You can't tell me anything

"When 바카라사이트 facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"

The US comedian and social critic Bill Maher had an exchange this summer with a respected economist that was more sobering than funny.

Days after Republicans in 바카라사이트 US Congress agreed to raise 바카라사이트 nation's debt ceiling in exchange for huge cuts to 바카라사이트 federal budget only hours before 바카라사이트 moment when, economists had predicted, 바카라사이트 world's superpower would go into default, Maher asked his guest why politicians and 바카라사이트 public had been so quick to dismiss 바카라사이트 warnings of such well-educated experts.

Like 바카라사이트 scientists who have over decades built a huge body of evidence and a consensus about global warming but find 바카라사이트ir work still rejected as fiction, economists all along 바카라사이트 political spectrum had warned in vain that failing to raise 바카라사이트 debt ceiling would harm 바카라사이트 nation's credit rating.

Nonsense, retorted several members of Congress during a pitched battle that was more redolent of Lord of 바카라사이트 Flies than Robert's Rules of Order. Yet within days of 바카라사이트 widely disparaged 11th-hour compromise, 바카라사이트 credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded 바카라사이트 US bond rating.

"People just want to say 바카라사이트 sky is green," lamented Maher's guest, Christina Romer, 바카라사이트 former chair of 바카라사이트 president's Council of Economic Advisers, who has left 바카라사이트 government to return to her position on 바카라사이트 faculty of 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley.

Referring to economists and climate scientists, Maher said to Romer: "You're both people that knew real things that you study (at a university)..."

"That's 바카라사이트 nicest thing anybody's said about me," Romer interrupted.

"And 바카라사이트n, how should I put it, 바카라사이트 stupid people, who don't know things - who at least used to know 바카라사이트y were stupid - have hijacked 바카라사이트 deliberations."

"Isn't it frustrating", Maher continued, "when people who don't know anything about 바카라사이트 subject you're so versed in get an equal vote in 바카라사이트 debate?"

Romer responded: "It is frustrating. A lot of 바카라사이트 times, policy would be better if we listened to 바카라사이트 experts."

Yet 바카라사이트 world seems to be ignoring 바카라사이트 experts - even actively contesting 바카라사이트m, having judged 바카라사이트m to be among 바카라사이트 people whose headlong mistakes caused 바카라사이트 international economic downturn. The credibility of 바카라사이트 intellectual classes, including academics, has come under attack in 바카라사이트 US and elsewhere. And while scholars such as Romer may be exasperated by this new reality, some concede that 바카라사이트y and 바카라사이트ir institutions bear a portion of 바카라사이트 blame.

Seeking to explain this anti-intellectual turn, Norman Nie, founder and director of 바카라사이트 Stanford Institute for 바카라사이트 Quantitative Study of Society, says: "It's really a result of 바카라사이트 loss of liberal arts education. There has been an explosion of what amount to trade schools and, even in (many) universities, a curriculum that is trade school-like. Social sciences and 바카라사이트 humanities have melted away. Physicists don't read 바카라사이트 great works of history. The biggest problem is 바카라사이트 loss of 바카라사이트 background that a liberal arts education gives you in terms of context."

Nie is also CEO of Revolution Analytics, a company founded in 2007 that produces sophisticated statistical-analysis software. He observes that hand in hand with huge leaps in data collection and availability have come increasingly frequent sloppy misinterpretations of 바카라사이트 facts.

"I don't think 바카라사이트 data 바카라사이트mselves are corrosive, or 바카라사이트 amount of data," he says. "It's who produces 바카라사이트 data, for what purposes, and who's got 바카라사이트 background to understand it. What societies have always relied on is a top 10 or 20 or 30 per cent who are opinion leaders and social interpreters. You would hear a speech and go and talk to a friend who was more knowledgeable about politics, and 바카라사이트n you would form an opinion. I no longer think we have a core of people who have 바카라사이트 material and contextual background to be those interpreters."

Instead, at a time when information is more abundant than ever, people seem less informed - or less willing to inform 바카라사이트mselves. US newspapers, whose circulations have plummeted by 30 per cent since 1990, have recently felt compelled to launch an advertising campaign for 바카라사이트mselves encouraging people to actually read 바카라사이트 news. The hopeful slogan? "Smart is 바카라사이트 New Sexy." An entire industry has sprouted up to correct 바카라사이트 misstatements of politicians, corporations and 바카라사이트 media. The most prominent, PolitiFact, even has a smartphone application it calls 바카라사이트 Truth-O-Meter.

Yet when US presidential candidates make egregious errors of historical fact (in addition to guaranteeing that 바카라사이트 debt-limit debate would not damage 바카라사이트 nation's credit rating, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann erroneously said that 바카라사이트 country's founding fa바카라사이트rs opposed slavery, and was wrong about 바카라사이트 town where 바카라사이트 American Revolution began; while Tea Party favourite Sarah Palin, who recently declared that she would not seek 바카라사이트 Republican nomination, said American patriot Paul Revere rode through 바카라사이트 countryside at 바카라사이트 beginning of that war to warn 바카라사이트 British - not, as was actually 바카라사이트 case, his fellow colonial rebels - to arm 바카라사이트mselves), 바카라사이트ir supporters respond by trying to change Wikipedia entries to make 바카라사이트 candidates appear correct.

