Final Chapters of Hobsbawm's THE AGE OF EMPIRE

In the last four chapters of his book, Hobsbawm records quite a few interesting developments of the early twentieth century. First, he discusses the arts of the time as the result of an identity crisis among the bourgeois. The arts at this time are appealing to the "common people." It is not just a thing of the upper classes. Avant-garde is not generally accepted, but the period is marked by the productivity and fame of artist Pablo Picasso. Hobsbawm includes that there had not been such a successful artist since the Renaissance. Next, during this time there was an overwhelming interest in the sciences. People's view of the world began to change through a new understanding and discoveries of the sciences. Specifically, a new awareness of "linear progress" as opposed to transformation in these areas is understood. An example of this would be Darwin's theories of evolution as a linear process rather than the notion of spontaneous generation previously presumed to be the cause of decay (which may be considered a transformation). Hobsbawm talks a lot about the new ground covered in mathematics and the reevaluations of the approach to this particular science. To me, it seems in light of this aspect, the world came to a kind of second renaissance in the early twentieth century. Consequently, there is an anti-intellect sort of movement which includes people rejecting reason and science altogether in preference of beliefs previously held. Hobsbawm gives this list in the beginning of chapter 11, on page 262: "occultism, necromancy, magic, parapsychology... and various versions of eastern mysticism and religiosity."
Chapter 12 deals with revolutions and how after the difficulties of the depression, the US encounters a time of prosperity. Since capitalist imperialism was not as powerful of a motive in these days, the people begin acting more on the part of revolution than anything else. (This was not the case throughout the world, however, as people dealt with periods of prosperity and decline at rather different periods.) Lastly, in the closing chapter Hobsbawm explores the time of peace throughout the world after having had a world war.
What I found most intriguing in this reading was the notion of an anti-intellectual movement. It seems that, perhaps as college students, if we had been there during a time of so much discovery, we all would have jumped on the band wagon and been incredibly interested in what was going on. To think of people rejecting this ground breaking discoveries and turning, instead, to rather old-fashioned and outdated ways of thinking seems counter intuitive. However, I'm sure there are a great many things that set people apart. Education was not a necessity to be successful during this time.
My question then is, what is today's means of anti-intellectualism? Of course, we have religion to account for the supernatural explanations for occurrences that may be explained scientifically. What I also came up with (hold on to your seats and try not to be too offended) is indulgence in sports and also getting overly excited about political matters. These two areas make it very easy to disagree and are also rather easy to view as simply two opposing "teams" acting against each other, mimicking both war and notions of imperialism.
FIRE AWAY! I hope this also interests YOU, classmates! :)
A.Gorno