Why is anti-intellectualism so rampant?
Replies
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Laziness. Easier to be told what to think, (FOX NEWS) than to think for your self.
Sigh. You become part if the problem when you think only one network is playing the role of corporate shill. They all play to a base with little regard for accuracy.
There is no real news from the networks anymore. And if they have you believing one is the fault and not others, you are mistaken.
+1
I was hoping I wasn't the only one to spot the irony of citing 'laziness' as a root cause and then not bothering to think beyond the 'one-network' rhetoric.
And yes, I would feel the same if MSNBC had been cited instead.
I have to admit that I feel better seeing some posts here alluding to the role a dishonest media play in the dumbing down of society - they have abrogated their responsibility to be the people's watchdog.0 -
It depends on what kind of person you were before you became smart and educated. Being smart and educated isn't automatically a good thing if you're a bad person to begin with.I thought it was cool to be a nerd these days...
In some corners it is cool, but in a lot of places, especially politics, intellectualism is called elitism. They act like being smart and educated is a bad thing.
There is another brand of elitism that believes that a lack of formal education automatically renders a person ignorant and stupid. This group is highly educated and yet are ignorant. It's one of the more interesting examples of hypocrisy I've seen.
Yes on the last bit and I'll go further and say ignorant is treated as an insult when I don't think it is at all. I'm ignorant about a lot of things - those are just learning opportunities for me.
I think the problem lies in people who are certain they have the right answers, and are unwilling to even consider another solution. That's how we'll become stagnant as a society. This applies to everything from religion to politics to technology.
I think most people misuse the term ignorance in place of stupidity. I agree. There is nothing wrong with ignorance. All children are ignorant about most things. That's why we educate them. Most adults are ignorant about different things as well. It's just they were not exposed or taught about that particular thing. Ignorance is good in that it drives us to learn more.0 -
Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.0
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Laziness. Easier to be told what to think, (FOX NEWS) than to think for your self.
Sigh. You become part if the problem when you think only one network is playing the role of corporate shill. They all play to a base with little regard for accuracy.
There is no real news from the networks anymore. And if they have you believing one is the fault and not others, you are mistaken.
+1
I was hoping I wasn't the only one to spot the irony of citing 'laziness' as a root cause and then not bothering to think beyond the 'one-network' rhetoric.
And yes, I would feel the same if MSNBC had been cited instead.
I have to admit that I feel better seeing some posts here alluding to the role a dishonest media play in the dumbing down of society - they have abrogated their responsibility to be the people's watchdog.
But...but....but....I thought it was COOL to hate Fox News. Now what bandwagon do I jump on? :sad:0 -
Learned something new today; sapiosexual. An intelligent mind sure is hot.
I was called a bookworm when growing up and it wasn't always a good thing apparently. But today I'm on my second Master's degree and keep craving more. Most former classmates have remained at Master's level and will never go any further education-wise. Sometimes in online discussions I feel like I shouldn't talk in positive terms about my background, because many don't seem to value school at all.
“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” - Mark Twain.
ETA
For some reason it also feels like one shouldn't talk about stupidity in negative terms. Personally I can have a very difficult time with stupidity.0 -
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Laziness. Easier to be told what to think, (FOX NEWS) than to think for your self.
Sigh. You become part if the problem when you think only one network is playing the role of corporate shill. They all play to a base with little regard for accuracy.
There is no real news from the networks anymore. And if they have you believing one is the fault and not others, you are mistaken.
+1
I was hoping I wasn't the only one to spot the irony of citing 'laziness' as a root cause and then not bothering to think beyond the 'one-network' rhetoric.
And yes, I would feel the same if MSNBC had been cited instead.
I have to admit that I feel better seeing some posts here alluding to the role a dishonest media play in the dumbing down of society - they have abrogated their responsibility to be the people's watchdog.
I'm throwing my yes in, too. I don't watch any news at all. If I hear about something via social media, I'm all over different sites with different views to try to form my opinion.0 -
Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
That's not entirely true - being a nerd is being intensely interested and educated about a topic that's generally considered non-mainstream. I'm a nerd
Just because it's not being highly educated about........the GDP, doesn't mean they aren't intelligent or intellectuals.
