Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Nerd Notes: "Anti-Intellectual" Isn't the Same as "Anti-Intellect"

Here is a fascinating post at the PrawfsBlawg. Blurb:
My confession of being an anti-intellectual requires a bit of explanation. Being anti-intellectual is not the same as being anti-intellect. My beef is with a particular social class -- the "intelligentsia" -- and not with the practice of using one's intellect to reflect on experience. In my experience, intellectuals (as a class) are ideologically intolerant, easily offended by ordinary humor, and pretentious in their prejudices, which they disguise as universal truths.

. . . So, yes, I confess to disliking intellectuals and the practice of intellectualism, which, I believe, impedes everyone’s intellect with pretense and ostentation.
Do take a look. I am absolutely sympathetic to the complaint of people who deliberately engage in obscurantism as a form of snobbery.

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