<![CDATA[Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas]]>

false <![CDATA[Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175880494m/569313.jpg 569313 1 Why do well-educated antiwar activists call the president of the United States “the new Hitler” and argue that the U.S. government orchestrated the September 11 attacks? Why does Al Gore believe that cars pose “a mortal threat to the security of every nation”? Why does the Princeton professor known as the father of the animal rights movement object to humans eating animals but not to humans having sex with them—and why does PETA defend that position? In other words, why do smart people fall for stupid ideas? The answer, Daniel J. Flynn reveals in Intellectual Morons, is ideology. Flynn, the author of Why the Left Hates America, shows how people can be so blinded to reality by the causes they serve that they espouse bizarre, sometimes ridiculous, and often dangerous positions. The most influential social movements have spawned ideologues who do not care whether an idea is good or bad, true or false, but only whether it can serve their cause. It is startling how many Americans—and particularly how many media, academic, and political elites—fall for bad ideas. The trouble is, their lies become institutionalized as truth, and we all suffer as a result. In Intellectual Morons, Flynn reveals: •How rabid anti-Americans simply parrot the delusional claims of a few gurus •How the environmental movement, spawned by a “scientist” whose doomsday predictions are almost always wrong, has bred fanaticism, stupidity, and dishonesty •How the hero of the animal rights crowd is a crank who promotes infanticide and euthanasia •How a scientific fraud—and pervert—launched the sexual revolution •How abortion rights activists ignore (or cover up) the fact that their matron saint advocated eugenics and concentration camps •How our universities have become hothouses of leftist ideology •How historians and journalists have airbrushed history to turn a racial separatist into a civil rights icon Filled with jaw-dropping lapses in common sense from even our most celebrated opinion leaders, Intellectual Morons is a welcome reality check for the glaring excesses of today’s political and cultural debates. "This is a sophisticated pile driver of a book, guiding us through the wiles of great luminaries of the netherworld. And such liveliness in the writing, and such erudition. I was quite fascinated by Intellectual Morons."—William F. Buckley, Jr. "Intellectual Morons is exceptionally aptly named. The thought of all that brainpower going down the intellectual drain is sad, but Daniel Flynn's description of it is hilariously on point. This is must reading."—G. Gordon Liddy "Intellectual Morons is a delight—a wonderful intellectual history of the past hundred years. Flynn ably describes the purveyors of the bad ideas that have undermined our free society."—Burton W. Folsom, Jr., professor of history, Hillsdale College "A famous bit of folk wisdom says, 'You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.' Some of the crackpot notions now fashionable in academic circles, as here documented by Daniel Flynn, suggest that saying is an understatement. If you want to know how crazy, and scairy, intellectual morons can get, you have to read this book."—M. Stanton Evans, author of The Theme Is Freedom, contributing editor to Human Events 556367 2004 Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas total:18|5:3|4:8|3:6|2:1|1:0| 18 67 37 2 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Sep 14 15:20:30 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 15:20:56 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 06 17:43:35 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 17:44:24 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Nov 22 18:12:47 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 18:12:47 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Sep 08 15:11:04 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 15:11:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 27 17:37:58 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 17:37:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 27 16:18:49 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 16:18:49 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jul 23 20:15:36 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 20:15:36 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jun 24 08:41:36 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 08:41:36 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jun 13 21:10:47 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 21:11:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu May 14 15:21:24 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 15:21:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Apr 12 20:16:26 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 12 20:16:26 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Mar 11 09:31:21 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 09:31:21 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 06 18:30:34 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 18:30:34 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jan 17 09:07:43 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 09:07:48 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Dec 06 23:01:51 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 06 23:01:51 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Oct 23 15:49:55 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 15:49:55 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri Oct 17 07:45:54 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 23:56:18 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Thu Sep 25 15:43:44 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 25 15:43:44 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Tue Sep 09 10:47:42 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 10:47:42 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Sep 09 09:56:55 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 09:56:55 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=569313