Willful Blindness of the Intellectual Class

[Cult Icon]

"left leaning" intellectual class. What nonsense.

Most academic fields have nothing to do with political B.S. (unlike sociology).

This thread is part of anti-intellectual rhetorical strain that's been around since the 19th century- make some illogical generalizations

[Pirateship1982]

The hatred of "intellectuals" by the right wing comes across as entirely phony and has a long history. What kind of intellectuals? That's like saying that I hate all accountants and bar tenders.

It sounds more like jealousy. "I have a 80 point IQ, failed out of community college, and I hate people that are way smarter than me " ( Except for like Jordan Peterson because he agrees with my church educated political views.)

Enter the elitist. Recognizable by his petulant snobbery and persistent belief that people who don't share his ideas must be low IQ dropouts. Despite being more narrow minded, more ignorant, and despite often behaving in a less intelligent fashion than the people he despises, he imagines himself the smart one in the group. Often he is the source of why self proclaimed intellectuals are looked down upon by the rest of society.

[wolfhnd]

There is nothing anti intellectual in this thread only an examination of culture and it's influences. Its the left through a rather misguided lens of identity politics that assumes that hostility is an unavoidable result of class differences. It is important to note however that with intelligence come a greater ability to rationalize ones own prejudices.

[wolfhnd]

It's interesting that Jordan Peterson was mentioned because while he has publicly disavowed the radical left he has publicly supported universal health care, was a socialist, repeatedly says that the left has a place in politics, frames his "religious" views in evolutionary terms, closely associates with avowed "liberals" such as Bret Weinstein and libertarians such as Dave Rubin, seems to have the respect of Sam Harris and calls Trump the lesser of two evils. It's an excellent example of cognitive dissonance to see someone use Peterson to mock the Intellect of conservatives and illustrates the dishonesty in political discourse.

[wolfhnd]

Democratic professors outnumber Republicans 10 to 1, study shows

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...licans-10-to-/

Conservatives have no one to blame but themselves for the take over of the educational system by leftist. When the Republicans embraced fundamentalist Christians the gig was up. There can be no more compromise with fundamentalist in America than with those in Iran. To some extent the same thing is happening to liberals as the new fundamentalist religion of social "justice" is driving academics out of universities. Most people interested in an intellectual career want a more nuanced approach than an ideologically driven environment can provide.

Most of the Intellectual gifted people I know are libertarian or liberal, none are communist. Of course that is not a representative sample but a personal experience. If they vote for conservatives they do so quietly. Of the the conservative intellectuals I know of most disavow Trump because dogma is more important to them than practical necessity. All of which points to an intellectual crisis in the ability of our culture to distinguish between private and public morality. Our intellectual class has failed to provide a workable morality for a diverse society and conceded the field to those least able to navigate the complexity involved. Of those that have tried such as Sam Harris there is an evident lack of philosophical sophistication. That is what this thread is about.

[Mountain Man]

Eh, that characterterization fits pretty much everyone. Ie. "you're not an American you don't get it." has been said a few thousand times around here.

Quite true, although I don;t believe that is an "intellectual" thing, but more of a "nationalism" thing. Constant criticisms of America by those who do not live here are rarely useful, nor in a lot of cases, very valid.

We're talking here of alleged superiority based on social status/education/political viewpoint, which is somewhat different.

[inevtiab1e]

This: "relating to the ability to think and understandideas at a high level, or involvingideas: takes it out of the realm of education and into the realm of IQ in my book. Education has never been a substitute for intelligence.
When I think "intellectual" in the context most often used today, there is a decided element of elitism and even snobbishness in the mix. The college professor, for example, who refuses to allow himself to be challenged because he believes knows everything according to his and is there fore unassailable.

Intellectualism isn't something that you can learn, it's more something you're born with (IQ). Some people have higher thinking abilities than others. I'd consider myself an intellectual. Intellectuals also have great insight. Those 2 go hand in hand.

Everything else you said is taught to you by RW media.
I'd love to see this story on the 'college professor' who refused to be challenged because he knows everything."

That's just your opinion and it's something RW media teaches people.

[Mountain Man]

Intellectualism isn't something that you can learn, it's more something you're born with (IQ). Some people have higher thinking abilities than others. I'd consider myself an intellectual. Intellectuals also have great insight. Those 2 go hand in hand.

Everything else you said is taught to you by RW media.
I'd love to see this story on the 'college professor' who refused to be challenged because he knows everything."

That's just your opinion and it's something RW media teaches people.

I see you have the proper intellectual attitude. You obviously consider yourself above the rest of us, even though "that's just your opinion", and clearly you are a product of the liberal community.

FYI - I practiced medicine for 30 years, so I'll match your IQ and education and even give you a handicap. Never judge people on the internet. You never know who you'll run into.

[Karri]

Quite true, although I don;t believe that is an "intellectual" thing, but more of a "nationalism" thing. Constant criticisms of America by those who do not live here are rarely useful, nor in a lot of cases, very valid.

We're talking here of alleged superiority based on social status/education/political viewpoint, which is somewhat different.

I don't think it's different, nor tied to social status/education/political viewpoint. It's a person thing. People who want to feel superior will feel superior as long as they have any shred of "evidence(fake news)" to support their own ego. That's is to say none of it is an intellectual thing, and people who feel superior are not intellectuals in the first place.You can't be smart and not understand your own limitations. Only a stupid person doesn't understand that what he knows is not even a spec of dust compared to what he doesn't know or understand.

OTOH, it seems like "intellectual" has become a class of its own akin to SJWs, right-wing snowflakes, etc. I doubt there are any people in any of these groups that would actually be intelligent. It makes sense to call it the "intellectual class" then, I guess.

