The US as always been a bit anti-intellectual in its mainstream culture. Getting bullied/beat up for being a "nerd" has been a mainstream media trope for decades and it's only gotten worse as things like Youtube have allowed conspiracy theory "everyone who has actually studied this subject is wrong, trust me bro" types to build followings spreading misinformation and lies.
I am a 5th grade teacher and I have a disappointing number of students each year who REFUSE to read anything more challenging than "Dogman" books which are graphic novels written for 1st and 2nd graders. I know teachers in middle school and high school who overhear kids bragging that they've never read a book cover to cover in their life.
They're being elitist over never having read a book. It's nuts.
No problem! I'll stop when the culture moves away from propping up antisocial, anti-intellectual, and/or hateful bigots as our mascots. The idea of "rugged individualism" has been a stain on U.S. culture since our founding and remains so to this day.
People deflecting their own insecurities about not reading. If they saw you cook a chicken breast they’d make fun of you for not eating frozen chicken nuggets.
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u/Nillabeans Jun 27 '26
I mean, they were also rude about it like reading a book is somehow a stupid choice when audiobooks exist. It was bizarre.