In looking at a stream of online articles, via news aggregators (such as the UK NewsNow), it’s easy to get depressed about the current “culture” in the US.

I am referring in particular at how the various “climategate” and related AGW issues, and specifically the denier rants and ravings, are propagating through the the online chatter (websites, opinions, blogs, etc.)

I keep reminding myself I live in a country where only 1/4 or so of the people (as highlighted by Pew polling) accept that life forms around us evolved over time through natural selection, and so it is reasonable to expect that something as esoteric as climatology simply won’t be understood by the majority…

… but it doesn’t make me feel any better about where my country is heading.

There is a very real, and apparently growing, gap between the belief systems of groups of my fellow Americans.

This parallels other divisions in our society (wealth, language) that is growing faster than the rate of population growth (about 1% per year) itself would indicate.

I fear we will indeed turn into a nation where the marxists’ accusations have (IMO falsely) in the past characterized the US: we will have a ruling class with all the money and knowledge (and the two go together) and a large mass of workers, uneducated, illiterate, and kept docile by a diet of religion, “bread” (Cheetos ?) and circuses (WWE, NASCAR, etc.)

It was not that way in my parent’s childhood - even though poorly educated on a document level, they valued knowledge and expertise, and came from a time when owners and landlords were part of communities and, while there often were great inequalities of opportunity, the majority at least gave ascent to an ideal that could be thought of as Western Modernity, including progress through knowledge.

Populism is not new. However, the latest variant in this country seems to be highly amplified through a very powerful tool (the internet), and even more so, there appears to be powerful economic interests that see more potential (for increased wealth accumulation) in populism than progress. That latter part may be the new thing.