The Anti-Intellectualism Movement

Our daughters can fix all of this!

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Hello friends,

How are you? Is your New Year off to a good start? Today, I wanted to keep it light, maybe sharing something about how our kids are living their best lives and going after their big dreams. It is so cool to watch. Or maybe about my year without sex; ok, not entirely without sex, but pretty dry considering I spent 7 months hiking in the woods without Will, and now we are in a hotel sharing a room with Largo for 4 months. However, the little I let myself see about the inauguration sent me over the edge, and I changed gears. Don’t worry; the “year without sex” newsletter is coming. Any questions I should address? HA!

Elon, holy fuckity, fuck, fuck. If Americans had the education they needed, that one “pose” he did would have scared the fuckity, fuck out of them. But many don’t, and it did not phase them. I think my high school history book had less than a chapter about the Holocaust, the HOLOCAUST. How can Americans fear that we are going in that direction if they have no idea what happened in that direction? It was not until university that I got a thorough education on the magnitude of the Holocaust, which was significantly reinforced by site visits with my family decades later in Europe. I could have easily been one saying, “It is not what you think it is; he was just excited and raised his hand.” The anti-intellectual movement is not moving us in the right direction.

So after the inauguration “shit show,” I thought today might be a good time to talk about education. I had read about the “anti-intellectual” movement months ago and thought, “What the heck?” but never looked into it deeper.

Then I saw this on a thread:

It piqued my interest again, and off Googling I went. According to Wikipedia:

Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, history, and science as impractical, politically motivated, and even contemptible human pursuits.

Well, this anti-intellectualism movement sounds great, right (sarcastic undertone)? Can you imagine thinking the earth is flat or that global warming does not exist because you never learned about Science? Or, imagine believing the Holocaust was not real or that Hitler was a great leader because you did not learn History and the power of it repeating itself. And no education in art, literature, and music; gosh, that sounds insane. Welcome to our current reality in the US of A in 2025!

Do you remember a time when getting a college education was goal #1 for so many families, and they sacrificed everything for it? When I speak about this anti-intellectual movement, I realize this is not the whole USA, but it is a growing percentage. Some might even say close to half; there were no reliable stats to confirm. Years ago, I asked my dad what he was most proud of in his life; he said sending my sister and me to university. I did not come from a wealthy family; they sacrificed a lot to give me a university education. To this day, I am so incredibly grateful that they had the foresight to see the value in it without having ever gotten one themselves. A university education has created so much good in me: curiosity and knowledge. And yes, I understand it has become insanely unaffordable, and I am speaking from a space of privilege, but today, I am only speaking about seeing the value in it and, if that is seen, finding a way to pay for it is next. Here’s my hack…community college for two years and then transfer to a 4-year school or study in Europe, but that is a newsletter for another day.

It is common in the circles we travel in, particularly the full-time land travel circles and the sailing community, to believe one can learn everything one needs to know just by travel. I can say with great certainty that after 10+ years of full-time travel, engaging with many families, one child in university full-time and one part-time while still in high school, plus Will and I being college educated, you CANNOT learn everything necessary through full-time travel. Fulltime travel can fill almost all spaces, but there are gaps, especially if the education is one of unschooling.

If you have read some of my older writings, you will see that I used to find value in all styles of education. I have made a switch in recent years, seeing that the communities I frequent and many stationary communities in the US are lacking in areas that are key in moving forward with empathy and global knowledge as a nation and as a world.

I used to think travel (with some education) would save the world. Now I think a lot of education (with some travel) will save the world. One can travel all the world and never be changed, but one can get an education and change. We have been on this long-term travel lifestyle for a very, very long time, and we have met a lot of characters. Many do not change. There is a clear difference between the educated and non-educated in this travel sphere.

Then there is this other school of thought for those in the stationary life who believe their children don’t need an education beyond high school. We have all heard people say, “Well, I did not go to university, and I turned out fine.” This statement is the clearest indicator of why someone needs more education. Recognizing that we are lifetime learners and always have room to grow is something you often see gained during an education. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know anything. Second, turning out fine when only basing that statement on one’s ability to make money is far from fine, very far from it. But this is the definition of fine with every single person I have heard who makes that statement, every single one. Of course, there are those unicorns who are educated and make money and still go to complete shit…Musk, Besos, and Zuck (well, Zuck never graduated).

I don’t want to use this space to share the values of education as we are talking about the anti-intellectual movement, but it does extend far beyond the benefit of learning how to make money. In simplistic terms, it teaches us about History, how others have done it, and what they did wrong so we do not make the same mistakes. It explains how others live so we can first find the path best suited for us beyond the bubble in which we were raised and, finally, to grow and understand those different from us. It teaches us how to live peacefully and behave as a community towards a goal. It is much more complex than this paragraph; another newsletter will have to elaborate on it, but you get the basic idea.

“The biggest single, best predictor of how someone’s going to vote in American politics now is education level. That is now the new fault line in American politics,” Sosnik told David Chalian on the “CNN Political Briefing” podcast. CNN

According to Inside Higher Education, overall, college graduates voted for Harris by 13 points more than they did Trump. What I found particularly interesting in this article was that women, in general, were more likely to vote in the name of equality than men, regardless of their education. Still, non-educated women versus non-educated men were more likely to vote for Harris, which means educating these women makes a difference. Women can change the course of the future if we educate them.

If you have a college degree, you are most likely to vote Democrat; if you do not, you are more likely to vote Republican. President Obama - then-candidate Barack Obama - won voters without college degrees by seven points, 53 to 46. By 2016, there had been a 14-point swing...When Donald Trump came on the scene, where Trump won them 51-44. The times are changing.

Our kids need university now more than ever, especially our girls. The girls can change what the US looks like a decade from now. Yes, educate all the kids, but it is clear that women are more inclined to change if they are educated. I want to challenge you today to see how you can help a girl. University is so expensive; how can you help a niece, a granddaughter, or your sister's kids find a way to help a girl today, and we will have a much brighter future. I don’t think I have ever publicly shared this because it has always felt very personal, but I will share it here since it is relevant. We pay monthly to educate a young girl in Africa and have for about a decade now. A little bit goes a long way, and it feels good to contribute to the future through girls. Educating outside your birth country is also an option. We help girls and all benefit.

While we were living in the RV, traveling to every country in Europe, we studied the Holocaust for an entire year. I will list some of those vlogs if you want to learn more about the Holocaust. *Trigger, they are heavy.

AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU
ROAD SCHOOLING | VISITING A CONCENTRATION CAMP
ENTERING EASTERN EUROPE | CZECH REPUBLIC IS MORE THAN BEER

Thank you for being here and making it to hump day of a hefty week. We are still all here, holding tight; we will make it through. I have seen some incredible acts of kindness this week, which gives me hope for the future from the Bishop to right here in my family with Avalon.

Can I be honest? This has been a hard couple of days for me on many levels, including the inauguration. A lot is going on behind the scenes. I am still showing up here, but this does not feel like one of my better-written pieces; however, I am hitting post to work on not being a perfectionist. Raw is real. Honest is true. Thank you for understanding. My therapist says, “Jessica, write!” I write every day; some days are more complex than others, and some days, I even write through the tears. I am told that the best writing comes out of this state of mind. I am not sure how convinced I am, but I endure. It feels hard, raw, scary, and exhausting most days, but I keep doing it. Some days, it is tough to be HSF. Besos.

xoxo,
Jess (Sunshine)

p.s. A Year Without Sex for paid subscribers next week.

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