Why is anti-intellectualism so rampant?

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Replies

  • rollng_thundr
    rollng_thundr Posts: 634 Member
    I feel like I just did the forum equivalent of a really loud fart and everyone ran away.

    Uh.. thought that was me....
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    I feel like I just did the forum equivalent of a really loud fart and everyone ran away.
    I'll let you to it then and crown you thread killer.
  • Guns_N_Buns
    Guns_N_Buns Posts: 1,899 Member

    Anti-intellectualism serves capitalism, keeps us living in fear, keeps the little man from figuring out he's just living in indentured servitude. There, I said it. *waits for hate mail*

    ^I've read this somewhere before...

    Maybe read Brave New World to get a better perspective where all this could go. Written 20 years before 1984 and maybe scarier in how it seems to playing out. The willingness to sacrifice reason and curiosity and intellectualism will only accelerate the world depicted in that book.

    :flowerforyou: :heart:

    Also watch the movie Idiocracy, it's humorous and scary.

    Leave me alone, I'm 'batin'!
  • _Stardust_
    _Stardust_ Posts: 124 Member
    I know that chicks dig nerds.

    As long as they look rich in their leased beemers

    Nerds rule the world now. Tesla is way more my Nerd style.

    Anti-intellectualism serves capitalism, keeps us living in fear, keeps the little man from figuring out he's just living in indentured servitude. There, I said it. *waits for hate mail*

    1. Tesla is a very capitalist company... in fact, it is not just capitalist, it is a company with a discretionary consumerist (often satirized as the worst part of capitalism) agenda.
    2. Capitalism thrives when there are markets that quickly adapt and adjust for new information. Ill informed or ill educated people make that hard and, consequently, are against the needs of a capitalist economy
    3. Well regulated (not necessarily highly regulated) capitalism eliminates the distinction between "capital" and "labor." In our modern, mixed economy, most "labor" are also "capitalists."

    1. Tesla is a very capitalist company... in fact, it is not just capitalist, it is a company with a discretionary consumerist (often satirized as the worst part of capitalism) agenda.

    I was responding to the assertion that only Nerds with BMWs attract the attention of women. All I was saying is that I prefer Teslas to BMWs. But in all reality, BMW is producing quite a nice electric vehicle, so not really a valid comment on my preferences.

    2. Capitalism thrives when there are markets that quickly adapt and adjust for new information. Ill informed or ill educated people make that hard and, consequently, are against the needs of a capitalist economy

    Yes, I agree. Would you say that the Capitolism in the US is thriving? Does it serve us well? I didn't think so. I believe this to be directly linked to anti-intellectualism.

    3. Well regulated (not necessarily highly regulated) capitalism eliminates the distinction between "capital" and "labor." In our modern, mixed economy, most "labor" are also "capitalists."

    I have to admit I'm not completely sure what you're talking about here. Although, in the US (my experience of capitolism "free market") capitolism, labor nor our practices in economics are well regulated. Again, something I think intellectuals would argue is leading to our rapid downfall.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    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.

    I work in a highly educated profession with plenty of egos and I can tell you than the variance in raw intelligence is every bit as great as I saw in high school. In fact, a friend of mine from high school who never went beyond that is far more intelligent, in my opinion, than a few former colleagues. Degrees =/= intelligence
  • Guns_N_Buns
    Guns_N_Buns Posts: 1,899 Member




    I work in a highly educated profession with plenty of egos and I can tell you than the variance in raw intelligence is every bit as great as I saw in high school. In fact, a friend of mine from high school who never went beyond that is far more intelligent, in my opinion, than a few former colleagues. Degrees =/= intelligence

    DITTO -QFT
  • rollng_thundr
    rollng_thundr Posts: 634 Member
    .02

    There's no reward (beyond personal satisfaction) in becoming smart, and expanding intelligence. Many are mocked for being smart, and ridiculed for it. I see it every day. I see it in my job, on TV, movies... society has an apathetic attitude about furthering themselves.. it's easier to feel entitled and "somebody else will pick up the bill", than to actually work at it. So the dregs of society pull others down to their level, and keep them there because they are too damn insecure to go it alone.

    Signed,

    The ramblings of a man who has been up for 24 hours.
  • BigVeggieDream
    BigVeggieDream Posts: 1,101 Member

    Anti-intellectualism serves capitalism, keeps us living in fear, keeps the little man from figuring out he's just living in indentured servitude. There, I said it. *waits for hate mail*

    ^I've read this somewhere before...

    Maybe read Brave New World to get a better perspective where all this could go. Written 20 years before 1984 and maybe scarier in how it seems to playing out. The willingness to sacrifice reason and curiosity and intellectualism will only accelerate the world depicted in that book.

    :flowerforyou: :heart:

    Also watch the movie Idiocracy, it's humorous and scary.

    Leave me alone, I'm 'batin'!

