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In recent times, American culture mistakenly equates being uneducated and/or unintelligent with being "humble". Somehow a person who has any knowledge of anything and dares to express it is deemed arrogant or a know-it-all. It's really scary how acting dumb is considered "cute" and "charming". The airhead and meathead are celebrated because they are entertaining. Somehow this is seen as "down to earth".
Of course, intellectual pursuits have almost always been associated with being nerdy and/or elitist. There's definitely people who have an elitist attitude and feel they are superior for all their intellectualism, but the distaste for these types has spread to the rejection of anyone who ventures to discuss anything out of the realm of reality TV, sports, and he-said she-said talk. I guess thinking ruins all the fun .
There's also an obsession with practicality above the abstract, theoretical and conceptual. There's much value to the latter as it involves analysis and broadening your perspective, but because it bores many people and isn't directly related to material and social success and isn't immediately practical, it's rejected as a waste of time. Everything has to be so simple and linear or it's invalidated as irrelevant.
Anti-intellectualism is basically a reverse snobbery.
It is the pseudo-intellectual that I find most irritating. Use million dollar words out of context and pretending to like Russian literature and French films just to fit in with a certain segment of society. These people are phonies. I think they are the ones who actually give the true intellectuals a bad name, the pseudo-intellectual (often hipsters) is typically the one with their nose in the air and looking down upon others.
It is the pseudo-intellectual that I find most irritating. Use million dollar words out of context and pretending to like Russian literature and French films just to fit in with a certain segment of society. These people are phonies. I think they are the ones who actually give the true intellectuals a bad name, the pseudo-intellectual (often hipsters) is typically the one with their nose in the air and looking down upon others.
Yes, I believe Jean Luc Goddard had some words on this very subject. I think that theme has been explored in German expressionist film as well.
Woody Allen slams them in several of his films as well.
Especially when he pulled Marshall McLuhan out from behind that display in Annie Hall. Marshall McLuhan. Hahahahahahahah. What idiot wouldn't get THAT?
The real intellectuals move in silence. They know they're smart so they don't have to show off for others. I consider myself an intellectual because I'm into research, have a thorough knowledge of how the world works, philosophy, reading, etc. At the same time I know when to let loose and chop it up about sports, have fun, etc.
Why is US society anti-intellectual? Is it due to fear? Is there any rational reason for this?
At work, I find people feel uncomfortable when one of my co-workers speaks in meetings. She is bright, and quite articulate. Are they thinking "errr....OK..I didn't understand a word she said"?
I also think it's envy also, since she works well, and stands out for promotion. I think her smarts contribute to this.
Oh, I have a better story than that:
Back when I was a junior at university, the professor in one of my major classes had each student write a critique of a classmate's paper and then do an oral presentation regarding the critique. The girl who did mine admitted that she had to use a dictionary when she read my paper because I used so many "big words." She even made an insinuation that I went overboard with the Thesaurus. The only trouble was I had never owned one (and actually didn't until several years after I graduated). That elicited a lot of eye rolling by my professor because anyone who is in college should know all the words I utilized.
When she finished, you could hear the hostility in my professor's voice as he tried to restrain himself from verbally tearing her to shreds when he gave his evaluation of her performance. I got a B on the paper (because there were a couple of minor technical methodological issues with it). I aced the class (barely).
I have a couple other stories kinda like that, but I will bore you with just the one for now.
I'm proud to be an intellectual; I was also a "jock", a sportsman, but I think it's not enough to have a great personality. I made liberal arts studies ( BA in History) and I identify strongly with my past studies, although I don't have an intellectual job at all (computer delivery, blue-collar). I talk slang with people who don't understand "high language", but I 'm not adverse at speaking with chosen words when I'm interacting with people who understand those words. It's just commonsense.
And I feel that, having a blue-collar job, I'm freer intellectually than if I was white collar and I had to write dumb administrative sheets or so...
I can identify with that. I have the same degree but if you talk to me I sound like your typical California-born surfer hippie even though I graduated with honors and am just a few units short of a degree in Japanese.
And the worst writing that occurs in America isn't in bad fiction, but in corporate memos. I have actually received memoranda that were so badly composed that I laughed out loud. I even sent one back anonomously with corrections and a note encouraging the bigwigs to think more carefully about what they write because they were looking foolish issuing such horrendous drivel.
They reportedly didn't like that bit of lese majeste much, but the memos improved for a while before the company in question was sold.
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