Idiot America How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free
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The Culture Wars Are Over and the Idiots Have WonA veteran journalist's acidically funny, righteously angry lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States.In the midst of a career-long quest to separate the smart from the pap, Charles Pierce had a defining moment at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where he observed a dinosaur. Wearing a saddle.... But worse than this was when the proprietor exclaimed to a cheering crowd, "We are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists!" He knew then and there it was time to try and salvage the Land of the Enlightened, buried somewhere in this new Home of the Uninformed. With his razor-sharp wit and erudite reasoning, Pierce delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States, and how a country founded on intellectual curiosity has somehow deteriorated into a nation of simpletons more apt to vote for an American Idol contestant than a presidential candidate. With Idiot America, Pierce's thunderous denunciation is also a secret call to action, as he hopes that somehow, being intelligent will stop being a stigma, and that pinheads will once again be pitied, not celebrated.From the Hardcover edition.
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Charles Pierce sets out in pursuit of cranks and fools in Idiot America after establishing his three great premises:
1) Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings or otherwise moves units.
(2) Any thing can be true if someone says it loudly enough.
(3) Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.
I was sold in the bookstore when I read his description of the dinosaur with the saddle in the Creation Museum, but this is no light expose of conservative idiocy. This is a careful examination of a society that has lost the ability to rationally make decisions. From intelligent design lawsuits in school districts to corporate subversion of the global warming crisis, he explores these great premises and the courage it takes to hold firm to truth. The most gut wrenching chapter is his examination of the events surrounding the death of Terri Schiavo, with the imposition of bumper sticker theology on a personal tragedy, in part by our most powerful legislators.
The book started slowly for me with the history of crank Ignatius Donnelly, but Charles Pierce ties it all together well. I have a new appreciation for Madison and his foresight in the need to create an educated citizenry. One has to wonder if it is too late...
In a way, this book reminded me quite a lot of guns, germs and steel in that it took a theory explained in the first few pages and then showed you repeated examples of the theory explaining historical examples. It just so happens that all the examples happened in the last 10-20 years instead of millennia. If it wasn't about such a depressing topic it would be amusing. It also is written blissfully unaware of the coming Trump presidency.
