Anti-intellectualism

Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and the distrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism.

People who follow anti-intellectualism usually say that education and philosophy are overrated. They also say that art, literature, history, and science are impractical, politically motivated, and even contemptible human pursuits.^[1] Anti-intellectuals usually style themselves to be those who understand the common people. They see themselves as part of these common people too. They are like populists who fight against a political and academic elite. For them, educated people are a class that dominates political discourse and more advanced education while not understanding the concerns of ordinary people.

In the past, totalitarian governments have manipulated and applied anti-intellectualism to repress political dissent.^[2]  During the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) and the following dictatorship (1939 – 1975) of General Francisco Franco, the reactionary repression of the White Terror (1936 – 1945) was notably anti-intellectual, with most of the 200,000 civilians killed, being mostly the Spanish intelligents, the politically active teachers and academics, artists and writers of the deposed Second Spanish Republic (1931 – 1939). During the Cambodian Genocide (1975 – 1979), the totalitarian regime of Cambodia led by Pol Pot nearly destroyed its entire educated population.