Anti-intellectualism is taking over the US

I wouldn't want to read 5 dissertations on African American studies either.

She just shouldn't have written an article about it. Why write an article about something you don't want to do any research on?

As an amateur sociologist (being an old student of history) I see two factors in the British equivalent situation.

One is anti-intellectualism as a reaction to meritocracy. Increasingly over the last couple of centuries being intelligent has been a route into good jobs and therefore better income. Increasingly, then, as intelligent people are lifted out of poverty, so poverty and more limited intelligence begin to coincide. Then intelligence becomes a class issue. Those who are intelligent or look intelligent (i.e. they wear spectacles) are resented and hated. This can be illustrated by the history of the grammar schools, which catered for pupils who had passed a selection examination. For twenty years after the war they were successfully lifting intelligent working-class children into a better life, and then the left turned against them because they were perceived as catering for an elite. That is to say, to the extent that intelligence can be inherited, the more intelligent members of the population were becoming an elite. It is easy to see how those who resent intelligence and education might reject the knowledge which is the result of education.

The other factor is that since science overturned the authority of religion it has become "authority" in its own right. Therefore anyone who is against authority is also against science. That is where the revived "Flat Earth" movement has come from. This transcends the conventional political divide. The journalist who despises black studies does so because she perceives them as being imposed by the current version of authority. Meanwhile "black studies" themselves might have their own anti-intellectual moments because the promoters also perceive themselves as fighting against authority. Hence the attitude labelled as "Truth is racist". Rejection of authority is the driving force behind rejection of knowledge.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
We live in an era of ADD/ADHD. We are used to things happening very quickly. So, even those who think of themselves as "intellectuals" tend to bypass anything that would take up too much of their time, i.e., "not enough hours in the day to read all that stuff". It's all about the cliff notes, sum it up in a nutshell - TLDR.

What's wrong with that? It's like speedreading...get to the point and quicker without those ands, thes and thats.

I suppose it may also be an older person thing, where as soon as I start reading a piece, it strikes me as 'it's been done before' so I just skim through it. Been there done that. So, my point is, it depends on what I am reading.

Although I will take my time with poetry and exceptionally interesting research articles.

As for anti-intellectualism, our definitions may differ - or is it really anti-science that we are referring to?