KWILCOX@AUVM.BITNET (ken wilcox) (02/08/90)
On Mon, 5 Feb 90 12:28:00 EST Steve L Vissage II said: >Did any of you see the 20/20 interview with Vaslek Havel (sp?)? For >those of you who don't know, he's the playwright who is now President >of Czechoslovakia (I think... Real swift aren't I?) Anyway, in this >interview, Barbara Walters stated that we, in America, have a fear of >intellectuals in Politics. Is this a perception you feel to be true? >Do most Americans have such a fear? If so, why? If not, what made >her think so? > >Steve L Vissage II Americans have a general distrust of professionals or intellectuals. (I am generalizing). Our political culture is based on the amateur politician, the gentleman politician. This culture has stereotyped people in the know (bureaucrats or intellectuals) as uncaring, aloof, and intransigent. They dont seem them as people with knowledge and experience. Also, the American psyche is against generational politicians, seeing them as dynastic or nepotistic (eg the 2nd Kennedy clan). This leads to little continuity of experience or even no experience in those positions which need it. Americans dislike know-it-alls but hate people in office who "dont know nothin'!" Ken Wilcox I think I think therefore I think I am