Prewriting Blog #2

Prompt #2

I am choosing prompt #2 to show the connection between anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism and its effect on the American people. Through this anti-rational mindset, people lack the wherewithal to comprehend simple, logical things, adding to their anti-intellectualism. Emerson speaks about those who are not Man Thinking, but are still scholarly and this proves that not all intellectuals are rationalists. Without all of the aspects of a scholar Emerson provides, intellectuals are not rational because they lack an unbiased perspective. This culture of anti-rationalist, intellectuals and anti-intellectuals alike, has shaped America in the world that Jacoby describes in which most are dumbed down and ignorant about important issues.

The primary outcome of this essay is to show the cause of something and then its repercussions, namely on society. First, the cause must be established and then the effect must be supported and the connection must be clear.

My audience will mainly be comprised of anti-rationalists, since the majority of people are so. My objective is to broad their perspective, but not to denounce their beliefs to hopefully bring them out of their anti-rationalism into a more rational viewpoint.