Interesting article in Psychology Today about the main cause of our problems.
I have to say that I agree with most of it.
I changed the title of the thread from the overly broad “What Is To Blame…” to keep it on topic with the article and to avoid the obvious openings for political rants on the thread. - Fallenchemist
Sometimes I think some Americans can be like that just because they are “fortunate” to be able to afford it – They are lucky to live in such a nice part of world and can afford to live in a more isolated way. Put these Americans into a much severe, much worse environment, say, next to many unstable African or Middle-East countries, poor parts of Asian or south American countries, or not so fortunate countries in the Europe, they could learn very fast.
In other words, it is a result of being lucky.
The know nothings or anti intellectual strain has been in the US for a long, long time. Adlai Stevenson in part was not a popular candidate because he was an ‘egghead’, he tended to use very flowery speech, whereas Eisenhower was very folksy (Truman was interesting, he had a mind on him that was sharp, but he also managed to portray the everyman versus the elite thing well).
Back in the 19th century, the Democratic party had the farm populist/religious fundamentalist/rural south coalition that routinely as its stock and trade railed against big business and wall Street, promoted the silver standard, and as part of this set themselves (and their party) up as the party of real folk, of the grass roots wisdom of the common people while the GOP represented Wall Street and the Banks and the elites coming out of ivy league schools and blueblood families (and before someone starts in, that the Democrats had their bluebloods and elites, of course they did, I am talking popular presentation, not reality). And there was a lot of the cult of ignorance there, what do you think things like the anti evolution laws were about, or the whole idea that schools should be the three R’s and so forth? It is promoting the virtue of the common man, of ‘common sense’ wisdom and so forth, where learning is seen as the evil that destroys families and so forth…
This battle is nothing new, when the country was founded there were these battles, it happened to be the elites won (it is why we have the constitution we do, it is why we have a bicameral legislature, why we have a electoral college, why we have the courts, and so forth), because there was a large swath in this country of the virtue of common folk, of wisdom over education and so forth.
If you look at Williams Jennings Bryan and his coalitions, and if you look at what is considered the base of the current GOP, you are looking at a mirror. It is why someone like Sarah Palin could be run as a serious candidate for vice president, representing all the ‘real american’ bs (real american=non intellectual elites), it is why a political party can actually support standards in schools that make it illegal to use a curricula based around logical analysis and critical thinking, because that sells. Listen to talk radio, and that is all you hear, about ‘liberal elites’, ‘intellectuals’ as if learning was a dirty word or something.
What makes it especially bad now is that it is so easy to spread the misinformation, we live in a world Joseph Goebbels would have loved, social media and blogs and the web and the media that is out there makes doing what he did so much easier, and just think about how easy it is today to fulfill his statement, that a lie told often enough becomes the truth. If you listen to certain quarters, you hear people claim that if we just got rid of welfare, the government budget would be balanced, if we just did X, Y and Z, all would be well, when if you do half a job of analyzing it, it won’t work, yet because so many people say it, must be true…and if you challenge it, what is the response usually? “Oh, there you go with that intellectual liberal mumbo jumbo”. What is really sad is that it has hit everything, I happened to stumble on CNN the other day and I was shocked at what passes for news, and the last time I looked at Newsday magazine, many years ago, it was like What the heck is this?
Where it is really true is in education, where there are many places in this country where they seriously underfund the schools and are often quite proud of it, arguing that all kids need is a ‘good basic education’, bringing up the three R’s stuff, and in the process often cutting out advanced programs and such, while spending 10’s of millions on a new football stadium for the high school. Even in supposedly education rich areas, they will cut gifted and talented programs, arguing they are a frill for ‘a few elites’, that they are unfair, yet will cut a program like that, then spend a million bucks putting field turf on their football field, which in many ways is elitist (how many kids play football or will use that field?). It is sad to think in the 21s century that the cult of ignorance is so flourishing, but it is quite real, and it cuts across party lines, it cuts across economic levels, it is amazing. When people say belief outweighs facts, when they are more comfortable with something because it fits their views, rather than challenge that and think about it, something is wrong. There is a lot of wisdom in everyday people, but there also is a lot of ignorance, too, and we should bring out the wisdom while fighting the ignorance, not celebrating it.
I remember one comment, when GW Bush was president, who in many ways cultivated the I’m no elite, I’m just an awe shucks Texas boy (meanwhile, he went to an elite prep school, Yale and Harvard Business School), and people saying how they wanted to vote for someone who was more like them, which shocked me (not to mention that Bush was not like them, his past as as elite as it comes), when I vote for someone for office, I don’t want someone like me, I want someone smarter and better to be making decisions, I don’t want the local assemblyman whose vote could be bought for 50 bucks and whose pride was winning an alligator wrestling contest, I want someone with half a brain.
Agree for the most part. It seems like it is a badge of honor to say, “I’m not a scientist . . .” as if that exempts people from understanding the very basics of what science is and how it works. It’s like saying, “I’m no English major” as an excuse for failing to use complete sentences. I don’t know that it’s necessarily worse than it ever was, however. It may only seem more glaring as most people have the power to easily be exposed to more through school and technology than ever before. I’m trying to stay on the right side of the law here so I won’t go too deeply, but there are people with a bully pulpit who must know better based on their level of educational attainment who seem to engage in “thought shaming” as a tactic to convince people for whom that might be more of an effort not to take the trouble.
