Reply #25: That's older than the Republic itself [View All]

This has always been a deeply anti-intellectual country. We pride ourselves on being the commoners who made good, and the quickest way to marginalize someone (short of questioning their religion or sexuality) is to paint them as stuck-up superior types. Listen to any radio DJ for a half an hour and that person will try and ingratiate him/herself by pointing out his/her ignorance of often simple things. Listen to one interview someone who actually knows something, and it's a laugh riot how much the DJ will jockey for position with some sort of "...well, that's way over my head..." comment. It's really funny if the subject is science or math.

The whole approach is a weird little minuet: "love me because I'm unthreatening" is just twist on "I'm better than others because I don't claim to be better than others", and degenerates into some kind of one-downsmanship where people limbo to prove themselves even greater dolts who deserve more admiration.