The Immature and Impractical Roots of Progress

The English recently decided to revisit a decision they made twenty years ago not to invest in an astronaut training program. At the time, they didn't see the point. Now, however, they fear that they will be left behind.

And so I was thinking recently about the English and American desires for expansion and exploration, but being very different cultures, even from soon after their sundering, I realized those desires spring from very different sources.

The English have sought new lands, throughout their history, for practical and pragmatic reasons - tea, sugar cane, slaves, world dominance.

Americans, however, pursue the unknown merely for its own sake. Space exploration? Why? It is unlikely that we will find anything that it will be cost-effective to develop. So then, one must take note that the greatest state in the world, the one who leads the way in so many actions (good and bad) always does so out of its own poorly thought through and pointless quests for discovery.

That's all I have to say.

Those Evil Intellectuals

I have noticed a curiosity among Americans that both intigues and irritates me... there seems to be a general disregard for, distrust of, and even animosity toward those whom we might call "intellectuals." Take, for example, the last presidential race - Americans, in general, were intimidated and put off by the (albeit uptight and removed) rational, intelligent candidate. And much earlier, a large reason the prior president won was because he hid his intellect, and appealed to the "common man."

Or, to draw upon a less controversial example, the questionable heroic nature of a character such as Batman - the thinker. We do not wholly believe that he is good, because his strength lies not in what we can see, but in what only he knows - his own mind.


Now, I must ask, why does the common man have to be uneducated and ignorant? Why is it not a matter of pride among Americans to have knowledge for its own sake? Why are those with "book smarts" treated with disdain, as if their expertise is useless or pointless?