1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Claudia Cragg (@KGNUClaudia for @KGNU) speaks here with Susan Jacoby&amp;nbsp;about her new book, “The Age of American Unreason,” in which she asserts that “America is now ill with a powerful mutant strain of intertwined ignorance, anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism.” For more than a decade, Jacoby says, there have been growing symptoms of this affliction, from fundamentalist assaults on the teaching of evolution to the Bush administration’s willful disavowal of expert opinion on&amp;nbsp;global warming&amp;nbsp;and strategies for prosecuting the war in Iraq. Conservatives have turned the term “intellectual,” like the term “ liberal,” into a dirty word in politics (even though neo-conservative intellectuals played a formative role in making the case for war against Iraq); policy positions tend to get less attention than personality and tactics in the current presidential campaign; and the democratizing influence of the Internet is working to banish expertise altogether, making everyone an authority on everything.&amp;nbsp; Susan Jacoby is the author of eleven previous books, including Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism and Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion.&amp;nbsp;Her articles have appeared frequently in the op-ed pages of The New York Times and in forums…&amp;nbsp;More about Susan Jacoby ChatChat - Claudia Cragg http://ccragg123.libsyn.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6344036/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/19507679