Невежество как цель

[a_kleber]

«Ignorant politicians are elected by ignorant people. US education, like the US health system, is notorious for its failures. In the most powerful nation on earth, one adult in five believes the sun revolves round the earth; only 26% accept that evolution takes place by means of natural selection; two-thirds of young adults are unable to find Iraq on a map; two-thirds of US voters cannot name the three branches of government; the maths skills of 15-year-olds in the US are ranked 24th out of the 29 countries of the OECD. But this merely extends the mystery: how did so many US citizens become so stupid, and so suspicious of intelligence? Susan Jacoby's book The Age of American Unreason provides the fullest explanation I have read so far. She shows that the degradation of US politics results from a series of interlocking tragedies.

One theme is both familiar and clear: religion - in particular fundamentalist religion - makes you stupid. The US is the only rich country in which Christian fundamentalism is vast and growing.»

В этой статье нет ни грамма преувеличения, между прочим. И вот эта самая феноменально ретроградная страна заведует миром. Уж на что в совке невежественные вожди были, со своим подагрическим марксизмом-ленинизмом. Может, это такое обязательное условие - чем тупее, тем сверхдержавнее?

(перевод)