Traces how uneducated buffoonery became popular to the point of representing American culture, and expresses the author's hope that the nation will eventually value intellect more than reality television.
Journalist Charles Pierce laments the astounding decline of the American intellect by highlighting the glaring discrepancy between the learned values of the nation's founders and those of today's average citizen. Pierce cites such examples as the prominence of Rush Limbaugh, the candidacy of Sarah Palin, the proliferation of reality TV, and the continued disavowal of evolution as evidence that a stunning number of Americans have foregone the pursuit of enlightenment in favor of the passive absorption of empty entertainment. What's worse, according to Pierce, is that the shameful stigma that was once attached to such celebrations of stupidity is being eroded by our culture's embrace of mindless amusement as a national pastime. Pierce reinforces his thesis with insightful passages from James Madison and other founding fathers, demonstrating the expanding gap between the popular discourses of colonial and contemporary times.
- Genre: Political Science
- Subgenre: Essays
- Publisher: Anchor Books
- Pages: 307
- Language: English
- Format: paperback
- Release Date: May 4, 2010
- Date Published: May 4, 2010
- Author: Charles P. Pierce