Susan Jacoby – The Age of American Unreason
This book centres around the dumbing down of American politics, education and culture. It opens by asking us a question regarding the word “folks”, and how it has been assimilated in to the political lexicon in the US. Can we imagine Abraham Lincoln, in all his oratorical might informing people that his government would be “of the folks, by the folks, for the folks?”
There have been some hugely important shifts with regards teaching in the US and it is suggested that academics 100 years ago would be appalled that the same debate regarding evolution versus creationism is still within the academic zeitgeist. The advent of infotainment takes a bashing, and there is somewhat of the luddite about certain arguments here, or as Jacoby calls herself “a cultural conservationist”, but the fundamental point remains that video technology and modern embellishments on culture have done little to push the boundaries of thinking. As TVs become baby sitters and the internet an omnipresent tutor, yet still an unreliable tool, the educational health of a nation is shrouded in a deepening malaise that no amount of bitesize philosophy or church morality will solve.
Only with the coming of Barack Obama’s presidency have we seen something like a return to the soaring political oratory of Roosevelt, Kennedy and Lincoln, and a certain amount of respect for brains over brawn, which provides some hope to the author, but not enough. It is also not enough to let Americans off the hook and say they have been hoodwinked by various facets of the media and government who wish to control their obedient workers. Americans have achieved the dumbed down version of their once intellectually driven country through their own apathy and laziness, assisted by an overwhelming reliance on junk thought, junk science, religious fundamentalism and a very misplaced faith in nationalism masquerading as patriotism where questioning something is bad.
It’s a terrific book that contains a great deal of passion as well as a sense of hope, but the road out of the current melancholic ideology will be long and hard.
Sarah
redosiris
Belleaddona's books 
Sounds like a good book–thanks for the info. Hmm…I like the word “folks.” Just a note–maybe my eyes are too old, but the text on your site is really hard to read.