标题: Anti-intellectualism in the U.S. 美国的反智主义 [打印本页] 作者: Interpreter 时间: 2020-10-29 09:23 标题: Anti-intellectualism in the U.S. 美国的反智主义 回帖下载完整音频及双语文档：
Anti-intellectualism.
反智主义。
Merriam-Webster defines the term as "opposing or hostile to intellectuals or to an intellectual view or approach."
韦氏词典将其定义为“反对或者敌视知识分子，或者其观点或方法”。
In today's world, it usually manifests in the shaming of people with university degrees, distrust towards experts and science, or, sometimes, just weird arguments.
Now, I didn't intentionally go for "weird things Trump supporters said" when I did the research. But there's no doubt that discussion about anti-intellectualism has soared during the Trump administration, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak on U.S. soil. The attacks on science and experts have not only been popularized, but also politicized by Washington.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is the most visible example of someone caught in the crossfire. On the one hand, he holds enough scientific authority that the Trump campaign took his words out of context in a campaign video to justify the president's handling of the pandemic. On the other, he's the target for people who oppose lockdown, refuse to wear masks and doubt the science surrounding COVID-19. There has even been "Fire Fauci" rallies held.
Christian Christensen, professor of journalism at Stockholm University, said of the Fire Fauci rally: "Anti-intellectualism will destroy the U.S." No one can blame him for saying such things. He made the comment in mid-April this year. Since then, the number of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. has rocketed. Now, close to 8 million Americans have been infected. More than 210,000 Americans have died. A White House gathering became something akin to a super-spreader event. President Donald Trump, arguably the most protected person in the country, caught the virus and was hospitalized.
Anti-intellectualism doesn't usually lead to people dying, so its danger is not always tangible. People ordinarily pay less attention to it, treat it as some kind of nuisance or outlier. Now, we are seeing its effects. COVID-19 kills. And its spread has been aided by doubting experts' intentions and holding an adversarial attitude towards science. As many countries look to resume cross-border travel, how could the U.S., with coronavirus running unchecked and experiencing a potential second wave, impact the world?