    LOL!
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
    If you recognize there is a difference between educated and intelligent, we can be friends.

    ahhh yeaah I am making le friends
  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
    *fedora tipping intensifies*
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.
  • rollng_thundr
    rollng_thundr Posts: 634 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Speak to the crowd, not as you speak to your peers?
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Speak to the crowd, not as you speak to your peers?
    I think I get your point (English isn't my first language). I meant that one adjusts one's way of explaining according to the audience and its needs. A great way to alienate patients is by using doctor speak to create that barrier, be it intentional or not. A patient should always understand what is being said and if not then the doctor is crappy.
  • yturie47
    yturie47 Posts: 162 Member
    If you recognize there is a difference between educated and intelligent, we can be friends.



    [I think we can be friends. Education is a very different kettle of fish in IMHO. ]
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
    educationcorporateschool.jpeg

    THIS
  • TadaGanIarracht
    TadaGanIarracht Posts: 2,615 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.
  • TadaGanIarracht
    TadaGanIarracht Posts: 2,615 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.

    I've never seen it.
  • SaintGiff
    SaintGiff Posts: 3,679 Member
    OP is giving me a whole Otto from A Fish Called Wanda vibe....

    "Apes don't read philosphy"
    "Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up. "
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.

    I've never seen it.

    If you can't express your thoughts in single or two-syllabal words and in less than 3 or 4 sentences then you should be discussing rocket science or you need to give up. Just my two cents and expressing my approach to drafting memoranda and contracts.
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.

    I've never seen it.

    If you can't express your thoughts in single or two-syllabal words and in less than 3 or 4 sentences then you should be discussing rocket science or you need to give up. Just my two cents and expressing my approach to drafting memoranda and contracts.
    Have you read The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda? You might enjoy it.
  • Lilly_the_Hillbilly
    Lilly_the_Hillbilly Posts: 914 Member
    OP is giving me a whole Otto from A Fish Called Wanda vibe....

    "Apes don't read philosphy"
    "Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up. "

    I was wondering if you'd show up in here.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.

    I've never seen it.

    If you can't express your thoughts in single or two-syllabal words and in less than 3 or 4 sentences then you should be discussing rocket science or you need to give up. Just my two cents and expressing my approach to drafting memoranda and contracts.
    Have you read The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda? You might enjoy it.

    No. I've just had too many investment bankers and tech wizards as clients who didn't want to wade through lawyers pontificating about their own intelligence
  • NYactor1
    NYactor1 Posts: 9,642 Member
    Great thread....check out the Ayn Rand movie or read her works for a different take on the whole 'capitalism sucks' spiel.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Great thread....check out the Ayn Rand movie or read her works for a different take on the whole 'capitalism sucks' spiel.

    If you don't support Ayn Rand at 19 and reject her by the time you're 30, there's something wrong
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Speak to the crowd, not as you speak to your peers?

    I think he means an intentional use of obscure terms relating to their expertise in an effort to appear/feel superior, rather than "dumbing it down" for someone less intelligent.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
    Great thread....check out the Ayn Rand movie or read her works for a different take on the whole 'capitalism sucks' spiel.

    If you don't support Ayn Rand at 19 and reject her by the time you're 30, there's something wrong

    I might have a tiny crush on your brain. <3
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.

    I've never seen it.

    If you can't express your thoughts in single or two-syllabal words and in less than 3 or 4 sentences then you should be discussing rocket science or you need to give up. Just my two cents and expressing my approach to drafting memoranda and contracts.
    Have you read The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda? You might enjoy it.

    No. I've just had too many investment bankers and tech wizards as clients who didn't want to wade through lawyers pontificating about their own intelligence
    :laugh: Bureaucrat speak in general gives me crawling skin. No offence.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but one thing that really annoys me is when people try to demonstrate superiority through the vocabulary they choose.

    A person with some kind of literary or economics degree suddenly sounds so fancy that I'd have to get the same degree to grasp what the point is that they are trying to make. So I have to ask them to "dumb it down" for me and just this once step down from that high horse.

    They create barriers to boost the ego, but I highly admire people, who can discuss their area of expertise, whatever it may be, so that both professionals and laymen follow their train of thought.

    Those who feel the need to showcase their intelligence with a convoluted vocabulary have proven to be copycats with no original thought of their own. They quote all the great philosophers then claim their philosophical. At least this has been my experience.
    Good Will Hunting comes to mind, both when the Harvard guy got pawned and when the shrink schooled the boy in matters of the heart.

    I've never seen it.

    If you can't express your thoughts in single or two-syllabal words and in less than 3 or 4 sentences then you should be discussing rocket science or you need to give up. Just my two cents and expressing my approach to drafting memoranda and contracts.
    Have you read The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda? You might enjoy it.

    No. I've just had too many investment bankers and tech wizards as clients who didn't want to wade through lawyers pontificating about their own intelligence
    :laugh: Bureaucrat speak in general gives me crawling skin. No offence.

    None taken. I've never been a bureaucrat. I take issue with anyone from any profession who can't recognize that their lingo isn't understood by everyone. My most favorite game is to get generals and investment bankers in the same room and play go between. Well, that and clients and their clients from different cultures. At the end of the day, the goal is communication, and if you can't communicate with your intended audience then you're operating above your pay grade no matter how intelligent you think you are.