RWorld's current post, which deplored the marginalization of facts in modern culture, prompted me to write a comment that referenced the minimal educational backgrounds of right wing spokesmen Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. My point was that if you don't know facts or been taught by education to honor them, you really don't care about them. Today, I will build on that idea by comparing the educational backgrounds of major cable news commentators.
On the right, we have Glenn Beck (no college), Rush Limbaugh (2 unsuccessful semesters), Sean Hannity (dropped out of two colleges) and Bill Cunningham (no reported education) as the minimalists. Going up the ladder, we have Bill O'Reilly (2 masters degrees) and Michael Savage (2 masters and a PhD in scientific majors).
On the left, we have Keith Olberman (entered Cornell at age 16 and graduated), Wolf Blitzer (MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins), and Rachel Maddow (PhD in politics from Oxford University). One of my favorites, Stephanie Miller, has a degree from USC. The much-maligned Christiane Amanpour graduated summa cum laude from the Univ. of Rhode Island.
In the populist arena, Lou Dobbs graduated from Harvard University.
So, there you have it... almost proof positive that the less education you possess, the louder you have to shout and the more you need to communicate your opinions through character assassination. Michael Savage is a major exception, but his hate comes from being an arrogant high achiever who nobody wanted around.
I'd be the last to say that the liberals never stray from facts, but at least they've been exposed to more of them than those right wingers who are crusading to dumb down America. And, if you doubt me about them loving the dumb, just remember that they adored the last Bush until his administration, and the economy, imploded.
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3 comments:
I'd look at the contenders as an education push. I've not yet read Ron's post, I'll visit after this.
If you add Presidents to the mix you get the same tie. Bush at Yale. Clinton and Clinton same place, one more degree. Bush the First, Yale again. Reagan I think lowers the curve without Googling. Carter, the Naval Acadamey. Ford, University of Michigan. Nixon ?. LBJ nothing special. JFK Harvard. Ike, West Point? Truman, nothing much. FDR a blueblood, I think a president of a university earlier in his life.
I know a bunch of people without an education that are smart, self-educationally and functionally. They have the same thing in common that traditional-educationally smart people have - they want to know and take the steps needed to know.
I forgot to add Obama at Harvard - it doesn't change my push.
Your conservatives would say that the universities are the place of brainwashing - of course the independent voices are largely unsullied.
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