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It isn't as much anti-intellectualism as it is pseudo-intelligence.
Anti-intellectualism is like "That person is reading a book! What a nerd, let's kill him!"
While pseudo-intelligence is still thinking intelligence is awesome, while believing fake science: anti-vaxxers, flat Earters, homeopathy, race theory, astrology, only 2 genders, ...
Which is more dangerous, imho. Since they pretend to be intelligent. So distinguishing between the two is harder.
I'm fine with people who really just don't know stuff. But they should really listen when you try to explain something to them.
* cough cough * flat earthers?
Anti-intellectualism stems from poor education. It's really that simple. People who aren't taught critical thinking skills aren't able to criticize what they digest properly, and so they become susceptible to propaganda and misinformation. They form their views on limited understanding and what emotionally sounds good to them. They lack the skills to verify information, understand the importance of being principled, or question why they're against intellectualism. Doing these things may sound obvious to many, but these are surprisingly hard skills for a lot of people to understand and apply consistently.
This is the reason why we have so many extremists, why so many people falling for obvious propaganda, why so many people being hypocrites and lacking the awareness as to why that is bad, why so many people who can't take criticism, why so many people not knowing how to take in new information, why so many people who can't understand simple concepts, and why so many people who think they're smart and everybody else is dumb.
The lack of critical thinking skills takes years to erode and years to build. It is very hard to set ourselves back on the right track without making strong, fundamental changes to the education system. The current drought of these skills is affecting everybody all across the political spectrum. It is true whether the anti-intellectuals are left wing, right wing, or chicken wing. It might even affect you, the reader, without realizing it. If we want the future generations to have it better, then we need to have as many people as possible push for comprehensive reforms to the education system.
Is the world anti-intellectual or anti-“know-it-all”-poindexter?
I haven’t noticed anti-intellectualism but the reject of disrespectful and bad-faith discourse.
This is probably inevitable because science has been politicized in America.
In my experience, anti-intellectualism is a yank trait, not a worldwide trait. Ask a German, or someone from Japan, for confirmation.
No.
It’s human nature to want to be the best, the most loved, the top dog. It helps to propagate the species.
If someone is smarter than you, it digs at the very core of that, and becomes a threat.
I think 'human nature' is far too broad to define in such a way, and making objective statements about it is wrong. In my opinion, the only definite thing you can say is that humans act out of self-interest (as do all living beings), but the motivation derived from it doesn't have to be destructive.