[Mountain Man]

I don't think it's different, nor tied to social status/education/political viewpoint. It's a person thing. People who want to feel superior will feel superior as long as they have any shred of "evidence(fake news)" to support their own ego. That's is to say none of it is an intellectual thing, and people who feel superior are not intellectuals in the first place.You can't be smart and not understand your own limitations. Only a stupid person doesn't understand that what he knows is not even a spec of dust compared to what he doesn't know or understand.

OTOH, it seems like "intellectual" has become a class of its own akin to SJWs, right-wing snowflakes, etc. I doubt there are any people in any of these groups that would actually be intelligent. It makes sense to call it the "intellectual class" then, I guess.

Good points. I do think that people who feel superior feel a need to cloak it in some sort of legitimacy, hence the "intellectual" component, but as you point out, we humans are wired to feel superior to outsiders and others to begin with.

[pamak]

Good points. I do think that people who feel superior feel a need to cloak it in some sort of legitimacy, hence the "intellectual" component, but as you point out, we humans are wired to feel superior to outsiders and others to begin with.

Feeling superior to others is coming almost natural to humans. Do you recall the study which shows something like 70% of the people think they are "above average" regarding their intelligence? Then you add the issue that people who tend to preoccupy themselves with certain activities feel that their experience or training gives them a level of authority that others do not posses. If someone spends his life reading books and managed to survive a very competitive process in universities and become a professor, he will naturally feel that his reading comprehension skill is quite above the "average," and he will naturally feel the same about his IQ. This is no different from a so called "redneck" who spent his life in the army trained in arms and fighting in different places. He will naturally feel (and we see it) that he has some type of authority when he talks about the national defense, and he will naturally feel that he is tougher than the average citizen (who will often dismiss as a snowflake).

[American87]

Intellectualism isn't something that you can learn, it's more something you're born with (IQ). Some people have higher thinking abilities than others. I'd consider myself an intellectual. Intellectuals also have great insight. Those 2 go hand in hand.

Everything else you said is taught to you by RW media.
I'd love to see this story on the 'college professor' who refused to be challenged because he knows everything."

That's just your opinion and it's something RW media teaches people.

I had a liberal professor who ripped on Christians and Republicans every class except one. I was keeping track. She cursed often in the process. We had to read books on social justice and how terrible Republicans were/are. When I contradicted her she would go home, print up articles that backed her case, then came back and handed them to me in front of the class. As I was the only one who participated regularly, i could see her cringe whenever I started talking.

I wrote my final paper on the evolution of the Democratic party since the New Deal and got an A. It was based on class readings, otherwise I might have included the Democrats suppressing free speech and keeping blacks on the mental plantation. According to NPR, which is LW official government radio, Kanye West is a "colored boy." I don't see that in the RW media.

[American87]

Most of the emotionally intelligent (EQ) people I know, and people who have the most common sense, are conservative. The metrosexual "intelligentsia" in the coastal liberal outposts look down on these people as "simple." They think Communism can work in America, because you're stupid. They also thought Trump was racist in 2015-6, and only in those years. They don't think blacks should be allowed to diverge from an assigned political doctrine. They want to raise minimum wages for citizens and bring in hispanics to work under the table. They want to prevent voter ID laws that would keep these illegals from voting and prevent other voting fraud. They sympathize with Al-Qaeda, because we deserved 9/11, in their opinion. They promise to move to Canada every election year. I could go on.

[T. A. Gardner]

Democratic professors outnumber Republicans 10 to 1, study shows

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...licans-10-to-/

Conservatives have no one to blame but themselves for the take over of the educational system by leftist. When the Republicans embraced fundamentalist Christians the gig was up. There can be no more compromise with fundamentalist in America than with those in Iran. To some extent the same thing is happening to liberals as the new fundamentalist religion of social "justice" is driving academics out of universities. Most people interested in an intellectual career want a more nuanced approach than an ideologically driven environment can provide.

Most of the Intellectual gifted people I know are libertarian or liberal, none are communist. Of course that is not a representative sample but a personal experience. If they vote for conservatives they do so quietly. Of the the conservative intellectuals I know of most disavow Trump because dogma is more important to them than practical necessity. All of which points to an intellectual crisis in the ability of our culture to distinguish between private and public morality. Our intellectual class has failed to provide a workable morality for a diverse society and conceded the field to those least able to navigate the complexity involved. Of those that have tried such as Sam Harris there is an evident lack of philosophical sophistication. That is what this thread is about.

I don't think this is entirely true. I think there has been, and is, and ongoing concerted and orchestrated effort by radical Leftists to take over and control colleges of education across the US. I discovered this back about 10 to 15 years ago when I started looking into the Tucson Unified School District's Raza Studies program. I found that across the US, in major universities there were department chairs and tenured professors of Education colleges who were (variously) the most radical Communists, Socialists, Feminists, Racists, you-name-it in numbers. It wasn't one or two. It was half or more of many of these schools staff. There were hard core Communists like Peter McLaren (UCLA), or terrorists like William Ayres and Bernadette Dorn (Univ. of Chicago), to name a few major ones out of hundreds upon hundreds, all teaching Critical Pedagogy and related radical Leftist indoctrination and teaching methods to those that would one day be our school teachers.
Many of these colleges of education also had made it part of the curriculum that a belief and ability to demonstrate direct knowledge of these methods was made a requirement for graduation.

When you toss in the pseudo fields of academia like various "Ethnic" programs or women's studies, and the like what you find is there is a whole raft of academics who are straight up posers claiming great intellect while having none. The whole thing is like Aryan Physics, something the Nazis invented. A pseudo-science posing as actual academics.