Anti-intellectualism: Dude, Can We Talk About the Political and Economic State of the World Right Now?

It usually starts with a joke. 

Someone points out a detail, usually it is an English professor —- a color choice in a novel, the depiction of the only black character, the way someone phrases a sentence — and the class grows silent. 

“Not everything has a deeper meaning,” the students say after class is over. “Sometimes the curtains are just blue.”

The phrase “nothing is that deep” has become a cultural reflex. A quick dismissal of complexity, emotion or meaning. It signals a preference for comfort over critical thought and the surface-level over substance. It’s an evolving mindset, and it’s more dangerous than it seems.

In the American sphere, it’s difficult to find issues which aren’t shaped by systemic problems, deep historical context and emotional nuance. Very little isn’t deep.

At its best, “nothing is that deep” discourages people from asking “why”. The phrase dismisses why a group of people are left out of a narrative, a cultural symbol evokes discomfort or if a policy disproportionately impacts a certain group. 

At its worst, “nothing is that deep” may be a sign fascism is closer than we once thought. 

In education, this ideology echoes a broader trend: the rise of anti-intellectualism.

The erosion of critical thinking isn’t new, but it’s accelerating with the dependency on artificial intelligence. When complexity is framed as pretentious or unnecessary, curiosity is replaced with complacency.

If history truly does repeat itself, anti-intellectualism and the push towards skepticism of experts isn’t a good sign. 

In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler’s most critical aim was indoctrinating the youth. To do this, the Nazi party would attempt to “de-intellectualize” education. They changed the curriculum of schools across Germany to limit questions or citizens thinking for themselves.

What does it mean when education is no longer a safe place to ask meaningful, deeper questions?

Jason Stanley, professor at the University of Toronto who left America due to his fear of encroaching fascism, said this push towards anti-intellectualism is one of the ten pillars of fascist politics in his book “How Fascism Works.”

Fascists will inevitably “represent more complex narratives as corrupting and dangerous,” according to Stanley. 

The United States Government is creating a plan “eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools,” specifically based on gender, racial or LGBTQ ideology.

Despite what the Trump administration wants the public to believe, depth isn’t optional when it comes to understanding the world and protecting democracy. 

The active suppression of deeper thought by citizens perpetuates ignorance and accelerates the erosion of fundamental human rights.

When someone says “it’s not that deep” in response to dialogues about racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia or overall inequality, it’s not a simple expression of disinterest. This response is a solidification of the oppressive status quo.

Everything is deep, especially the media being consumed around the clock.

Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, said pop culture was a place where negotiation occurred.  When people engage with popular culture, they “struggle for and against a culture of the powerful,” he said. 

Hall further explains that under a free society, while pop culture doesn’t answer to the central government, it embodies the shared values of society. Popular media often tells people what it means to be right and wrong. 

It wasn’t just the words or topics in the news and magazines that shaped our views — it was also the way they were organized, presented, and shared. 

None of this to say everything must be analyzed to death, nor do individuals need to constantly live in a state of deep contemplation. Not every color choice is a political statement. Not every metaphor is a manifesto. 

People are tired. We live in an age of constant information, and sometimes things feel like they really aren’t so deep. 

A lot of the time, we tell ourselves “nothing is that deep” because the other option is a meltdown over the state of the country.

Constant analysis can be exhausting, but the answer isn’t to abandon thinking about the media altogether. Instead, learn to decide when to investigate further and when to trust the expertise of others.

Lean on experts. With the rise of social media, echo chambers continuously replace the only news intake we once had. Listening to experts becomes even more important.

Intellectual curiosity isn’t a burden. It’s a tool for building bridges across differences, discovering the unseen, making sense of complexity and protecting democracy. 

Asking questions, challenging assumptions, sitting with discomfort and analyzing why the author decided to make the curtains blue isn’t useless or stupid. It’s preparation for engaged citizenship.

There’s real power in asking “why” and remaining passionate despite everything in the world. These elements spark reform, question injustice and brought revolution for our forefathers. 

We all lose something vital when we mock or minimize instincts to ask questions.

“The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought,” Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition decision. 

Freedom begins with the right to think and anti-intellectualism threatens collective freedom by discouraging critical thought and open dialogue. 

To defend liberty, the very act of thinking freely and without judgment must be defended.