I noticed this myself as a teenager, with of all things, the popularity of Jeff Foxworthy and his whole “redneck” shtick. He glorified idiocracy and people reveled in being uneducated and just ignorant of everything. They would proudly wear shirts (or other merch) proclaiming it.
And I know it’s not the thing that turned the US towards anti-intellectualism, but it’s a time that sticks out to me still as something I can look back at as a visible manifestation of that shift.
I noticed this myself as a teenager, with of all things, the popularity of Jeff Foxworthy and his whole “redneck” shtick. He glorified idiocracy and people reveled in being uneducated and just ignorant of everything. They would proudly wear shirts (or other merch) proclaiming it.
And I know it’s not the thing that turned the US towards anti-intellectualism, but it’s a time that sticks out to me still as something I can look back at as a visible manifestation of that shift.