[转载-美国] 反智主义和越发“木讷”的美国人 译文来源:龙腾网 HTTP://WWW.LTAAA.COM龙腾网 ltaaa -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ by Ray B. Williams 作者：Ray B. Williams There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It’s the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility. 如今美国文化中有一种日益上升的趋势让人不免感到忧虑：反智精英主义。它表现在轻视自然科学、艺术和人文科学，转而投向娱乐、自以为是、无知以及刻意轻信。 Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, says in an article in the Washington Post,Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture; a disjunction between Americans rising level of formaleducation and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.译文来源:龙腾网 HTTP://WWW.LTAAA.COM 《美国的非理性时代》一书的作者，苏珊•雅克比在一篇发表于《华盛顿邮报》的文章中提到：根据已故参议员丹尼尔帕特里克莫伊尼汉的意思，近十年来“木讷”的定义越发贬义。造成这一现象的原因是迄今为止的各种不可抗力，包括视频文化对印刷文化的胜利，美国上升的正规教育水平和美国人在地理、自然科学、历史方面薄弱的基本常识相背离，以及反理性主义与反智主义的相融合。 There has been a long tradition of anti-intellectualism in America, unlike most other Western countries. Richard Hofstadter, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his book, Anti-Intellectualism In American Life, describes how the vast underlying foundations of anti-elite, anti-reason and anti-science has been infused into America’s political and social fabric. Famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said: There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. 与其他西方国家不同，美国的反智主义由来已久。理查德•霍夫施塔特，因《美国生活中的反智主义》一书获得1964年普利策奖的作者，在书中讲述了美国社会中存在反精英、反理性和反科学的巨大底层基础，并且已经将这些思想灌输到了美国的政治和社会结构中。著名的科幻小说家艾萨克•阿西莫夫曾说过：“在美国有一种对无知的崇拜，这种情况一直持续着。反智主义的压力已经像坚韧的针线一般缠绕在我们的政治与文化生活中，而给予它支持的则是一种错误的观念，即民主便意味着我的无知与你的博学是一样优秀的。” -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ Mark Bauerlein, in his book, The Dumbest Generation, reveals how a whole generation of youth are being dumbed down by their aversion to reading anything of substance and their addiction to digital crap via social media. 马克•鲍尔莱因，著有《最愚蠢的一代》，该书指出由于新一代年轻人对实质阅读的厌恶以及对社会媒体所推荐的数码“垃圾”的沉迷，导致了这整一代人的愚蠢。 Journalist Charles Pierce, author of Idiot America, adds another perspective: “The rise of idiot America today represents--for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power--the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good. It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people whom we should trust the least are the people who best know what they are talking about. In the new media age, everybody is an expert.” 记者查尔斯•皮尔斯，《白痴美国》的作者，为我们提供了一个新观点：白痴美国的出现，表现在求学有益这一共识的瓦解，原因主要有对利益的追求，还有更讽刺的是为享有政治优势而对权力的追逐。（白痴美国的出现）也表现在一种观念的强势，即那些我们最不该信任的人最清楚地知道自己在说什么。在新媒体时代，人人都是专家。 “There’s a pervasive suspicion of rights, privileges, knowledge and specialization,” says Catherine Liu, the author of American Idyll: Academic Antielitism as Cultural Critique and a film and media studies professor at University of California. The very mission of universities has changed, argues Liu. “We don’t educate people anymore. We train them to get jobs.” 《美国牧歌：学术反精英主义的文化批判》的作者，加州大学电影和媒体研究学教授凯瑟琳•刘说：“现在人们对于权利、特权、知识、专业化存在着普遍的质疑。”她说如今大学所被赋予的特殊使命已经发生改变。