On June 30, 2018 at 13:58, Dean Roddey said...
I know this because I was one of those kids who didn't take advantage of those opportunities available to me. I did OK, mostly just due to natural inquisitiveness. But had I really applied myself, I could have done very well, even in a small rural southern town school system. I, and the bulk of the kids around me, voluntarily gave up a free opportunity to one degree or another.
Obviously there is a certain element of FFB that many kids suffer from.
Your bit of a rant for or against (I'm not sure which) antiintellectualism is not helped when you use the designation FFB
A partial list of its meanings is Fürstenfeldbruck, Foundation Fighting Blindness, Fédération Française du Bâtiment, Federal Financing Bank (US), Fantasy Football, Force Feedback (haptic technology), Florida Farm Bureau, Fédération Française de Billard (French: French Billiards Federation), Food from Britain (UK strategic international food and drink export marketing consultancy), Fresh Fruit Bunch, First Fidelity Bank, First Financial Bank, Fédération Française de Boxe (French: French Boxing Federation), Fédération Française de Bridge, Frostfire Bolt (World of Warcraft)... and many others. The anti-intellectual approach would be to use words to describe what you mean.
There is also a non-trivial element of anti-intellectualism in this country in general. It's somehow painted as elitist to be intelligent and proud of it, combined with a certain class envy against those who are and who use it to do well. It's probably not helped by a certain level of arrogance that can exist in those who are and who have done well, particularly if they do well early in life.
You understate the effect and reality of the arrogance and you overstate the amount of anti-intellectualism.
The large population centers on the two coasts are huge bastions of arrogance. For decades I've noted that the more conservative people I run into know conservative and liberal people, but the liberal people seem to think they are a huge majority or even claim not to know any conservatives. The amazement of the left that Hillary Clinton didn't win, and even her subsequent claims of what happened, show that in some ways the intellectuals are terribly misinformed.
Anyway, that was a ramble, but the summary being, the man isn't keeping people down by denying them an education and keeping them stupid. People do that for themselves. If there are organizations out there designed to keep us befuddled and divided, I'd say those are news organizations and political activity committees and such.
I totally agree with you.
