The Dumbing Down of America

 BEAR: I just finished an incredible book: the Age of American Unreason.

HOOKER: By Susan Jacoby. I know it. It's a follow up to Hofstadter's Anti Intellectualism in American Life. 

BEAR: She mentions this.

HOOKER: The thing is, Bear, that it's always been the age of unreason here. Look at what Mencken was writing in the twenties. I recently came across a quotation that sounds like he's describing today. I bet I can find it.

(He starts searching on his smart phone.)

BEAR: Today people present "alternative science" as if it's a real thing. They believe Thomas Jefferson led prayer sessions. If you have an education, you're "elitist." People are proud of their ignorance! It's unreal.

HOOKER: Here it is. (Reading) "On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. The Evening Sun, Baltimore (26 July 1920),"

BEAR: I'm not sure I agree with that. My Uncle Don was "plain folk," dropped out of high school and became a farmer. He would quote Shakespeare, Hooker. A farmer quoting Shakespeare! When I left after a visit, he'd say, "Don't forget to read your Shakespeare." What would Mencken say about him?

HOOKER: Exception to the rule? 

BEAR: And that longshoreman philosopher you told me about once.

HOOKER: Eric Hoffer. I haven't thought about him in a long time. I should reread his book on true believers. I bet it reads as if it were written today.

BEAR: When was it written?

HOOKER: Early fifties.

BEAR: And that other guy you told me about, who ran the Joe Hill House in Salt Lake City. Wasn't he "plain folk"?

HOOKER: Bear, you're killing me. Ammon Hennacy. Someone else I haven't thought about in ages. I must've told you about the time I heard him when I was a graduate student.

BEAR: About passing the hat?

HOOKER: Right.

BEAR: I forget the details. Tell me again.

HOOKER: This is at U of O. So he gives a talk about his life, co-founding The Catholic Worker with Dorothy Day, creating the Joe Hill House where he served free meals and they sang labor songs instead of hymns. When he was done he said his next appearance was at Udub in Seattle. That was so many miles away and his car got such and such mileage, so he needs this many gallons of gas to get there. He's working all of this out on the blackboard! With the price of gas, he'd need this much money to pay for the trip. Let's say it's ten bucks. Gas was cheap then. He's wearing a red ball cap with a Wobblies logo. He takes it off and says, I'll pass my hat around and maybe you'll be generous enough to give me ten dollars. He does this and talks about something else. When the hat comes back, it's stuffed with cash. There must've been a hundred dollars there. He says, you're a generous audience. He takes a twenty out of the hat and holds it up. He says, I'll take this and buy myself lunch on the way. Then he dumps the rest of the money on the table, puts on the hat and heads for the door! Just before leaving he turns and says, Good luck figuring this one out. And he was gone. We were all stunned. What the hell do we do now?

BEAR: Sounds like he was quite a character.

HOOKER: And that sounds like something a Republican would say. 

BEAR: The Republican party is dead.

HOOKER: Hennacy was a saint.

(Pause.)

BEAR: Are we still ordering pizza?

HOOKER: I'll do it.

(Taps a number on his cell phone. Waits for a response.)

HOOKER: Yes. Do you deliver to elites?

(End)