“我们不再以育人为目标，我们所作的只是为公司培养了一个雇员。” -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ Part of the reason for the rising anti-intellectualism can be found in the declining state of education in the U.S. compared to other advanced countries: 反智主义抬头的部分原因可归结为美国的教育水平相较于其他发达国家有所下滑： After leading the world for decades in 25-34 year olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12th place. The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly 50% of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are foreigners, most of whom will be returning to their home countries; The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. A surprising 77% didnt know that George Washington was the first President; couldnt name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence; and only 2.8% of the students actually passed the citizenship test. Along similar lines, the Goldwater Institute of Phoenix did the same survey and only 3.5% of students passed the civics test; According to the National Research Council report, only 28% of high school science teachers consistently follow the National Research Council guidelines on teaching evolution, and 13% of those teachers explicitly advocate creationism or intelligent design; 18% of Americans still believe that the sun revolves around the earth, according to a Gallup poll; The American Association of State Colleges and Universities report on education shows that the U.S. ranks second among all nations in the proportion of the population aged 35-64 with a college degree, but 19th in the percentage of those aged 25-34 with an associate or high school diploma, which means that for the first time, the educational attainment of young people will be lower than their parents; 74% of Republicans in the U.S. Senate and 53% in the House of Representatives deny the validity of climate change despite the findings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and every other significant scientific organization in the world; According to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 68% of public school children in the U.S. do not read proficiently by the time they finish third grade. And the U.S. News & World reported that barely 50% of students are ready for college level reading when they graduate; According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it not at all important to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it very important; According to the National Endowment for the Arts report in 1982, 82% of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later only 67% did. And more than 40% of Americans under 44 did not read a single book--fiction or nonfiction--over the course of a year. The proportion of 17 year olds who read nothing (unless required by school ) has doubled between 1984-2004; Gallup released a poll showing 42 percent of Americans still believe God created human beings in their present form less than 10,000 years ago; A 2008 University of Texas study found that 25 percent of public school biology teachers believe that humans and dinosaurs inhabited the earth simultaneously. 美国25至34岁公民拥有大学学历的人数多年来稳居世界第一，现如今已滑落至第12位。2010年达沃斯世界经济论坛进行的各国大学高数和理科教学质量排名，美国在139个国家中排在第52位。近半数的美国在校理科研究生来自海外，他们中的大多数有归国意向。俄克拉何马州公共事务委员会对公立学校学生进行了一次公民教育调查，得出的结果令人震惊。有77%的受访者不知道乔治•华盛顿是开国总统；说不出《独立宣言》作者托马斯•杰斐逊的名字；只有2.8%的受访学生通过了公民身份测试。相似的是，凤凰城的戈德华特研究所做过同样的调查，得到的通过率也仅有可怜的3.5%，根据国家研究委员会的调查报告，只有28%的中学理科教师坚定遵循应向学生讲授进化论的国家研究委员会指导方针，有13%的教师明确表示对神造论和“智慧设计论”的拥护。