From the beginning of recorded history, there have been people who denied basic concepts like the earth revolving around the sun, or time being linear, or even the fact that a full day-night cycle is 24 hours. Different time periods classified these people into categories like cultists, extremists, wackos, philistines, illiterates, or—less formally—into wackos or nut-jobs. Now, in this day and age, there is a more centralized word for it—an anti-intellectual.

Renowned American author Richard Hofstadter describes anti-intellectualism as “a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition to constantly minimize the value of that life.”  In simpler words, an anti-intellectual is a person who denies logic and champions common sense, with the notion of ignorance holding the same value as knowledge. 

This notion is once again gaining traction as everything becomes accessible to the newer generations online. The younger generations are falling into the traps set by technological oligarchs, who continue to grow their wealth from the vulnerability of their youth—turning a blind eye to the massive adverse affects of the system they set up—including the misinformation being spread—leeching off of the dependence of vulnerable minds; similar to the forces mentioned in revolutionary dystopian works such as The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and 1984  by George Orwell. In both of these works, one of the common themes is media censorship. We can already see this taking place in the real world, as 1984, which used to be required reading in many parts of the US, is now slowly being buried and........

© Paradigm Shift