The Last Book I Read

This past weekend the Buffalo News reported that a local theater group has lost its venue and seen its very existence threatened because they staged a play called "Polish Joke." The play apparently functions that same way that Norman Lear intended Archie Bunker to function: by exposing the ridiculousness of bigotry and prejudice by casting a spotlight on the blatant absurdity of ethnic humor. Unfortunately, certain members of the community decided that the title alone was enough to condemn the work as anti-Polish, and they successfully lobbied the group's landlord (Canisius College-- that's right a supposed institution of higher learning) to kick the group out of their theater. Needless to say, those calling for the shutdown had not seen the play-- they apparently were reacting with their "gut" feeling. Which in turn remins me of the line in the Sephen Frears directed film of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, when played main character played by John Cusack is reviewing his less-than-stellar history of relationships and comes to this conclusion: "Well, I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have @#$% for brains."

All of which is a roundabout way of introducing the key idea contained in Charles P. Pierce's excellent book, Idiot America. In it, he laments that fact that as a nation we have apparently given up on valuing reason and education to give greater, unwarranted credence to ideas that originate in the gut. Pierce argues that today, if an idea or belief is repeated often enough, and enough people buy into it, many of us are perfectly happy to acknowledge it as a truth, and let it take its place as a legitimate perspective in ongoing debates over science, education, politics, or whatever. If someone can make a little money off of this promotion of nonsense, so much the better-- that just gives it an even greater veneer of verisimilitude. Pierce compares the current situation with some historical examples, in which he notes that, as a nation, we've always had a high tolerance for cranks with wild ideas. But what's different today is the degree to which these crackpot notions become embraced and used as governing principles, not for small cults or in a momentary lapse into mass delusion, but driving serious national policy decisions and consuming massive amounts of time and energy that would be better spent on working out truly constructive answers to our problems. In many respects it's a somewhat scary read, and cases like the close-minded censorship of a local play, while a pretty minor story in and of itself, becomes emblematic of a truly disturbing trend. I hope Pierce's work gets a wider audience, but the sad fact is that people who want to think with their gut are really good at avoiding the kind of thoughtful self-examination necessary to recognize themselves in this sort of critique. The real problem is people who know better who curry favor (for political or economic benefit) with the "idiots" without offering any challenges to their way of thinking.