盖洛普一项民调显示，18%的美国人仍然以为太阳是围着地球转的。美国州立大学与学院协会关于教育的报告指出，美国35至64岁年龄段公民中拥有大学学历的比例在所有国家中排名第2，但25至34岁年龄段公民中拥有专科学历或是中学文凭的比例则排到了第19位，也就是说，这是有史以来第一次出现年轻人受教育程度低于他们父辈的现象。尽管国家科学院和其他世界上主要科学研究机构在气候变化问题上取得了许多重要发现，但在共和党内部仍有74%的参议员和53%众议员拒绝承认这一事实。根据2009年美国国家教育进展评估的结果，68%的公立学校学生在读完三年级后还是无法进行流畅的阅读。《美国新闻与世界报道》杂志报道提到，仅50%的高中生在毕业时已经达到能接受大学教育的水平。根据National Geographic-Roper（这个不会翻）2006年进行的一项调查显示，近半数18至24岁的美国人对世界上一些焦点地区在地图上的位置显得漠不关心。超过1/3的人觉得是否掌握一门外语一点都不重要，只有14%的人觉得很有必要。国家艺术基金会1982年的报告显示，82%的大学毕业生会在闲暇时阅读小说或是诗歌，20年后这一比例下降至67%。超过40%的44岁以下美国人一年中没有完整阅读过一本书，不管是小说还是非小说类纪实作品。1984至2004年间，17岁学生从不阅读（除非学校强制）的比例是之前的两倍。盖洛普公布的一项调查结果显示，42%的美国人坚持认为上帝在几千年前创造了现在的人类。德州大学2008年进行的一项研究发现25%的公立学校生物老师相信有段时间人类和恐龙曾同时生活在地球上。 -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ In American schools, the culture exalts the athlete and good-looking cheerleader. Well-educated and intellectual students are commonly referred to in public schools and the media as nerds, dweebs, dorks, and geeks, and are relentlessly harassed and even assaulted by the more popular jocks for openly displaying any intellect. These anti-intellectual attitudes are not reflected in students in most European or Asian countries, whose educational levels have now equaled and and will surpass that of the U.S. And most TV shows or movies such as The Big Bang Theory depict intellectuals as being geeks if not effeminate. 在美国校园文化里，备受推崇的总是运动员和美貌的啦啦队长。受过良好教育的聪明学生在公立学校中和媒体上则被叫做“书呆子”、“笨蛋”、“呆瓜”和“怪胎”，还会因为展现出自己的聪明才智而招致校内“体育明星”不断的骚扰甚至是攻击。这些反智思想在绝大多数欧洲和亚洲国家并不存在，如今这些国家的教育水平已经与美国持平而且还有超过美国的趋势。诸如《生活大爆炸》一类的许多电视节目和电影把知识分子描绘成了不是娘娘腔就是怪胎。 John W. Traphagan ,Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas, argues the problem is that Asian countries have core cultural values that are more akin to a cult of intelligence and education than a cult of ignorance and anti-intellectualism. In Japan, for example, teachers are held in high esteem and normally viewed as among the most important members of a community. There is suspicion and even disdain for the work of teachers that occurs in the U.S. Teachers in Japan typically are paid significantly more than their peers in the U.S. The profession of teaching is one that is seen as being of central value in Japanese society and those who choose that profession are well compensated in terms of salary, pension, and respect for their knowledge and their efforts on behalf of children. 德州大学宗教研究教授约翰 W. 特拉福甘认为，亚洲国家核心文化价值观更接近于智力崇拜、教育崇拜，与之形成对比的是美国盛行的无知崇拜与反智主义。例如日本，教师很受尊敬，也被认为是社区中最重要的成员之一。在美国，教师这个职业常遭质疑甚至是鄙视。尤其在薪水这一块日本教师的所得明显高于他们的美国同行。日本社会将教师职业置于核心地位，选择教师作为职业的人们在薪水、退休金能得到较好的回报，因为拥有丰富的学识和一心为学生着想的职业道德，他们收获的还有来自社会对他们的敬意。 -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ In addition, we do not see in Japan significant numbers of the types of religious schools that are designed to shield children from knowledge about basic tenets of science and accepted understandings of history--such as evolutionary theory or the religious views of the Founding Fathers, who were largely deists--which are essential to having a fundamental understanding of the world, Traphagan contends. The reason for this is because in general Japanese value education, value the work of intellectuals, and see a well-educated public with a basic common knowledge in areas of scientific fact, math, history, literature, etc. as being an essential foundation to a successful democracy. 