Maybe Americans have a different definition. Where I come from an " Intellectual " is someone who is generally well educated and well informed about more than one subject, non-main stream or not. Someone who just knows a lot about one topic is not considered and intellectual
Meriam Webster's definition of an intellectual :
of or relating to the ability to think in a logical way
: involving serious study and thought
of a person : smart and enjoying serious study and thought
which I would assume is applied to all levels of thought and study and not just on one topic.....:o).0 -
Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.
Who gets to decide who is stupid and who isn't?0 -
I believe it is VERY important to remember that Intelligence is very much based on the environment that you are in.
For example:
Lets take the two really old guys in "Swamp People". The brothers.
Between them, they MIGHT form one complete sentence. If you put them in front of a computer and ask them to check email, they will probably not know how to even turn it on.
We might think that they are stupid.
However;
If any one of us were stuck in the middle of the swamp and needed to survive for, lets say, three days, suddenly these two guys are brilliant.
They have more knowlege of swamp survival then probably anyone on this board.
Environment.
This is exactly one of the premises behind Jared Diamonds book and PBS documentary, "Guns, Germs & Steel" Doing his ornithology work (in Indonesia I believe) he noticed that these "primitives" who guided him through the jungle were just as smart as he was. Their intelligence was just focused on a different subject than his intelligence was. That's what started him on his journey to discover why some cultures dominated (Europeans) and advanced while others seemingly didn't.0 -
Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.
Who gets to decide who is stupid and who isn't?
I do0 -
Squirrel!
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Why so many big words???
They're dumbing down the SAT, then there won't be so many big words.0 -
Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
That's not entirely true - being a nerd is being intensely interested and educated about a topic that's generally considered non-mainstream. I'm a nerd
Just because it's not being highly educated about........the GDP, doesn't mean they aren't intelligent or intellectuals.
Maybe Americans have a different definition. Where I come from an " Intellectual " is someone who is generally well educated and well informed about more than one subject, non-main stream or not. Someone who just knows a lot about one topic is not considered and intellectual
Meriam Webster's definition of an intellectual :
of or relating to the ability to think in a logical way
: involving serious study and thought
of a person : smart and enjoying serious study and thought
which I would assume is applied to all levels of thought and study and not just on one topic.....:o).
Hmm, I don't agree that it's all areas of thought - I think people can be highly educated about certain things, ignorant about others and still be an intellectual. To me, it's the love of knowledge and the desire to seek it out constantly that makes one an intellectual - not the sum total of your knowledge. The definition is a little ambiguous IMO.0 -
Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.
Who gets to decide who is stupid and who isn't?
I do
When do I find out my results?0 -
Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
Being a geek has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated or well informed. A nerd is Intelligent, well educated or well informed
Since I am a non-native speaker of English I just checked eight internet dictionaries and none of the definitions came even close to what you say. The common definition seems to imply that a nerd is rigid, anti- or non-social, single minded and only interested in the subject they are interested in and in nothing more.
Could you lead me ( in the interest of improving my English ) to the source of your definition, please ?0 -
I'll stir the pot some more.Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.
Who gets to decide who is stupid and who isn't?
Can someone, who is considered intelligent, behave in a stupid way?
I believe yes.
"A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether or not to say it."
People might be intelligent, but wisdom is a whole different matter.0 -
I'll stir the pot some more.Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.
Who gets to decide who is stupid and who isn't?
Can someone, who is considered intelligent, behave in a stupid way?
I believe yes.
"A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether or not to say it."
People might be intelligent, but wisdom is a whole different matter.
Totally. I'm pretty damned smart and I do/say stupid stuff alllllllll the time. It's a gift really. I can debate literary themes for hours, but I'm the girl who opens the garage door when the hatch of the SUV is open. Yep.
ETA: I'm still finding my inner wisdom.0 -
Ignorance can be cured . . . Stupidity is forever.
Who gets to decide who is stupid and who isn't?
I do
When do I find out my results?
After you make 3 easy payments of 9.99 + s/h0 -
Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
Being a geek has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated or well informed. A nerd is Intelligent, well educated or well informed
Since I am a non-native speaker of English I just checked eight internet dictionaries and none of the definitions came even close to what you say. The common definition seems to imply that a nerd is rigid, anti- or non-social, single minded and only interested in the subject they are interested in and in nothing more.
Could you lead me ( in the interest of improving my English ) to the source of your definition, please ?
