Is America dumbing down?

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

You likely remember The Tonight Show when Jay Leno was host. A recurring segment on the program was “Jay Walking” in which Leno went outside the studio and talked to pedestrians. The purpose, I guess, was to prove how ignorant Americans were.

Leno would question folks about different things, including history and politics. Part of the game for those questioned was to give the dumbest answer possible, thereby creating a humorous situation. The television audience was supposed to shake its head in awe at how stupid Californians could be because many of the questions were easy.

People giving the correct answer were seldom shown. Nothing funny in that, you see.

Those questioned also knew the best way to get on television was to give an outlandish answer that proved what a waste of money it was for mom and dad to send junior to college.

The segment was a setup, but the question raised is legitimate: Are we dumber than a sack of taters, as some claim?

Well, I doubt that many of us know as much as we are capable of absorbing or would like to know. There is only so much opportunity per day to pursue learning, and our capacity for it is limited by ability and interest. Learning is also determined greatly by the degree of curiosity.

When I was attending school half a century ago, one had to achieve 70 percent to pass a course. By the time I was in teaching that had been lowered ten points for several reasons, but one result was achievement became less challenging. There was a general dumbing down and the impact was evident. Just saying.

I heard recently 60 per cent of all college graduates don’t read another book after graduation. If true, that is indeed disturbing. If one has time to spend hours on social media, then surely a few hours can be spared during the week to read something that will actually broaden knowledge and understanding.

I get one doesn’t have to read books, newspapers or whatever to be smart. I have known many bright, capable people who were not readers. It’s just they would rather do other things, and that’s fine.

However, I will submit if one wants to grasp how politics, economics or government really functions then one has to do more than listen to the propaganda drills coming out of much of big media daily. One is better off with an understanding of history than with lopsided social commentary whose purpose is to negate critical thinking via a singular perspective.

Ignorance has become political. The left has taken the position those who reject absolutism concerning such issues as climate change are ignoramuses as opposed to skeptics. An extension of that attitude is those who supported the conservative movement last election are a bunch of dumbbells and proud of it. This echoes the Hillary Clinton “deplorables” remark and attitude.

Columnist John L. Micek, using a recently published book by Tom Nichols as a resource, wrote this: “Of course, there’s always been a strain of “know-nothingism,” in our politics. The difference now is that when presented with facts proving him wrong, some will dismiss contradictory evidence as “fake news” and “alternative facts” and go blithely on his way.”

Of course Micek is referring to President Trump whom the left regards as a lesser sort than themselves intellectually. The fact that Trump has taken a path different than the one the left charted proves how awful he is. Also, having a mind of his own and having made unilateral decisions all his adult life precludes an ability to listen to others or comprehend the intricacies of his job. So they say.

This is the left’s position: Trump is an ignorant man and a shared ignorance got him elected.

Well, folks, Donald Trump may be blunt and opinionated, but he isn’t stupid, and he isn’t fooled by the left either. He knows fake news when he sees it, and he understands the political purposes behind liberals’ efforts to lessen his humanity, distort his positions, and his change his direction.

True ignorance, however, is revealed by underestimation.

The fact is those voting right in the last election weren’t as ignorant as the left would have us be. Indeed, those most ignorant lost.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and Bearcat.