Anti-Intellectualism and the “Dumbing Down” of America


Alternative News, Zeitgeist

by Ray Williams There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It’s the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility. Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason (link is external), says in an article in the Washington Post, “Dumbness, to paraphrase the […]

09/11/2016

Most presidential candidates speak at grade 6-8 level, study shows


Alternative News

  A readability analysis of presidential candidate speeches by researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Language Technologies Institute (LTI) finds most candidates using words and grammar typical of students in grades 6-8, though Donald Trump tends to lag behind the others. A historical review of their word and grammar use suggests all five candidates in the analysis – […]

20/03/2016