I read an interesting rant this morning that got me thinking. I often read that Americans pride themselves for being doers rather than thinkers, and that Pragmatism is related to that. Now, is this Pragmatism part of reason why there's this rampant wave of anti-intellectualism in the US?

.just curious..

ps.: Keep in mind that I admire American thinking quite a lot, so this far from being a criticism.

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define american thinking?

*wait, imma get ma cheeseburger*

to me it seems like the least intellectual people i have met in the us have also tended to be the laziest. Then again this was mostly in Florida and nothing makes sense there...it harbors some of the absolute thickest people on earth.

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quote:

Originally posted by walcott define american thinking? *wait, imma get ma cheeseburger*

It's really difficult to talk about any kind of "national thinking", but there's this bundle of ideas that tend to be popular in a given country/region. Americans, as I see it, tend to be more practical in their thinking: if something is not useful, it's worthless. Europeans (which is a rough generalisation to make), on the other hand, tend to be more ethereal in their thinking - thoughts are good for their sheer value. Brazilian thought, finally, tends to value communitarianism quite a lot, so nothing is worth unless it's done for the common good.

This is really an inaccurate generalisation, but I think you get what I mean.

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Americans pride themselves on lots of things.

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quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On Americans pride themselves on lots of things.

+1

cheeseburgers, this thread is now about cheeseburgers

quote:

Originally posted by Lira It's really difficult to talk about any kind of "national thinking", but there's this bundle of ideas that tend to be popular in a given country/region. Americans, as I see it, tend to be more practical in their thinking: if something is not useful, it's worthless. Europeans (which is a rough generalisation to make), on the other hand, tend to be more ethereal in their thinking - thoughts are good for their sheer value. Brazilian thought, finally, tends to value communitarianism quite a lot, so nothing is worth unless it's done for the common good. This is really an inaccurate generalisation, but I think you get what I mean.

If anything Americans are the kings of useless things, ie: stuff you want but do not need.

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quote:

Originally posted by walcott cheeseburgers, this thread is now about cheeseburgers

In that case, can I has cheezburger?

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quote:

Originally posted by elFreak If anything Americans are the kings of useless things, ie: stuff you want but do not need.

But don't these useless things aim to be practical?

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The anti-intellectualism comes about because people in America associate "intellectuals" with physical and emotional weakness, impracticality, resentfulness of popularity and wealth, and other things that they see as detrimental to a satisfying life. Academics, often identified with "intellectualism," are supposed to be tittering, effeminate asthmatic types who hide in the stacks of libraries and look down on regular people.

This has been going on for a long time here, at least since the election contest between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams in 1824, when one of the slogans of Jackson's supporters was "Adams can write, but Jackson can fight."

People think that a cultivated, "bookish" mind is opposed to physical action and vigor -- and they prefer the latter, therefore they disdain the former.

quote:

Originally posted by elFreak to me it seems like the least intellectual people i have met in the us have also tended to be the laziest. Then again this was mostly in Florida and nothing makes sense there...it harbors some of the absolute thickest people on earth.

i'm from florida. and i'm not thick, i'm only 120 pounds...