Idiot America

March 30, 2009
Journalist Pierce delivers a rapier-sharp rant on how the America of “Franklin and Edison, Fulton and Ford” has devolved into America “the Uninformed,” where citizens hostile to science are exchanging “fact for fiction, and faith for reason,” and glutting themselves on “reality” TV and conspiracy theories. Pierce makes no apologies for his liberal bias, and some conservatives—notably evolution opponents and Rush Limbaugh—endure a good deal of bashing. Pierce writes that in the U.S., “Fact is merely what enough people believe, and truth lies only in how fervently they believe it.” He supports his thesis with references to James Madison and other founding fathers, who may have foreseen and rued the emergence of “cranks” who would threaten the Enlightenment-based nation they were shaping. Although the book is not likely to win any converts from the right wing Pierce so energetically decries, it is an engaging catalogue of those unscientifically verified “truths” that enthrall and impassion millions of Americans.

June 1, 2009
Pierce (writer-at-large, "Esquire") begins by relating his visit to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, during which he sees on display a dinosaur wearing a saddle. That outlandish sight leads him to consider other examples of irrationality taking the place of reason in America, as he examines talk radio, denials of global warming and evolution, the war in Iraq, Sarah Palin, the case of Terry Schiavo, etc. With droll prose and an appreciation for irony, Pierce skewers what he sees as America's lamentable embrace of idiocy, and he illustrates how it has thrown us perilously off balance. He contrasts the ubiquitous ignorance and gullibility of today's body politic with the thoughts of James Madison, who heralded common sense, knowledge, and experience as virtues. VERDICT Pierce contends that the founding fathers (men of the Enlightenment) properly guaranteed a place in society for cranks to be able to champion eccentric ideas, but now any crank who can draw attention to himself using mass media is viewed as an expert while genuine authorities are not trusted. Intelligence is discounted and gut reactions hold sway, or, as Pierce maintains: "Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is measured by how fervently they believe it." Recommended.Donna L. Davey, NYU Lib.

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