By Jim Heffernan
I think I was attracted to this book by the concept of “The Age of American Unreason”, such an apt description of our times. Once I started reading it, I was smitten. I think a large part of the reason was that the author and I are so similar in age. She, at 78, and me, at 77, are both among the oldest of the “baby boomer” generation. Her language might be a little too academic for some, but I found myself in total agreement throughout the book. Some might prefer to listen to her on YouTube.
The book’s central theme is that throughout our history, Fundamentalist religion and an inordinate worship of the “self-made man” has nurtured anti-intellectualism in American life. She includes an 1837 quote from Henry Thoreau “The mind of the country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself.” It is as true today as back then.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I lived through the “middlebrow” period when Book of the Month club was popular and “The Great Books” were a sought-after status symbol. Newspapers and news magazines were hugely popular. I thought it was just the 50’s and 60’s; I didn’t know anything about “middlebrow”. I’m confident that the “middlebrow” experience solidified my preference for print versus video.
Susan makes a very good point the why we have a low rate of illiteracy, we have a very high rate of “a-literacy”. In 2002, fewer than half of Americans had read any book in the previous year. I’m sure the percentage has dropped since then. We know how to read but don’t do it very much anymore.
She proposes that we become “intellectual conservationists” by turning off the TV and our screens and feeding our intellect with books and concerts. I don’t go to concerts, but much prefer books and a few select columnists to any other source of information. I’d like to say it was a conscious choice, but I think it was really a lucky happenstance.
Here’s some excerpts. I think this is an important book and I’ve piled on extra helpings.
Page 17
“In today’s America, intellectuals and nonintellectuals alike, whether on the left or right, tend to tune out any voice that is not an echo. This obduracy is both a manifestation of mental laziness and the essence of anti-intellectualism.”
Page 27
…… “Just before the 2004 presidential election, the journalist Ron Suskind reported a chilling conversation with a senior Bush aide, who told Suskind that members of the press were part of what the Bush administration considers “the reality-based community”—those who “believe that solutions emerge from the judicious study of discernable reality.” But, the aide emphasized, “That’s not the way the world really works anymore. We’re an empire now, and when we act we create our own reality, And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too….. We’re history’s actors…. and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” The explicit distinction between those who are fit only to study and those who are history’s actors not only expressed contempt for intellectuals but also denigrates anyone who requires evidence, rather than power and emotion, as justification for public policy.
Page 230
“Printed works do not take up mental space simply by virtue of being there; attention must be paid or their content, whether simple or complex, can never be truly assimilated. The willed attention demanded by print is the antithesis of the reflexive distraction encouaged by infotainment media, whether one is talking about the tunes on an iPod, a picture flashing briefly on a home page, a text message, a video game, or the latest offering of “reality” TV. That all of these sources of information and entertainment are capable of simultaneously engendering distraction and absorption accounts for much of their snakelike charm.”
Page 299
“The inseparability of junk science from junk thought is evinced by the telltale marks of endemic illogic coupled, in many instances, with deliberate manipulativeness. The first and most fundamental warning sign is an inability to distinguish between coincidence and causation–a basic requirement for scientific literacy. The anti-vaccination movement is rife with conspiracy theories tied both to the right wing’s distrust of government and the left’s distrust of traditional medicine—the latter a heritage of the extreme wings of the holistic health and New Age movements of the late sixties and early seventies.”
As always, discussion is welcome at codger817@gmail.com
476 pages (50 pages notes) Published February 12, 2008
Available Cloud and Leaf Bookstore, Manzanita: Tillamook Public Library