Trump’s war on knowledge

I'm letting the bizarre comment about "6000 years of feudalism" on the OP pass, because the main gist of the post (especially the linked article) is spot on. As usual, pretty much everyone believes something weird and unscientific... but just because a weird belief does not equate to hostility towards all of science, that does not preclude the existence of a genuine anti-science perspective. That certainly does exist.


Originally shared by David Brin

“There has always been a disturbing strand of anti-intellectualism in American life… but never has an occupant of the White House exhibited such a toxic mix of ignorance and mendacity, such lack of intellectual curiosity and disregard for rigorous analysis (despite his untested boast that his IQ is “one of the highest,” certainly higher than Obama’s and a host of other worthies’).”
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/10/12/trumps-war-on-knowledge/

“The experts are terrible,” Donald Trump said during his campaign. “Look at the mess we’re in with all these experts that we have.” … except, that it’s another lie. Almost every measure of national and international health, peace, prosperity etc has improved and guess what, the folks who know stuff actually know stuff.

Yes, America’s lower middle class has felt things slip. But the villains are the Rupert Murdochs and Donald Trumps who are rebuilding feudalism. Read this article! Then parse the right’s central mythos! It goes like this:

We all know that: "Just because someone is smart and knows a lot, that doesn't automatically make them wise."

But after 25 years of Fox hypnosis, this true statement has been twisted into something cancerous:

"Any and all people who are smart and know a lot, are therefore automatically unwise."

I am astonished it’s not been clearly and openly elucidated. The first statement is true. The second - jibbering loony - is now a core catechism of the confederacy.

Of course, blatantly, the average person who has studied earnestly and tried to understand is wiser (again, on AVERAGE) than those who deliberately chose to remain incurious and ignorant. When cornered, even the most vehement alt-righter admits that. But cornering them takes effort.

Hatred of universities and people with knowledge and skill now extends from the war on science to journalism, teaching, medicine, economics, civil servants… and lately the “deep state” conspiring villains of the FBI, the intelligence agencies and the U.S. military officer corps.

This bedlam serves one purpose, to discredit any “elites” who might stand in the way of a return to feudalism by the super rich, which was the pattern of 6000 years that America rebelled against.

The Confederacy has always been a tool to restore feudalism. only this time it has done what it could not do in the 1860s. Taken Washington.

Trump is not the disease, he is a surface symptom.

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/10/12/trumps-war-on-knowledge/