I think the definitions of both are socially driven. I've always been a "nerd" - I'm a bookworm, quiet, introverted and smart. That's what a nerd was when I was a kid (and it was a bad thing), now it's the "in" thing and the definition is evolving - same with geek. And pretty much same as any term used to describe a subset of people as people change. Make sense?
Even though I identify as a nerd myself, to some people I may not be (I don't care either way).0 -
Wow, I really enjoyed reading all of this! . Also one can appear intelligent occasionally but actually be ignorant or vice versa. H'mmmmmm.0
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Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
Being a geek has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated or well informed. A nerd is Intelligent, well educated or well informed
Since I am a non-native speaker of English I just checked eight internet dictionaries and none of the definitions came even close to what you say. The common definition seems to imply that a nerd is rigid, anti- or non-social, single minded and only interested in the subject they are interested in and in nothing more.
Could you lead me ( in the interest of improving my English ) to the source of your definition, please ?
The dictionary is behind the curve. Society (particularly geeks and nerds themselves) have defined the terms. Geeks are into what are considered geek things, like comic books, sci-fi, etc. The definition of nerd is partly right. Many nerds are socially awkward, but they can be interested in many things. The common example is the smart kids who aren't popular. It's not unusual that some people are both geeks and nerds.0 -
If you recognize there is a difference between educated and intelligent, we can be friends.0
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tl;dr: let's measure our brain****s0
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Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
Being a geek has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated or well informed. A nerd is Intelligent, well educated or well informed
Since I am a non-native speaker of English I just checked eight internet dictionaries and none of the definitions came even close to what you say. The common definition seems to imply that a nerd is rigid, anti- or non-social, single minded and only interested in the subject they are interested in and in nothing more.
Could you lead me ( in the interest of improving my English ) to the source of your definition, please ?
I think the definitions of both are socially driven. I've always been a "nerd" - I'm a bookworm, quiet, introverted and smart. That's what a nerd was when I was a kid (and it was a bad thing), now it's the "in" thing and the definition is evolving - same with geek. And pretty much same as any term used to describe a subset of people as people change. Make sense?
Even though I identify as a nerd myself, to some people I may not be (I don't care either way).
LOL! You posted while I was still writing my reply. We both kinda said the same thing.0 -
If you recognize there is a difference between educated and intelligent, we can be friends.
*whew*
Glad we got that out of the way.... 0 -
I had to teach a booksmart med student in the lab and it was a frickin disaster. She could barf theory like nobody's business, but common sense such as don't do this or you'll set yourself on fire, that or you'll poison yourself and the rest of us, was like trying to move an adult to a parallel universe. Groan.If you recognize there is a difference between educated and intelligent, we can be friends.0 -
If you recognize there is a difference between educated and intelligent, we can be friends.
I have a friend that has her Masters and I tried for over an hour to explain how the seconds between thunder and lightening can be used to roughly gauge how far away the storm is.
So yeah, I feel you.0 -
I feel like I just did the forum equivalent of a really loud fart and everyone ran away.0
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Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
Being a geek has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated or well informed. A nerd is Intelligent, well educated or well informed
Since I am a non-native speaker of English I just checked eight internet dictionaries and none of the definitions came even close to what you say. The common definition seems to imply that a nerd is rigid, anti- or non-social, single minded and only interested in the subject they are interested in and in nothing more.
Could you lead me ( in the interest of improving my English ) to the source of your definition, please ?
I think the definitions of both are socially driven. I've always been a "nerd" - I'm a bookworm, quiet, introverted and smart. That's what a nerd was when I was a kid (and it was a bad thing), now it's the "in" thing and the definition is evolving - same with geek. And pretty much same as any term used to describe a subset of people as people change. Make sense?
Even though I identify as a nerd myself, to some people I may not be (I don't care either way).
Two people in the Chit Chat forum described themselves independently as nerds once because they loved video games and " Big Bang Theory ".
I was and still am also a bookworm, socially uneasy, reserved, quiet, and introvert and really good at what I do, be it professionally or in the areas of personal interest. I also had the luck to go to some good schools inmy home home country as well as abroad ( all scholarships ) but have no idea what I would have called myself , because when I started university in the mid-60's there was no label for it. The word " weird " was mentioned a few times....lol.0
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