另外，特拉福甘辩称，日本也没有数量庞大的教会学校。教会学校阻碍了学生了解科学基本原则和接受历史常识，像进化论或是自然神论信仰者的开国元勋们的宗教观点，这些（科学基本原则和历史常识）是认知世界的基础。（日本没有出现大量教会学校）的原因是因为日本重视教育、尊重知识分子的工作，并把在科学事实、数学、历史、文学等方面受过良好教育的公民作为成功民主的必备基础 We’re creating a world of dummies. Angry dummies who feel they have the right, the authority and the need not only to comment on everything, but to make sure their voice is heard above the rest, and to drag down any opposing views through personal attacks, loud repetition and confrontation. 我们则是一个把公民教成傻瓜的国家。愤怒的笨蛋觉得他们有权力、有权威也有这个必要去对每件事发表意见，而且他们的声音一定要盖过其他人，如果有人有异议就通过人身攻击、反复强调自己的想法、和针锋相对把他们打压下去。 -------------译者：文所未闻-审核者：文所未闻------------ Bill Keller, writing in the New York Times argues that the anti-intellectual elitism is not an elitism of wisdom, education, experience or knowledge. The new elite are the angry social media posters, those who can shout loudest and more often, a clique of bullies and malcontents baying together like dogs cornering a fox. Too often it’s a combined elite of the anti-intellectuals and the conspiracy followers – not those who can voice the most cogent, most coherent response. Together they ferment a rabid culture of anti-rationalism where every fact is suspect; every shadow holds a secret conspiracy. Rational thought is the enemy. Critical thinking is the devil’s tool. 比尔凯勒在《纽约时报》上写道，反智的精英主义并非智慧、教育、经验和知识的精英主义。新的精英就是社交媒体上愤怒的发帖者，他们更加经常的发出自己的声音，他们是地痞和不满现状者，像围住一只狐狸的狗一样一起嚎叫。一般来说他们是反智主义者和阴谋追随者的精英集合体——他们并非那些能发出最强有力、最清晰声音的人。他们在一起构建了一种反理性主义的偏激文化，怀疑任何的事实；任何一个影子都是一个隐蔽的阴谋。理性思维是他们的敌人。批判性思维是恶魔的把戏。 Keller also notes that the herd mentality takes over online; the anti-intellectuals become the metaphorical equivalent of an angry lynch mob when anyone either challenges one of the mob beliefs or posts anything outside the mob’s self-limiting set of values. 凯勒还提到说从众心理将网络占据；如果有人胆敢挑战他们的信仰或者在网上发布的内容叛离了反智者用于自我限制的价值观念的话，那么反智主义者简直就变成了愤怒的私刑暴徒。 -------------译者：文所未闻-审核者：文所未闻------------ Keller blames this in part to the online universe that “skews young, educated and attentive to fashions.” Fashion, entertainment, spectacle, voyeurism – we’re directed towards trivia, towards the inconsequential, towards unquestioning and blatant consumerism. This results in intellectual complacency. People accept without questioning, believe without weighing the choices, join the pack because in a culture where convenience rules, real individualism is too hard work. Thinking takes too much time: it gets in the way of the immediacy of the online experience. 凯勒将此部分的归咎于网络世界，因为在网络上，年轻人，受教育的人以及专注的人被时髦之物所吸引。时尚，娱乐，看头，窥阴癖等等， 我们在网络上被指引去看这些琐碎的，不重要的内容，还有不加疑问的、喧嚣的消费主义。这导致智力上的自满。人们不加疑问的接受，不加选择的接受，人们喜欢随波逐流，因为真正的个人主义太难了。思考太浪费时间了：在网络世界里，思考是一只拦路虎。 Reality TV and pop culture presented in magazines and online sites claim to provide important information about the importance of the Housewives of [you name the city] that can somehow enrich our lives. After all, how else can one explain the insipid and pointless stories that tout divorces, cheating and weight gain? How else can we explain how the Kardashians, or Paris Hilton are known for being famous for being famous without actually contributing anything worth discussion. The artificial events of their lives become the mainstay of populist media to distract people from the real issues and concerns facing us. 