Anti-intellectualism runs deep in American society. Consider the words nerd, wonk, geek, brainiac, college boy, the negative Hollywood stereotypes, etc. The Big Bang Theory is the latest incarnation of that.
My father learned to keep his book collection out of the living room.
I disagree. Citing a few labels is easy, Hollywood and popular culture have stereotypes for every kind of person. Everybody thinks they are the persecuted group. I think the opposite.
America most certainly worships intellectuals, who control public education. So starting at age 5-6 kids are brainwashed into thinking that they are 'stupid' if they can't do arithmetic in their head, or remember all the inane rules of the english language in their writing or what have you. It is ingrained into their skulls that if they don't go to college and take out loans to get what is basically now a glorified high school diploma++ they are failures.
If you are having a conversation with someone and they ask where you went to college, and you reply that you dropped out or didn't go there is always an awkward moment. If you are making a good living or you hit it big, you are the exception. You slipped through the cracks thats all.
Don't get me wrong As someone who grew up with his nose in a book, I know you ridiculed. But getting made fun of by a bunch of insecure children/teenagers is one thing. All major modern institutions of any importance exalt the intellectual while debasing anyone who hasn't been blessed.
Check out the mania (and enormous $$$) around sports and sports figures, actors, and musicians. I can't recall a nerd ever getting an endorsement contract. The only nerd prize is the Nobel; the Oscars, Emmys, Grammies, Halls of Fame, Heisemann Trophies, etc., are for other professions.
Just for a small slice of it, the mania over the Olympics. Billions and billions of dollars, wall-to-wall TV coverage, of 2 weeks seeing who can run faster than the next.
There seems like a pretty obvious distinction here. Sports brings people together because it's something we can all understand quite easily and it's entertaining. Actors do the same thing. As do musicians. Nerds help improve our lives but do you expect wall-to-wall TV coverage of someone coding the latest app? Most viewers wouldn't be able to understand what's going on and even for most coders it wouldn't be entertaining. When it comes to the awards you've mentioned - they're setup by the very organisations the winners work for. It's not like the world is recognising someone for an achievement. It's their employers and colleagues.
I think it's largely the same everywhere in the world (it's not "American anti-intellectualism") - as an example, people in rural Syria haven't neccesarily heard about my country (Poland), but they've heard about our best footballer (Lewandowski). These fields serve as entertainment for the masses - no wonder people get more excited about it than about other stuff they don't necessarily understand or care about. Watching people sing or perform extraordinary physical feats have always (since the ancient times) moved us on a deep level.
>>All major modern institutions of any importance exalt the intellectual while debasing anyone who hasn't been blessed.
But that's a natural and important thing to do. After all they want to solve problems that require intellectual power. Also, I disagree that the intellectual ones are intellectual only because they are blessed. A lot of grit and hard work is involved that cannot be so easily sidelined. There are a whole lot other issues also involved: nurturing by parents is one, exercising one's freedom to choose is another. If someone chooses, say dancing/sport over mathematics/science, at an early age, they (and/or their parents) are depriving themselves of an opportunity to improve their intellectual prowess. They (and/or their parents) are doing themselves a disservice.
I think all the examples given to the contrary are telling. its all about exalting handfuls of people who 'got lucky' or just 'have good genes' so they get to be the modern equivalent of gladiators. They are there to distract the average joe, and its very effective.
All while, Intellectuals as a group rake in huge amounts of money and power by hooking each other up. We all 'know' that people with college educations have more credibility, respect and influence. The figures thrown around about athletes are pennies, and the token media coverage is meaningless.
As I said above athletes and musicians are the modern equivalent to gladiators. Are/were they popular? sure. But they essentially function as a distraction.
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My father learned to keep his book collection out of the living room.