I think 'anti-intellectualism' is too loaded and inaccurate.
Everyone, elite and non-elite, resent being patronized.
Even then, we are sometimes willing to forgive if the patronizer delivers the goods.
But there is more patronizing being done by everyone these days.
Over the last 20 years or so the US, as in my country, has managed to polarize itself in very specific ways. People have been separating themselves physically into places where like-minded souls live and the politicians have become extreme in their gerrymandering. This leaves the ground open to ill feeling as minorities don't get to participate and majorities are triumphalist.
Ill feeling leads to ill considered speech.
Conservatives in the blue states and liberals in the red states don't like being talked down to. They don't like being told they "don't get it," are "religious primitives," are "effete and nuanced."
Sometimes being patronized can be really funny. During a spirited discussion at university a fellow student informed me, "The trouble with you, Frank, is that you're too intellectual."
I did the Jack Benny number. Head on one side, finger to the cheek, huuuuge pause....
"Umm....We are in a university, you know."
He didn't get it.
I grew up in a place which considered itself civilized, but a certain segment of the population would go out and fight for fun on Saturday night. I was never part of that crowd, but I never made the mistake of underestimating them. They worked, married, raised children, built homes, voted - they're citizens.
As a group, they are no more or less intelligent than the folk who work in universities or government. And if they are going to be convinced a certain political direction is necessary, then every bit as much thought and respect has to go into talking to them as goes into talking to a university audience.
Since the US election finished we've read and heard an awful lot of disrespectful stuff said about the supporters of both political parties. Not a good sign. Enough already! |