呈现在杂志和网站上的真人秀和流行文化声称可以为我们提供丰富我们生活的重要信息。我们要如何解释这种兜售离婚，欺骗和增肥的平淡无趣的故事？我们要如何解释卡戴珊和希尔顿这些人因为有名而出名，他们根本就没有值得讨论的贡献。她们生活中那些肤浅的事件成了平民主义者媒体报道的主要对象，目的是为了将人们的注意力从我们真正需要面对的问题上转移开来。 The current trend of increasing anti-intellectualism now establishing itself in politics and business leadership, and supported by a declining education system should be a cause for concern for leaders and the general population, one that needs to be addressed now. 目前反智主义不断加强自己在政治商业领域的地位，而且受到了没落的教育系统的支持，这样的趋势应该引起领导人和大众的关注，并且需要采取措施来解决。 评论翻译 -------------译者：三变ps-审核者：文所未闻------------ Life amongst the proud dumb dumbs Submitted by CuriousJ on July 7, 2014 - 5:48am.译文来源:龙腾网HTTP://WWW.LTAAA.COM I couldnt agree more and cant help but say that I would be happier if I had a dollar for every time someone told me: you READ too much; you THINK too much; you have too much TIME on your hands. 骄傲而又沉默的傻瓜们的生活，Submitted by CuriousJ on July 7, 2014 - 5:48am. 我真是太同意了，我忍不住想说，如果每次别人跟我说“你读书太多了”，“你想的太多了”，“你有太多时间可以自己支配了”时能给我一美元的话，我会更开心的。 Like, what am I supposed to do, dig a ditch, play Angry Birds (which was given for FREE!)rather than read a book? 我该做些什么？挖条排水沟，或者玩愤怒的小鸟（这个是免费的！）而不是去读一本书。 I browsed a People magazine once and read the copy that went with the photos. For example: a celebrity couple on a roller coaster in a theme park, they were laughing and holding hands WOW! Duh! Theyre at an AMUSEMENT PARK, hardly a revelation! 我曾浏览了一本《人物》杂志和照片复印件。列如：一对明星夫妻在一个主题公园坐过山车，他们笑着、手牵手”哇!废话，他们是在游乐园里，这根本算不上是一个发现。译文来源:龙腾网 HTTP://WWW.LTAAA.COM You are right, these times are producing the most vapid, uncurious people who just dont want to go there. Which is, WHERE? 你是对的。这些时间只会产生一些最无聊最乏味的人，他们“只是不想去哪里。”哪一个？在哪里？ -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ Having taught for years in Submitted by GJ on July 7, 2014 - 6:06pm. Having taught for years in Japan I agree with what you said about how teaching and education is viewed there, but disagree with the bit about how the Japanese see a well-educated public with a basic common knowledge in areas of scientific fact, math, history, literature, etc. as being an essential foundation to a successful democracy, the problem being history, in particular the truth about WWII. There is an ongoing battle in Japan over the approved history textbooks for secondary schools. Most Japanese people still dont know much about what happened. On the day that commemorates the end of WWII, the Japanese news media marks the occasion by running stories on how much Japanese people suffered during the war. History is a touchy subject over there. 在日本教过几年书，我同意本文作者对日本教育的观点，但是文章里的这句话“日本重视教育、尊重知识分子的工作，并把在科学事实、数学、历史、文学等方面受过良好教育的公民作为成功民主的必备基础”我并不完全同意，问题就出在‘历史’这儿，尤其是关于二战的真相。在日本国内，官方修订中学历史课本引发的争论从来没有停止过。绝大多数日本人仍然不清楚二战中到底发生了什么。在二战胜利纪念日的这一天，日本的新闻媒体会用连载故事的形式讲述日本人民在这次战争中所遭遇的痛苦。 历史在日本是个敏感的话题。 -------------译者：时间段基地-审核者：寒灯独夜人------------ ah, but... Submitted by James on July 7, 2014 - 8:50pm. Lets not forget one of the major strains of anti-scientism and anti-rationalism in American life - namely, left-wing post-modernist thought. 可别忘了美国社会中反科学主义和反理性主义中的一支主要力量，也就是左翼后现代主义思想。 