demonstrate it should be a best seller.

 

[guno]

Guano-boy there certainly seems to be doing his damnedest to bring the average down.

You really do have anger issues, Still mad at FDR?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

"The U.S. is being overrun by a wave of anti-science, anti-intellectual thinking. Has the most powerful nation on Earth lost its mind?"

America dumbs down: a rising tide of anti-intellectual thinking

Progressives have had a stranglehold on our education system for generations and the only thing progressive about it is each generation is progressively dumber.

We spend more and get worse results on an annual basis. The (Democrat) Teachers Union solution is: we must spend even more!

The only winner is the political Party that has replaced the educated father as head of household; that's right, the Democrat Party

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

America dumbs down

With people like you growing in numbers it won't take long.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Nobody's religion should be playing a role in state affairs. From a biblical standpoint I see no reason why the mammoth can't be a state fossil. Evolution should not be the only answer given to the question of where do we come from because it's not the only answer.

Society has dumbed down. Somewhere along the line we decided we want everything given to us in a nice neat package without us having to think much about things. It's why we have corrupt politicians,our jobs are overseas,and we are having mass shootings everyother week. Americans don't want to do the work of investigating and in general paying attention to what's going on in our communities. We'd rather wear blinders and worry about what Jay Z is doing next over what to do about the national debt or healthcare. The education system has gotten into the habit of making excuses for children who don't make the grade and pass them along whether they deserve it or not. My local school system has gotten rid of cursive, only gives spelling tests up to 5th grade and allows calculators in class instead of making the child learn how to do the math. This means our future generation is being taught to be more ignorant than the last generation and in the event of the collaspe of internet/computer age, they are basically screwed. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

 

[PredFan]

There is a dumbing down of America. It's called Common Core.

 

[SteadyMercury]

I hope you are in a good mood today because I don't want you to fuss at me. I'll make it short. Here is a link to support my theory that music selection is indeed a sign of intelligence.

SAT scores overlapping with classical music probably has a lot more to do with education level and cultural exposure than raw IQ, and either way it hardly proves an individual poster who likes classical music is more intelligent, anymore than it proves someone who listens to rap is stupid.

To be honest it sounds like a bunch of people trying to prop up their own self-esteem by claiming their music preferences indicate superiority in other natural attributes.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Newspaper and magazine circulation continues to decline sharply, as does viewership for cable news.

Shit like this causes me to dismiss this "source" as drivel, obviously the rise of the internet and the ease of consuming content online is a big factor in newspaper, magazine, and cable news. Only someone with an agenda would purposely ignore the obvious and try to look at reduction in magazine subscriptions in a vacuum to lay out evidence of less intellectual thinking.

The three big network supper-hour shows drew a combined average audience of 22.6 million in 2013, down from 52 million in 1980. While 82 per cent of Americans now say they seek out news digitally, the quality of the information they’re getting is suspect.

And how exactly does author quantify "suspect" for internet content compared to what was on supper hour shows in 1980? I submit the availability of content from different sources and different motivations is far superior to 1980 when you pretty much had to pick your major TV network to get your information, very little choice and definitely not much on TV that wasn't produced from a large corporation.

What is America reading? 50 shades of grey.

Actually the best selling book of 2013 was Inferno by Dan Brown, the 4th in his series which included Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. Fiction yes but hardly fluff and having a lot more historical depth than most fiction novels.

1980's best seller list included Fire Starter and Princess Daisy, have we really devolved so much?

I have a friend who is a 93 yr old published author. His writing is superb and yet his books didn't become a best seller. Why? His writing is so eloquent and detailed it requires the reader to "think".

Logical fallacy, you can hardly prove the reason his books didn't sell is because it requires the reader to think there are so many factors in whether a book is a best seller and your personal opinion of it is hardly weight enough to demonstrate it should be a best seller.

You are quoting the author of Guno's OP. Not me. I didn't say that. My words are in my original post and I drew a line underneath the clip and noted it as clip from Guno's link. Your failure to read my post accurately tells me you do not pay attention to detail. You need to read more. - Jeri

 

[Unkotare]

I hope you are in a good mood today because I don't want you to fuss at me. I'll make it short. Here is a link to support my theory that music selection is indeed a sign of intelligence.

SAT scores overlapping with classical music probably has a lot more to do with education level and cultural exposure than raw IQ, and either way it hardly proves an individual poster who likes classical music is more intelligent, anymore than it proves someone who listens to rap is stupid.

To be honest it sounds like a bunch of people trying to prop up their own self-esteem by claiming their music preferences indicate superiority in other natural attributes.