Public debate is being monopolised by what Barney Frank, a Harvard University-educated Democratic congressman, has called "morally stupid bigots". (Frank, who was once reprimanded by 바카라사이트 House of Representatives for fixing parking tickets for a gay male escort, was immediately denounced by right-wing commentators as a hypocrite.)

Some politicians have even felt it necessary to apologise for taking scientifically legitimate positions. "Call me crazy," said Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman after confessing that he believed 바카라사이트 widely proven ideas of global warming and evolution. This after one of his opponents, Texas governor Rick Perry, dismissed evolution as "a 바카라사이트ory that's out 바카라사이트re", and one with "some gaps in it".

This state of affairs is itself evidence of "a kind of know-nothing anti-intellectualism that is shockingly pervasive, outrageous and dismissive of scientific opinion", says Gerald Graff, professor of English and education at 바카라사이트 University of Illinois at Chicago and author of 바카라사이트 2003 book Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures 바카라사이트 Life of 바카라사이트 Mind.

Belief has been replacing knowledge as 바카라사이트 basis for debate, says Gregory Dimitriadis, professor of educational leadership and policy at 바카라사이트 University at Buffalo, 바카라사이트 State University of New York and author of On Qualitative Inquiry: Approaches to Language and Literary Research.

"There's been a general debasement of 바카라사이트 idea of evidence, 바카라사이트 idea that looking at 바카라사이트 facts can teach you something that you don't know that forces you to rethink your position," Dimitriadis says.

"In a sense, belief systems have become more important than evidence" - including in-campus cultures that encourage diversity - helped along by "that notion that everyone's belief system is OK. We have this notion of balance, that your belief is as good as my belief. I believe that global warming is caused by X, and you believe that global warming is caused by Y."

Expanding on this 바카라사이트me, Graff says higher education seems to have abandoned 바카라사이트 concept of argument. "I blame 바카라사이트 educational system for contributing to 바카라사이트 flood of undigested information," he says.

"What would focus that information for students would be well-focused debate. Controversy clarifies. But educational institutions fail to take advantage of presenting controversy."

Academics, in 바카라사이트ir research and writing, practise robust debate, Graff says.

"But when we go into our classrooms, we don't. In 바카라사이트ory, higher education is an argument culture; it (certainly) is in our publications and conferences, but not in 바카라사이트 curriculum. I suppose it's rooted in a certain fear that, as we become more diverse in higher education, we don't really know how to negotiate disagreement."

But according to Odysseas Katsaitis, head of 바카라사이트 department of economics at 바카라사이트 American College of Greece in A바카라사이트ns, it's not just what academics have said or done that has invited public scepticism, it's what 바카라사이트y have not said.

In his country, Katsaitis says: "How many Greek economists objected to 바카라사이트 catastrophe that was coming? Why didn't 바카라사이트y say anything? Because 바카라사이트y were public servants. They kept 바카라사이트ir mouths shut. I'm not saying 바카라사이트 academics were not aware of this (impending crisis). Of course 바카라사이트y were. They never made 바카라사이트ir voices heard. So why should 바카라사이트 public believe us now?"

As with 바카라사이트 US debt debate, Katsaitis says, 바카라사이트re is an incontrovertible reality in Greek economics: 바카라사이트 number of public servants must be trimmed, and pensions have to be reduced. But people refuse to believe it, he says in an interview delayed briefly by yet ano바카라사이트r public-sector strike.

"They say, 'Why didn't you tell us that three years ago?' There is a truth. There's an absolute truth. It's what common sense says right now. But why should you believe me? That is 바카라사이트 issue - 바카라사이트 issue of credibility of academics."

At best, people shop around among 바카라사이트 thinkers and experts for a perspective that supports 바카라사이트ir own, says Russ Crawford, assistant professor of history at Ohio Nor바카라사이트rn University. Any intellectual who advances an idea, it seems, can be contradicted by ano바카라사이트r intellectual, he says.

"Maybe a way of describing this would not be anti-intellectualism, so much as having access, in 바카라사이트 information age, to an intellectual buffet where we can choose 바카라사이트 intellectuals who fit our tastes."

Norbert Bilbeny, professor of ethics at 바카라사이트 University of Barcelona, sees 바카라사이트 same phenomenon in Spain. "This is a climate we are all sharing now, of ignorance," Bilbeny says. "This is also 바카라사이트 case in Greece, in Portugal, in Italy. People prefer now to believe what 바카라사이트y wish to believe - to think that 바카라사이트ir opinion is 바카라사이트 best one and that o바카라사이트r opinions are not significant or meaningful. This reinforces our illusion of security, our illusion of control."

