It might be time to listen to ‘eggheads’

Growing up in a small farming town near here, I well remember the disdain directed toward “eggheads;” those educated people who ostensibly thought they were better than the blue-collar farmers and laborers who constituted the majority of the population. There were, of course, a few lawyers, doctors, and teachers who were educated beyond high school, but, in the main, almost no one there had more than a basic education.

There was an underlying sense of distrust about those who were educated. The educated residents generally had occupations that could not have been performed by those who were minimally educated. They frequently drove better cars and lived in nicer homes than “regular” people, as well. Even though the educated residents of the town did not display a blatant air of superiority, there was, nevertheless, a vague suspicion on the part of the less-educated that they were being looked at with an attitude of condescension. The intellectual domain of people with education was also viewed with suspicion, and science-based facts were often considered somehow bogus.

Still today, for many minimally educated folks, areas of scientific knowledge are suspect. Witness how, despite ample evidence to the contrary, factual information related to the current coronavirus pandemic is, by some, rejected out of hand. Some people would rather believe our foolish president is correct when he says, “It’s just going to disappear,” than accept the consensus of “eggheads” that it’s going to get worse and we’re in very serious trouble.

— Michael Herman, Chico