‘Villens United by Chris Haskell

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

The term “anti-intellectualism” is a description of the growing dismissal of facts, science, and logic by many Americans in favor of personal belief, opinion, and misinformation. Man has traveled to the moon and back yet there are still people to this day that truly believe that the earth is flat. No joke. They call themselves The Flat Earth Society and they believe that “round earth theory” is an elaborate hoax perpetrated upon humanity.

Popular rapper B.O.B. shares and promotes this “flat earth theory” in his music, and has recently exchanged verbal blows with famed astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson over the subject. While DeGrasse Tyson went out of his way to shame the rapper for promoting such nonsense, he has also warned the public of what harm the spreading anti-intellectualism and misinformation by the influential and powerful could have on our society.

Notions of a flat earth aren’t the only staple of this anti-intellectual movement; the debate over climate change still remains at the forefront.

It amazes me that in today’s Digital Information Age there are still those who dismiss climate change science and can’t be bothered to learn about it. The science explaining how pollution affects our climate and atmosphere is currently being taught to grade school children. It’s a factual science that even the Pope has embraced.

It should come as no surprise that many of the politicians who avidly deny climate change also receive campaign contributions from companies benefiting from the American petrochemical industry. Despite scientists warning the public of the dangers of carbon emissions and urging cleaner and cheaper renewable alternative energy, some still choose to believe the politicians and lawmakers who oppose the science.

Would you go to the butcher to get your cavities filled? Of course not. So why would you choose the word of a pundit or politician over the world’s leading scientific expert on whether or not we are doing irreversible damage to our planet? Are you more qualified than a doctor to know whether it’s best for your child to be vaccinated or not? Are you smarter than 5th grader? Society today seems more apt to listen to the loudest voice than the wisest words.

Without a doubt, the ever-evolving media is responsible for the birth of the anti-intellectual cancer that is strangling this country. With shortening attention spans and more news outlets competing for our attention, many news organizations have turned to sensationalism and fear mongering for ratings and relevance. Journalistic Integrity seems all but a thing of the past these days as every news outlet has an agenda they are trying to push.

One cable news network spent a few years worth of their programming comparing our president to Hitler, constantly questioning his citizenship and whether or not he was a Muslim, yet they have the audacity to claim to be “Fair and Balanced.” FOX News is not alone in putting their spin on the news, but they are by far the worst culprit. It’s no coincidence that Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and many on Saturday Night Live have all made successful careers poking fun at how often the network lies to their viewers and manipulates and distorts the factual news. Many of their viewers are quite aware of the joke, yet because FOX News is the leading conservative news network they keep tuning in to be misinformed.

The greatest threat anti-intellectualism poses is how it can be used to manipulate voters. Whether liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, it is of the utmost importance to our nation that we go the polls with the correct information on current issues. Many politicians want to keep you misinformed on certain issues in order to manipulate your vote, but with the majority of us having instant Internet access at our fingertips there is no excuse to not educate ourselves.

The website politifact.org is devoted solely to making sure the public is informed of just how true or false the everyday statements of pundits, politicians, and news networks really are. I strongly urge you to check the website out for yourself.

We Americans need to stop treating our elections as some political American Idol season finale; or we may end up saluting president Sanjaya.

Later Villens, keep it real.