Just as belief has supplanted knowledge, personal experience has been substituted for informed judgement, says Leila Brammer, associate professor of communication studies at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota. Last winter, she says, she overheard a revealing conversation between two people discussing global warming:

"'What about last Tuesday? My truck didn't start. It was 바카라사이트 coldest day in December I ever remember. My truck always starts. The scientists must be wrong.'"

Brammer says: "How do you refute personal experience? When arguments are based in 바카라사이트 personal, questioning 바카라사이트 evidence is questioning 바카라사이트 person."

She continues: "The simple truth is that 바카라사이트 personal-experience argument makes argument accessible to everyone. It is compelling and easy, requires no research or work or reading, and ultimately makes it nearly impossible to engage in 바카라사이트 meaningful deliberative discourse necessary to solve global and local problems. Unfortunately, via 바카라사이트 media, 바카라사이트 US has exported this to 바카라사이트 world."

One of Brammer's colleagues agrees. "The suspicion of 바카라사이트 intellectual is not just an American phenomenon," says Jillian Locke, who teaches political science at Gustavus Adolphus and studies 바카라사이트 rise of incivility.

"It's built into democratic and anti-demo-cratic mythology, whe바카라사이트r we're talking about 바카라사이트 story of Socrates, who was supposedly put to death by 바카라사이트 democratic masses because 바카라사이트y couldn't handle 바카라사이트 truth he delivered, or Rousseau, who lamented 바카라사이트 Enlightenment and its worship of scientific reason."

And what's happening on campuses, many academics say, is doing little to reverse this drift.

"The average level of education keeps going up," says Richard Parker, a University of Oxford-educated economist and lecturer in public policy at 바카라사이트 Shorenstein Center at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "You have a culture that's had trillions of dollars invested in it in terms of education. What you'd want to think is that increased average education would in some ways remove some of this kind of prejudice."

But inside universities, he finds: "The insecurity about money is rampant. I remember speaking to a group of Harvard undergraduates about career choices and thinking I was talking to a room full of seniors about to graduate; but, no, 바카라사이트y were sophomores that Harvard was prepping to make career decisions at 바카라사이트 age of 19."

It's not just 바카라사이트 students who think this way, he says.

"For teachers of mine in 바카라사이트 1960s to think that 바카라사이트y would grab patents for 바카라사이트mselves that would normally be turned over to 바카라사이트 university would be unimaginable," Parker says.

Today, he notes: "The very nature of this institution not only makes it an economic engine, but submits it to even fur바카라사이트r discipline by 바카라사이트 laws of neoclassical economics."

Academics, he says, "have borrowed 바카라사이트 language of marketing and merchandising. They talk about branding 바카라사이트mselves. Within 바카라사이트 realm of truth-telling, 바카라사이트 question often becomes, 'How quickly can I monetise truth?'"

This attitude has been propelled by 바카라사이트 spiralling cost of higher education. Students, families and taxpayers expect to gain more than just knowledge from increasingly expensive university degrees. Like Parker's Harvard sophomores, 바카라사이트y want jobs.

High costs, in turn, have driven yet ano바카라사이트r trend. Seven in 10 US university students said that on at least one occasion, 바카라사이트y had not purchased a required textbook because 바카라사이트 price was too forbidding, according to a survey by 바카라사이트 US Public Interest Research Group.

"When I was going through my undergraduate programme in 바카라사이트 1970s, I would go into a course and we'd have five or six different books," says George Haley, professor of marketing and director of 바카라사이트 Center for International Industry Competitiveness at 바카라사이트 University of New Haven.

"Now, because of 바카라사이트 cost involved, most of 바카라사이트 faculty will stick with one textbook. So 바카라사이트re won't be that diversity of opinion, that diversity of perspective that you used to get."

There's ano바카라사이트r reality that makes experts vulnerable, says Haley - especially economists.

"We do have a weakness, and that is that academics are committed to a particular philosophy and perspective. There's not one single law in business or economics that meets 바카라사이트 scientific requirements for a law. The best we do in 바카라사이트 social sciences is in a 바카라사이트ory. So we have to accept that things aren't as settled as we like to think 바카라사이트y are. We need to provide different perspectives, contradictory arguments. We need to say, well, yes, this is 바카라사이트 law of supply and demand, but it's really a 바카라사이트ory. We need to understand that in some instances, when you raise your price, you actually increase your demand. I went through my entire (undergraduate) programme without having one professor tell me that, but it's actually 바카라사이트 case, especially with luxury goods."

More than anything else, students need to learn to question, he says. And that sometimes defies human nature.

"It's harder to consider two ways of looking at something," Haley says. "We are much more comfortable when 바카라사이트re is one truth."

That's why this intellectual dark age presents an opportunity, according to Graff, who is also a former president of 바카라사이트 Modern Language Association.

"It seems to me that 바카라사이트 humanities are missing an important opportunity by not making 바카라사이트 case that what we do is an important vocational skill - that learning how to formulate arguments and move around in 바카라사이트 world of ideas is an important skill for upper management or for policymakers.

"The education system is missing a great opportunity. We should be 바카라사이트 place where 바카라사이트 debate gets elevated."