After all, fundamentalist Christians do not deny that there are truths that we can know. The there is no truth, everything is subjectivity brigade has done unimaginable harm to intellectual life in the West, as was their intent. 毕竟，原教旨主义基督教徒并不否认那些我们可以知道的事实。‘没一点是真的’‘一切都是主观的’之类的言论大军已经给西方精神生活造成了不可想象的伤害，这就是他们的目的。 People like Freud and the members of the Frankfurt School admitted to trying to undermine Western culture. They have been so successful that cultural marxism infests our universities, in which social science has been reduced to lived experience narratives of post-colonialist post-marxist experience. 弗洛伊德和法兰克福学派的成员们承认曾进行过动摇西方文化的尝试。他们的尝试一度十分成功，文化方面的马克思主义思想扰乱了我们的大学，社会科学沦为后殖民主义后马克思主义体验的生活体验叙述手法。 East asians and others who are succeeding in science and math have no interest in this drek, which is why they make up the bulk of students in STEM fields. Domestic white kids are no longer competitive, because of the brainwashing. 东亚人和其他群体在科学和数学领域之所以如此成功是因为他们对那些垃圾思想没兴趣，所以他们在科学，技术，工程，数学（STEM代表Science、Technology、Engineering、Mathematics）领域培养了许多优秀的学生。国内的白人孩子竞争力下降，因为他们接受的是洗脑教育。 -------------译者：文所未闻-审核者：文所未闻------------ Hogwash 废话 （回楼上） Submitted by Anonymous on November 11, 2014 - 2:10pm. 匿名提交 2014-11 2:10pm. That is absolute nonsense, and even if it were true, that wouldnt actually stop anyone from pursuing STEM fields if they wanted to. Your bizarre disdain for the Liberal Arts and your dismissal of Social Sciences as brainwashing is hilarious. If you had a better understanding of Social Science, you wouldnt think we lived in a Sociological vacuum. People do not enter school, even primary school, as black slates free of any and all influence. They are already, at least partially, aware of how a society functions and of their place in it. And if they are not, they learn pretty quickly. Social Sciences, if we wanted to put it in the terms you like, is not brainwashing, its deprogramming. It is learning that not everything you have been taught to be true is true and that your experience isnt the universal and only. Maybe if more people understood that wed live in a better world. 存粹是胡说八道，就算那是真的，那也无法阻止任何人继续追求科学技术工程数学领域的教育。你匪夷所思的鄙视文科，并认为社会科学就是用来洗脑的，这真是令人捧腹。如果你更好的了解社会科学，你就不会认为我们生活在社会学真空里。人们不去学校接受教育，甚至不上小学，是因为他们已经意识到社会是如何运作的，以及他们在社会中的位置。如果他们还没意识到，那他们也学得很快。社会科学并非洗脑学，而是解洗脑。社会科学所要告知我们的是并非你之前所认为的真相都是真相，而且你的经验并非是通用和唯一的。如果有更多人理解了这一点的话，或许我们的世界会变得更加美好。 On the other side 另一方面 Submitted by Rolf Degen on July 7, 2014 - 10:19pm. 提交于Rolf Degen 2014-7 10:19pm. The fact that liberals tend to believe in climate change has nothing to do with their acceptance of or love for science. They only believe in this because it seems to prove their anticapitalistic sentiments (Capitalism is destroying the world). For this reason, they desperately want climate change to be true, even if it destroys the globe - but with them being right. Liberals hastily leave the principles of science if it suits their sentiments, like with their hatred for GMO or their anti vaccine shit. 虽然自由主义者相信气候变化的说法，但是这并不能说明他们接受或者热爱科学。他们之所以相信气候变化的论调是因为这有利于他们的反对资本主义的立场（“资本主义正在毁灭世界”）。由此，他们非常希望气候变化是真的，即使这会毁灭世界。而只要离开科学有利于他们，他们也会义无反顾的抛弃科学，比如他们对转基因的憎恨或者他们的反疫苗言论。
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 09:20:53 +0000
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