Skeptic Project

American culture has a long traditional suspicion of intelligence and book learning. For example, a commonly used primer in the early 19th Century characterized book reading as an odd habit of foreigners like Germans. Instead the culture celebrated the accomplishments of semiliterate or self-taught "common men" who became successful without much formal schooling, or even much in the way of intelligence. Sarah Palin apparently fits into that tradition.

So you don't need to postulate a CT to account for this trend.

There have always been dumbasses who confuse their own dumbassness for a general decline in humanity.

cranberrysauce,

1. What social construct garbage are you referring to? Are you talking about moral character, nationalism, patriotism, etc?

2. Is the Rousseauan Savage concept an argument against technological advancement of society?

Thanks for the explanation.

1. As a School Psychologist, I struggle with accepting the argument that education is not a science. How can there be no biological basis for intelligence? It seems hard to understand.

2. I'm attracted to the utopia I envision in the political philosophy of anarchism, which condones capitalism. What Rousseau says regarding the Savage Myth does intrigue me. I'm also a Taoist, so I feel burdened by unnecessary bureaucracy and politics.

Nevertheless, I am still interested in the arguments made by Iserbyt and others who disagree with Outcome Based Assessment. Here is another argument against it:

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/dumb/dumb3.htm</p>

This is all very frustrating for me, as reading through these articles has highlighted my weakness in discerning information. Of course, I've also been academically taught that these methods are good. Secondly, the arguments against the current education system seemingly are rooted in fundamental Christian idealism. Perhaps my inability to see what the big deal is is that there really is none. Then again, Iserbyt discusses this "blank stare" reaction in the following article:

http://www.newswithviews.com/iserbyt/iserbyt36.htm

>> 2. I'm attracted to the utopia I envision in the political philosophy of anarchism, which condones capitalism.

Most anarchists are, and anarchism itself was defined as, socialist. Only since really the 1970s did you have a rise in anarcho-capitalism, but still most anarchists aren't capitalists. Anarcho-capitalism really removes state tyranny, which all anarchists are against, and puts it into the hands of private tyranny. When there's a state, people have some ability to change it, they can't change a company -- and no, saying "get a job some place else" isn't a defense, otherwise the third world would be a paradise. Why hasn't Somalia become the spontaneous utopia that anarcho-capitalists predict similar situations to be. Though we do have the von Mises institute claiming that it is basically a utopia, because they have the lowest cellphone prices in Africa. If you want to debate this further, please start a new thread about it, I'll repast this there and we can go there, but honestly, I'd rather us just have separate opinions and not get too much into politics on this forum.

Anyway, back on topic:

Despite many conspiracy theorists claiming people are being dumbed down, many of them are anti-intellectualist, especially Alex Jones, and I've received a lot of "YOU SMART SO YOU EVIL" emails from his followers.

@ Edward: I must apologize. I meant to say anarchism CONDEMNS capitalism. Anarchism that accepts capitalism would indeed be silly.

Danny, I can see what you're saying. The question is: is this all a big scheme created by the government / corporate heads, or is it a natural progression into a more nationalized society?

"Danny, I can see what you're saying. The question is: is this all a big scheme created by the government / corporate heads, or is it a natural progression into a more nationalized society?"

It's all about Coporate heads. It's litterally...just in a sense a way for them to set in stone who does what in society. Girls can do XYZ but can't do ABC, while GUYS can do ABC but aren't and shouldn't do XYZ. It's all about money for these people. Just take a look at the cartoons kid are looking at these days. Yo Gabba Gabba and Chowder? iCarly and High School Musical? WTF?? They're giving these kids garbage that's rotting their brains that life is all smiles and sunshine, to trust your officals and NEVER talk back and question authority. It's even worse for teenagers, every day we are shown images of sex and violence as through that's what's life is all about.

"What does the government have to do with Britney Spears?"

Predictive progamming. Britney Spears gets more views on TV than "government officals steal $40 million from taxpayers" or "Police Officer Aqquited after shootout with toddler" etc.

>> You've got ARMY and MARINEs commercials flashing on their television channels like Adult Swim,MTV etc. telling them, making it look cool to jion these organizations and litterally brainwashing them.

Henry Rollins said it best:

They tell you that "you're gonna live in Hawaii, fuck 16 year old girls, and we're gonna teach you how to break-dance!"

I think the Internet is a great example of how the government isn't involved in a conspiracy to dumb people down. People have access to pretty much all of human knowledge, they're more connected to other opinions than ever, and the US hasn't done anything close to China, Iran, etc -- in fact, not at all.

advancedatheist said it best earlier; Americans are actually more knowledgeable about the outside world than ever. I remember in the 1980s nobody gave a fuck about anything in the outside world, now at least some people are interested in international problems.

Danny, so you feel that corporations have taken advantage of the current social makeup. That is, a major form of entertainment is TV. Families and individuals work or go to school and then sit infront of the screen each night. This can lead to corporations having a good amount of control by manipulating what is shown on TV.

I'm more concerned with if and how the corporations / Russians / whoever are intentionally manipulating our education system. I'm also even more concerned with whether the methods are working. That is, do they inspire and produce a level of high academic standing?

"I'm more concern with the socail aspect of it. Russian citizens are litterally property of the government."

Perhaps. But if the students are graduating with a solid foundation in reading, writing, math, and critical thinking, then what more can you ask from public schooling?

If, instead, the students are being taught how to think, feel, and behave, as Iserbyt and others (See the book "Pavlov's Children" at www.americandeception.com) claim, then I'm concerned.

As a student in School Psychology, I can attest to behavior modification being a focal point in education these days. I'm still not sure, however, if its use is actually inappropriate.

Are you referring to the Education section? I only see a few blanks.

"So, because they don't have the information, that means ... ? "

Then they don't have it. Simple. But the question is...after four years, why not?

"There could be many reasons why, but I think a better question is: why is it automatically something conspiratorial, instead of just bad recording keeping on the part of UNICEF? "

Could be. Even I noted they possible don't have it. The question why they don't have it, is simple because it's proablly pretty low.

Danny, I think it's important that you realize people are stupid. Teenage girls especially. Just because popular music is... well, popular isn't any sort of conspiracy. Just because people like being entertained instead of learning... well that's not any sort of conspiracy either.
@Danny

"We're breed to learn every singel day to follow what's normal. By this it'll make you feel better, buy this you'll fit in. Listen to this type of music and your friends will like you even more. Girls should look/act like this.... and guys should act/think like that..."

What do you consider to be "normal"? What music do you listen to? What do you dress like? For these topics there will always be someone more counter-culture than you, and they'll feel the exact same way you feel about people who listen to Britney Spears all day and DVR every episode of The Jersey Shore.

Edit: "It's sickeniing. The american youth are brainwashed on a day to day basis on what's "real" and what's important. "Ooo Lebron james lost a game..." or "Aw, leave Britney Spears alone...wah" as they sit around in a goddamn mall, sipping their starbucks coffee."

This sounds less like brainwashing and more like you're just mad at these people for liking the things that they like. Yeah, people who sit at Starbucks all day sipping expensive coffee are annoying as fuck, no... they're not brainwashed.