Anti-intellectualism

[Whaleboy]

3. Oh...and "lesbian erotica"? "novelist"? Not good enough of to justify prolix prose or calling yourself a professional.

I am a writer, I get paid for it, and it is my vocation. It would seem self-evident that I am a writer. In my own time I write articles as one can see on my website. Still, what is your point?
[/quote]

Do you consciously or subconsciously dislike dealing with people whom you consider stupid?

I must say that I'm rather indifferent about it. Since I rarely deal with non-intellectuals in a manner that would highlight their "stupidity", I dont see why I am affected by this.

It is either paranoid thoughts, or just some fantasy of intellectuals that they should be treated like gods because they are smart.

I think a lot of it, on the part of the intellectuals irritation with anti-intellectualism is the disparity between the abuse and prejudice, and the perceived importance of their work. Yes, intellectuals see their work, and sometimes theirselves as important, but theres nothing wrong with that since they play such a crucial and individual role in human civilisation imo. That is something I have always thoguht. Furthermore, would you deny that as humans, we simplistically attack whom and what we do not understand? It is quite interesting that those who persist in denying the existence of anti-intellectualism, preferring to highlight arrogance or some grossly overgeneralised point on the part of intellectuals, are appearing as anti-intellectuals themselves.

Deal with it

NEVER!!!

Diss, you have ...intriguing avatar...

[TCO]

have you sold any novels?

[Whaleboy]

No. Have finished one and working on my second before I get it published.

You think I'm pushing the word "professional" too far don't you?

I take it as read, in other words, you do something within a given classification (i.e. writer) and get paid for it, both of which apply to me (because of my sick, perverted friends of course ).

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Sikander


Well, that's your opinion bub!

[Whaleboy]

I don't think Agathon likes relativists...

[Ned]

Whaleboy, just from me, I like you. You have always presented your positions respectfully, not arrogantly, to me.

I suspect, but do not know, that many people are inately jealous of talented people regardless of the talent.

Think of the way the world reacts to the United States. We mean well, but we are still thought of as "arrogant." I think a lot of this attitude stems from our success.

Think also of the way the Republicans reacted to Clinton. It was not that Clinton was a liar or an adulterer. They reacted to his obvious talent. He was very intelligent, smooth and articulate.

[Drogue]

Wow, now that I wasn't expecting Good post

I completely agree with Ned

[TCO]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
No. Have finished one and working on my second before I get it published.

You think I'm pushing the word "professional" too far don't you?

I take it as read, in other words, you do something within a given classification (i.e. writer) and get paid for it, both of which apply to me (because of my sick, perverted friends of course ).

You're being a weasel now. You said you got paid for you're writing. I asked for detail and you cited being a novelist as support. But your novels have not been paid for. That's a bit slimy. A good thing that I pinned you down like a struggling butterfly.

[East Street Trader]

There are people more interested in ideas and others less interested.

And there is a tension between a jock and a bookworm.

But you can make a great deal too much of those things.

The tension is easily expoited in popular fiction. So there are any number of films taking that tension as a theme or a mainspring for their action.

Quite a good one, film that is, - can't remember the name - has as a hero a youngster who has a wonderfully strong knack for mathamatics. But his homeys are working class lads and he is unwilling to give himself up to the world his talent would lead him into. This is overlain by some psychological stuff rooted in guilt and his family but the tension between his desire not to sell out on his jock oriented roots internalises the jock/bookworm tension.

More commonly the theme simply involves violence between and the book worm employs his wits to overcome the brawny jock. Straw Dogs being a striking illustration but without the usual Rites of Passage setting.

Anyway my experience suggests that all this goes on primarily in fiction. In reality whether the jock is suspicious and threatened by the bookworm or vice versa is to do with other aspects of their lives and characters. It takes quite a lot of differences to align before the tension has consequences.

I liked academic stuff, my brother did not. That put a distance between us as boys - but so would any other difference of taste. As adults we have had sharp disagreements. But because of different ethical standpoints. Aided by the fact that he has earned more than me (he became a deep sea diver) neither of us accords any significance to our differing levels of interest in academic stuff.

Now had he earned a lot less I can see that the jock/bookworm difference between us might have led to jealousy.

But that would have been due to the disparity of means. Any sneering back and forth over the jock/bookworm thing would just have been window dressing.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
I don't think Agathon likes relativists...

No I just don't understand them, since their alethic relativism in my view entails semantic relativism.

If a relativist says to me "knowledge is relative" how am I supposed to know what those words mean to him. For all I know he could be saying "Ben Kenobi is right, Mariah Carey has a hot ass!" After all, it's all relative.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by TCO
You're being a weasel now. You said you got paid for you're writing. I asked for detail and you cited being a novelist as support. But your novels have not been paid for. That's a bit slimy. A good thing that I pinned you down like a struggling butterfly.

No, you asked if his novels have been published. He has been paid, because some were commissioned, IIRC. However he has not ad any published yet. His only source of income is his writing, IIRC, and so if he had to state a trade, that is what he would state. That's not slimy at all.

[Ned]

Agathon, Whaleboy admits he is not a relativist anyway. He starts his philosophy from an emotive position that war is bad. All else follows from this.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Agathon
If a relativist says to me "knowledge is relative" how am I supposed to know what those words mean to him. For all I know he could be saying "Ben Kenobi is right, Mariah Carey has a hot ass!" After all, it's all relative.

If he is, then he would be wrong. Plain wrong

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Ned
Agathon, Whaleboy admits he is not a relativist anyway. He starts his philosophy from an emotive position that war is bad. All else follows from this.

No, he believes, IIRC, that war is bad, however he also believes that someone else thinking that war is good is an equally valid position. He is a relativist, in that he believes all views are equally valid, however he still has his personal views. At least, that's what it was last time we chatted about it

[Ned]

Drogue, I look forward to Whaleboy's confirmation of your post.