Isaac Asimov was a big hero of mine when I was a kid. He was the Neil deGrasse Tyson of that era, making science a cool thing. He also wrote excellent science fiction books and stories. I came across a quote from him on Facebook the other day that got me thinking. He said, “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
This is at the heart of my problem with the current political landscape. No one wants to talk about facts any more. They want to appeal to emotions and arouse irrational fear. Emotions are a survival instinct. They serve quite nicely when you are being chased by a bear and don’t have time to think about whether or not you should run. They don’t have any place as the predominant motivating factor in a political campaign.
That is where anti-intellectualism comes into play. We seem to have a strong cultural bias toward glorifying ignorance and it will ultimately be our downfall. Unless we challenge our politicians to address the issues and debate them with facts not appeals to emotion, we will continue to elect shallow talking heads that have no idea what the issues are, much less how to address them.