And yes, there seems to be an economic component at the root of it. You can say things like, “I’m no scientist so I can’t tell if that’s really toxic sludge that emits fumes that may cause birth defects or if it’s just naturally occurring algae. I’ll leave that to the scientists to answer, but the science on it isn’t clear yet.” There was a horrifying story in the last Vanity Fair issue on fracking evaporation ponds in Utah and miscarriages, birth defects and still births. Of course “scientists disagree” on whether or not it’s really a cluster. :-w
A corrupt, unethical, out of touch political class. A similarly corrupt bureaucracy. A dishonest media pursuing an agenda, rather than facts. A lazy, apathetic electorate.
I think the real source of our downturn is the breakdown of the family unit.
There are myriad possible causes for that, but if we start with the huge family issues, we can begin to make sense of our issues with crime, unemployment/lack of strong work ethic, some psychological issues, distrust of authority figures, and the general disdain for success and successful people.
As for “luck” playing a big part in personal success: I disagree that it plays a large part for most in this nation, aside (obviously) from those who inherit the bulk of their wealth, gamble successfully, etc.
Why?
You can say that intelligence is innate and, thus, up to luck – sure; but we can also apply ourselves in school to improve our level of knowledge.
Hard work, perseverance, and the willingness to take on risk have nothing to do with luck.
It does help to grow up safe and in good schools, but everyone can choose to work hard and persevere.
Even if we were all brilliant scholars we still would be unable to get many things accomplished because we simply cannot agree on our goals and how to achieve them.
CORRECTION: In post #3 I referenced something that I read in VF and realized when a certain song came on my ipod during my spin workout that it was Rolling Stone.
There is a difference between being a brilliant scholar and taking pride in denying basic academic principles and curiosity. @prezbucky, I didn’t see a condemnation of market principles, hard work or making your million.
And then when you do get the vast majority of scientists agreeing on something, like Climate Change, they change their statements to “not 100% of scientists agree on that so the science isn’t clear yet”.
I like blaming the boomers, then reaching for a bowl of popcorn. They’re easy to get really wound up.
Of course, the outcome of a risky venture is not known at the time of committing to the risk; luck is a factor (though certainly not the only factor) in whether a successful outcome results.
Luck also plays a part in determining where your starting line is.
Our problem is Mexico. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people. We can fix this by building a great wall, but not just any great wall, a great great wall.
/sarcasm
I also wonder what percentage of wealth comes from inherited sources and what percentage is the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” kind. I am not sure I believe that “most” comes from hard work. I would bet inherited money and “Wall Street Money” is the bulk of American wealth (at least in terms of the numbers of people, since Gates and Buffet along dwarf the others). And that kind of wealth is usually a result of luck. You either are born into it or you are born into circumstances that allow you to take that route. I doubt there are many multi-millionaires who started poor but managed to get into “top schools” and then parlayed that education into acceptance in the Good Ol’ Boy network that is WS and Hedge Funds.
OK Donald 
I think we should add in a large moat with alligators in front of the wall.
and build on along Canada too. You know they are the 2nd biggest cause of our problems behind the Mexicans
PS- I do realize you were kidding. I am making fun of people who believe that stuff.
Extensive efforts to think by the masses is a new thing in our history (within the last century). Lack of critical analysis by almost everyone has been the norm through the great history (if not prehistory) of our species. Only now can someone like the author of this article imply that individuals have chosen to abandon intellectualism. They never were intellectuals, hence cannot be abandoning being intellectuals. A society might reject intellectualism, a person might reject someone else’s intellectualism, but an individual who has been brought into intellectualism never chooses to abandon it, at least not the recognition of its worth.
I have read and critically analyzed a few papers on climate change. The critical analysis I did, completely pure of extraneous forces, interestingly enough changed me from being mindlessly on the human-caused global warming bandwagon to someone not particularly inclined to believe our current warming is significantly human-caused (because of research indicating 4 degree centigrade change per century in once-upon-a-time Greenland).
@ucbalumnus, it would to be tough to quantify just how much of a firm’s success (or failure…) is due to luck. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one to tell all of my employees (be they two or 2,000) that their job performance doesn’t really matter because the firm rises and falls at the whim of the gods/God/the universe. hehe
Regardless of how much is due to luck, I think we’d do well to take most of the blame for our failures and share the glory in our accomplishments. It’s just a good way to be… ah reckon.
There are plenty of millionaires (the ones “next door”) who built wealth (not necessarily in investment banking) from non-wealthy origins.
It is, however, easier to build wealth, if one starts “ahead” in the game with a higher SES family origin (with the usual effects of attending better K-12 schools, wider choice of colleges and professional schools due to fewer cost constraints, perhaps more of a family safety net that allows taking more financial risks, etc.).
@ucbalumnus After I wrote that I went and looked up some stats and found out that there are indeed more millionaires than I thought from the “guy/gal next door” route. I wonder if that changes when talking about amounts above say 10M or something higher.
I agree completely with your last paragraph.
You are making the mistake that luck and hard work / job performance are mutually exclusive characteristics. In reality, business success often requires some of both. For example, a hard working construction worker, civil engineer, or architect in 2006 may have had high paying jobs at successful companies (though a poor construction worker, civil engineer, or architect would still have struggled even then). But the same hard working construction worker, civil engineer, or architect in 2009 may have been laid off from failed companies and be unable to find another job.