Dumbing Down, Politically

ASTUTE OBSERVERS have noted in recent times that there is, deeply embedded in American culture, a certain "lowest common denominator", a cultural crassness with permeates society, reducing us to our most juvenile intellectual level, which has only been enhanced by a recent tendency to "dumb down" us, the American people, magnified by mass media and social media. I can recall that when I was in the eighth grade one of my teachers told the class that newspapers are written on an eigth grade level. Evidently, they still are, for the benefit of the least educated demographic in American society. Most folks have probably noticed that when we watch or listen to the news, on almost any "platform", we are spoon fed an enticing mis of feel good stories and sensational nightmares, presumably to keep our attention, attention for profit. In an interesting monograph, "Profiles In Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got dumb and Dumber", published in 2022, comedian and author andy Borowitz etends this theis to the politial arena in a thought provoking manner. Borowitz asserts that there was a time when we the American people expected our political candidates and leaders to inform us, about their policies in particular, but that under the influence of mass marketing and mass media, we now expect them to entertain us. He reminds us that the most recent four Republican presidents: Reagan, bush, Bush, and Trump, were all known by those who knew them well as men of mediocre intelletual capabilities, and that their mediocrity was on full display during their terms as president. "A Quote A Day" tear off calendars have been printed and popular featuring a stupid or silly but accurate quote a day from each of them. Donald Trump rached a new intellectual low point, "lowering the bar" with vacuous comments involving windmills allegedly causing cancer and airports in revolutionary era America. Like the noble intent to which FOX news falsely claims to aspire, one must, for integrity's sake, be "fair and balanced". The author give Ronald Reagan a hard time for his famous remark, which he evidenlly made to Gorbachev, that if the Earth were threatened by attack from extraterrestrials, humanity would instantly put aside its petty squbbles and differences, and unite to fight against the new enemy from afar. Apparently Reagan made this same metaphor many times, it was a recurring theme of his remarks, and Borowitz holds it up as an example of Reagan's mediocre intellect. One might beg to differ. On a purely hypothetical level, this concept has cogency. The problem with it is that, in the event of aggressive invaders from outer space, human technology would doubtless be utterly unequopped to offfer even the slighest resistance. Still and all, Reagan's point is well made, and serves its purpose. When a person makes one intelligent comment his entire life, it seems a good idea to make it often, and after all, we must give credit where credit is due. Borowitz also points out that the tradition of mediocre Republican American presidents with mediocre intellects has a much longer tradition, one which arguably began with U.S. Grant, continued on through Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, and threatens to endure into the future.