Nitwit Nation: Is America Too Dumb for Democracy?

Nitwit Nation: Is America Too Dumb for Democracy?

Most Americans are enthusiastic supporters of their own civic rights- but few bother to meet any would-be democrat/' s (or any would-be republican/' s- if you prefer) number-one responsibility: tha Contd...

Most Americans are enthusiastic supporters of their own civic rights- but few bother to meet any would-be democrat/' s (or any would-be republican/' s- if you prefer) number-one responsibility: that of keeping oneself sufficiently literate and well informed to be able to vote rationally and knowledgeably. Mountains of too-long ignored evidence show that the vast majority of our nation/' s citizens cannot possibly meet that responsibility -- that their functional literacies are so limited that our form of government can/' t accurately be called a "democracy." The word- rather- is "ochlocracy": government based on the uninformed passions and whims of the mob.

In 1988- the United States Congress mandated a massive study on adult literacy in America. Some of the nation/' s most highly esteemed testing and evaluation specialists fanned out across the country- interviewing and testing literally thousands of citizens- young and old- rich and poor- educated and not. The result- published in 1993 as "Adult Literacy in America- " showed that at least 96 percent of America/' s adults were unlikely to be able to perform tasks that one might think preposterously simple. Specifically- the study showed that only tiny percentages of us can dependably do such things as (1) read and demonstrate basic comprehension of a 1-page juror information sheet; (2) peruse and explain essential elements presented on a 1-page printed table such as one might receive at a school board meeting; or (3) explain how to solve a simple consumer arithmetic problem.

Subsequent studies (such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development /' s "Literacy in the Information Age- " published in 2000)- tend to confirm the general impression one is left with after a close reading of "Adult Literacy in America": that we as a people simply don/' t have the kinds of tool knowledge and basic skills necessary to sustain any democracy worthy of the name. In other words- as citizens- the vast majority of Americans are functionally illiterate.
"If you don/' t use it- you lose it- " the saying goes- and that/' s a major reason we/' ve come to this sorry pass: we/' re too busy doing other things to keep our minds from atrophying -- and one of those "other things" overshadows all the rest as our most villainous time thief. Let/' s do a little arithmetic. From the 24-hour day we all start with- we/' ll subtract seven hours for the abbreviated night/' s sleep that most of us get. Our workdays may be eight hours in theory- but they often go longer- and then there/' s the commute- work-related errands- etc.- so subtract another nine hours. A day/' s meals- personal hygiene- and household chores will consume about two more hours -- more if meals (including preparation- consumption- and cleanup) are permitted to last longer than 30 minutes each. A million other unpredictables (answering emails or phone calls from friends or family- soccer practice- car problems- surfing the Net- card club- a talkative neighbor -- whatever) will inevitably conspire to relieve us of a couple more. That leaves about four available hours- give or take- per weekday.

Care to guess how much TV Americans watch- on average- every day? Could it be ... four hours? Yep. In 1961- FCC Chairman Newton Minnow famously called TV a "vast wasteland." Maybe it was- maybe it is- maybe not. But let/' s leave questions of quality aside for the moment. Whether one/' s TV viewing choices are ridiculous or sublime- the arithmetic is the same: the vast quantity of television Americans watch leaves virtually no time (at least during the workweek) for anything else -- no time to read- write- or cipher anything unrelated to our jobs or maybe a favorite hobby or two. And so we become a nitwit nation- with most of its citizens comfortable operating within their own little worlds of work- family- TV- familiar social activities- and errands- but self-deprived of the time necessary to practice the art of thinking and acting like a citizen.

One wonders what our republic might be like if its constituents suddenly saw fit to struggle by on only- say- three hours of TV time per day- and gave the remaining hour to something more enlightening. If the unthinkable were to happen and we were to disengage from our tubes once in awhile- how might we best hone and exercise the essential skills we need to cast responsible ballots?
How about reading some mind-stretching books? Those who like to sentimentalize books in general tend to gush naive nonsense- and the old saying that it doesn/' t matter what you read as long as you read something is the purest idiocy. It couldn/' t possibly matter more. Americans are tremendous buyers and readers of books (on weekends- perhaps) but the dominant varieties are genre fiction and self-help books. Those may be fine for what they are- but how they/' ll strengthen the Union -- or their readers/' basic literacies -- is beyond me.

So what "should" a citizen of the republic be reading? A little bit of everything -- because in a democracy- one needs to know at least a little bit about pretty much everything. We need to read that which might make us more mentally agile and better informed about our world- be it works of science- history- economics- quality literature ... the choices are endless- and we need to say yes to as many of them as possible- as often as we possibly can. In a democracy- functional literacy demands promiscuous reading- including but certainly not limited to books.
Apart from the fact that books can disseminate essential information (which TV or the Net can- arguably- do more efficiently)- there/' s another aspect of reading them that makes our doing so essential to the health of the republic. Reading well-written books- unlike watching most TV shows or cruising through a succession of websites- demands sustained and nuanced thought. It/' s easy to spend countless hours in front of the television or on the Internet without ever having to examine an idea of any consequence for more than a few seconds- if at all. When democracy/' s working its hardest and best- it/' s a deeply involved and profoundly complicated enterprise. It requires that its practitioners focus on vexing problems- see many sides and shadings of a given question- and a find creative and satisfying solutions: precisely the kinds of mental processes one is led through over the course of most well-crafted- demanding books. Reading worthwhile books is a form of democratic calisthenics for the mind.

Simply turning off our TVs and reading the best books we can find won/' t necessarily strengthen the republic or heal the world. But it couldn/' t hurt- and our continued failure to do so is causing incalculable harm. Democracy may be what we want- but until we as a people acquire the habit of stretching our minds a whole lot further than we presently do- ochlocracy is most assuredly what we shall have.

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