Why is anti-intellectualism so rampant?

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  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
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    People must justify their ignorance somehow. If they can't compete intellectually then they deny it's importance
  • trojan_bb
    trojan_bb Posts: 699 Member
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    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*

    Anti intellectualism does not serve capitalism. Anti intellectualism is the death of free markets. It fuels populism, often the antithesis to capitalism.


    edit: so many isms. gross

    I disagree that it is populism. It is the nature of the Republic.*

    To say it keeps us living in fear is not entirely accurate. It is borne from fear, yes. Fear of that over which one has no control.

    A free-market enterprise and capitalism is more associated with a freedom FROM constraints placed on it by the populace. These constraints are created in the name of "fairness and equity." But then there is some need for fairness and equity in any enterprise, so some control does become necessary. It is the control; the necessary control, created in the name of fairness and equity, that keeps us all in voluntary servitude. That voluntary servitude is called society. And that society is most often best served by a Republican* form of government, predominantly controlled by intellectuals.

    So I guess what I'm getting to is that self-proclaimed enlightened intellectuals are the primary anti-intellectuals. And no, I haven't been drinking.

    *Not Republicanism for those who are thinking I'm discussing political parties. The Republican form of government invented by the Greeks and bastardized by the Americans.

    yes, agreed on all counts. But populism does drive the tendency towards that strong central command and uses anti-intellectualism to gather support.

    Either way, it certainly does not serve capitalism. Not in theory and definitely not in history.
  • establishingaplace
    establishingaplace Posts: 301 Member
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    I blame the internet.

    One uninformed opinion is one thing, but put 200 of them on a message board somewhere, and suddenly you have an echo chamber full of uninformed opinions. Plus, nobody on the internet debates or knows how to debate. It's all repetition and reaction gifs with no one genuinely listening to opposing argument.

    ETA: and media as well. Journalism used to be reporting. Now it's spoon-feeding opinions and bias.
  • Some_Watery_Tart
    Some_Watery_Tart Posts: 2,250 Member
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    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.
    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.

    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.
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
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    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.

    Which is a depressing thought. Elitism is generally a result of a pseudo-intellectual being so good at the game of pretense as to find him/herself among the intellectuals. And the BS artists that they are, they end up in politics. It is generally the elitists who are pointing fingers, and the entire exercise is to turn the gaze away from themselves.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    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.

    It's also happening all around us! Scary stuff.
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
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    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*

    Anti intellectualism does not serve capitalism. Anti intellectualism is the death of free markets. It fuels populism, often the antithesis to capitalism.


    edit: so many isms. gross

    Weren't you in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
  • GreenIceFloes
    GreenIceFloes Posts: 1,491 Member
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    honeybooboogif.gif
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
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    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*

    Anti intellectualism does not serve capitalism. Anti intellectualism is the death of free markets. It fuels populism, often the antithesis to capitalism.


    edit: so many isms. gross

    I disagree that it is populism. It is the nature of the Republic.*

    To say it keeps us living in fear is not entirely accurate. It is borne from fear, yes. Fear of that over which one has no control.

    A free-market enterprise and capitalism is more associated with a freedom FROM constraints placed on it by the populace. These constraints are created in the name of "fairness and equity." But then there is some need for fairness and equity in any enterprise, so some control does become necessary. It is the control; the necessary control, created in the name of fairness and equity, that keeps us all in voluntary servitude. That voluntary servitude is called society. And that society is most often best served by a Republican* form of government, predominantly controlled by intellectuals.

    So I guess what I'm getting to is that self-proclaimed enlightened intellectuals are the primary anti-intellectuals. And no, I haven't been drinking.

    *Not Republicanism for those who are thinking I'm discussing political parties. The Republican form of government invented by the Greeks and bastardized by the Americans.

    yes, agreed on all counts. But populism does drive the tendency towards that strong central command and uses anti-intellectualism to gather support.

    Either way, it certainly does not serve capitalism. Not in theory and definitely not in history.

    Ah, but who leads the populace? The anti-intellectual intellectuals. For without the anti-intellectual intellectuals there to tell the populace what they should believe, and to insist that it is for the betterment of the populace at the detriment of the intellectuals, there would be no support.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
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    Being a nerd has nothing to do with being intelligent, well educated , or well informed.....
  • the_great_beyond_
    the_great_beyond_ Posts: 157 Member
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    There is a general distrust of opaque institutions. People fear what they do not understand and despite the democratization of knowledge, the gap between knowing and understanding is wider than ever. As a result, many people see the institutions that thrive based on this "understanding gap" and the traits of the people within those institutions with distrust.

    As with many other aspects of our body politic, this, too, is a crisis of identity. The "haves" see the "have nots" with disdain and disrespect. The "have nots" see the "haves" as impractical and out of touch with reality. Its not a new problem, its just that many people (the MSM) has gotten very good at exploiting it for profit.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    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.
    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.

    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.
  • HerkMeOff
    HerkMeOff Posts: 1,002 Member
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    Why so many big words???
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    In my experience, people who refer to themselves as "intellectuals" are generally completely up their own backside and are totally lacking in any common sense. They rattle off a few bits of trivia now and then, talk about how amazing Donny Darko was, and think it gives them a right to feel superior to everyone else. As Stephen Hawking said, "Anyone who brags about their IQ is a loser."

    Edit: I just want to point out that really, genuinely intelligent people are great, but it's the people who go out of their way to appear intelligent that are annoying. The type that complain about ~anti-intellectualism~, for instance. It's like self-defining as cool. If you're doing that, you're categorically and undeniably UNcool.
  • RunnerStephe
    RunnerStephe Posts: 2,195
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    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*

    Perfect!!
  • the_great_beyond_
    the_great_beyond_ Posts: 157 Member
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    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."
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    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.
  • digitalbill
    digitalbill Posts: 1,410 Member
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    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.
  • BigVeggieDream
    BigVeggieDream Posts: 1,101 Member
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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
  • Some_Watery_Tart
    Some_Watery_Tart Posts: 2,250 Member
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    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.
    ^Exactly! I'm going to print your story and hang it on my office door for all the highly-educated idiots in my office.

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