Encountering anti-intellectualism

[SimuLord]

I'm a business major. My colleagues in business school constantly denigrate humanities majors and art majors and other people who, let's face it, run intellectual circles around us dumbfucks who are only in school to chase money, the single least intellectual thing a person can do. These were people who treated the freshman and sophomore liberal arts core as a chore to be overcome (or finessed) rather than an opportunity to expand the mind beyond dollars and cents.

There's a reason I don't date business-major girls. Because they are profoundly unattractive. Physically hot? Hell yeah. But extremely unattractive for their disdain for anything that isn't about money.

(so who DO I date? Humanities, arts, and elementary education majors. The first two for their intellect, the last for their tendency to be potentially awesome moms because they're clearly good with kids.)

Its funny that people slack off humanities and art when those 2 have such a massive impact upon our world.

The rationale is even worse: "This class is stupid. If I can't use it on my resumé or to help me with a job interview, then why do I have to take it?"

I have nothing but contempt for those sorts of people. I can't even say they're selling their souls---that would imply they have such a thing to sell.

 

[Dogstile]

Mainly from my brothers who aren't going to university. Both of them did animal care, both of them are jobless

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I think this is backwards.

I've been doing part-time work in a pub for about 4 years now. The clientel is decidedly blue collar, and their views on intellectual pursuits are fairly positive. They might not be enthused by academia, but they respect it.

In juxtaposition with my time as a student...

Honestly, the attitudes of the blue collar workers and the drunks are far more "live and let live". My student-peers spoke about these people with disgust, as though they'd sneezed on their food or killed their parents(not the same, I realise)...rather than simply having different priorities or skills.

We're cockroaches, some niche knowledge doesn't make you a "better" cockroach.

 

[mrhateful]

I'm a business major. My colleagues in business school constantly denigrate humanities majors and art majors and other people who, let's face it, run intellectual circles around us dumbfucks who are only in school to chase money, the single least intellectual thing a person can do. These were people who treated the freshman and sophomore liberal arts core as a chore to be overcome (or finessed) rather than an opportunity to expand the mind beyond dollars and cents.

There's a reason I don't date business-major girls. Because they are profoundly unattractive. Physically hot? Hell yeah. But extremely unattractive for their disdain for anything that isn't about money.

(so who DO I date? Humanities, arts, and elementary education majors. The first two for their intellect, the last for their tendency to be potentially awesome moms because they're clearly good with kids.)

I think i might have vomitted in disgust while reading that.

 

[CODE-D]

Do you mean my mother? The woman is as dense as a ..ill stop there.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Its funny that people slack off humanities and art when those 2 have such a massive impact upon our world.

Because Math and Science is the wave of the future, who cares if people of the future can't read, write, and make arguments properly. That stuff certainly isn't needed to do well in Math and Science. Wink wink.

That is why I hated it when Math and Science majors criticized me when I complained about having to take too many math and science classes in college. They would blurt out, "well, we have to take your stupid writing and literature classes." The problem with that is that my complaint/argument is valid because I don't need advanced Math and Science to be the writer I want to be. Theirs is invalid, because in order for them to be good mathematicians and scientists, they have to know how to speak and write well, because one that can't speak and write well, won't be taken seriously.

 

[CODE-D]

my science teacher made us watch The Core for god sakes. And not to poke holes in it, to actually educate us.

Wait...



What?

Oh it gets worse. My 12th grade biology teacher was staunchly in favour of creationism so we got little to no books, or reports or anything like that on the subject aside from the bare basics. She also peed in a petri-dish for an experiment.

a lot of high school teachers do suck. My anatomy/phys teach didnt even teach but always told us to learn it ourselves by the reading and insisted its how its done in college(she was in college) now im in college quickly learning that was partly bullshit.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Some people get very offended when what they don't have is paraded as the thing you need to be a functioning member of society.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Your not at Lancaster University are you? That kind of shit happens here all the time.

Also I grew up in a family of anti-intellectuals who think the only reason you go to university is so you can get a better job and so do not understand why I have taken History which is apparently a 'pointless' subject.

That sure sounds like an amazing family.

"Let's forget all of the lessons of the past, that way you can learn to do things better in the future... uh..."

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Another F'ing symptom of mystical bullshit that's made a come back in the civilized world. Developing countries focus on science: underdeveloped and developed countries tend to believe in herbs, crystals and WHAT THE F.

Alot of actual medicine does come from herbs and so on.

Funny story. Once apon a time, some guys tested all the herbal medicine and random cures for things people claimed. They proved some work. We call it medicine now. People who believe in this stuff irk me. Its good to remember what the quotes poster said. We test things. We move on. Everything is evolution, if you like it or not.

On topic: Likely when, as the only athiest in a group of christian friends i was told id be a better person if i was christian. Backstabbed AND told morals cant exist without religion. Ouch.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

I've actually been talked down to when I go through phases where I just want to use 'complicated' words in place of their more common equivalents, and those times don't even hold a candle to one person I occasionally chat with who constantly uses big words for every day terms. The only difference I sense is that I am capable of 'dumbing down' what I say so the majority of other people I know don't get frustrated and upset.

 

[Verlander]

In South Africa our government is placing strong emphasis on education and having less kids. Watching the vast majority of American shows on TV is absolutely F'ing horrible. Then my encounters on the internet with most Americans is also an "intellectual" train wreck; it feels like most(qualifier, meaning NOT ALL) Americans know nothing about nothing. My experience of UK media and Europeans is different. On the internet and WoW I've had alot of exposure to the Irish, Scottish and British and I find that a 15 year old Irish kid on WoW is alot more knowledgable than the average 35 year old American. This is MY experience and yes, I'm generalizing.

The point is that when a society becomes too comfortable then it becomes lazy and then it can't figure out why immigrants are taking over while also resenting China for filling in the global economic gaps.

Anti-intellectualism is a luxury that, we've seen through history, is a symptom of Empires/Ages/Governments etc that are heading downhill. 50 - 60 years ago, Americans were in general alot more competent in their respective fields than they are today, and I'm basing this statement on Education statistics, general production and societal factors. I'd say it's because the Soviet Union then was a strong threat which every American understood as "If I don't work my F'ing ass off, the Reds are going to take over."
When there's no enemy then there's no real reason to wanting to better yourself. I'm leaving out ALOT of uhh supporting argument and evidence here since I don't want to write an essay.

One last thing that I've observed in the white Afrikaans speaking population that I belong to here is that it is polarized. There are two mindsets: 1.) The blacks have taken over so what's the use of me even trying? And 2.) We're living in a new age and a new country, let's make the best of it and see how far ALL OF US can get.

Group 1 has a tendency to be anti-intellectual since they see no reason in trying to be better and educating themselves; these are the guys who live to go the pub or they simply fuckoff overseas and ironically come back a few years later. They've NO reason not to be lazy.
Group 2 are the people who go to college and don't live in racial stereotypes. Professionals, intellectuals etc.

Empires, countries, whatever who have grown complacent grow stupid. We've seen this many times in history. The fall of almost any great civilization has had these same symptoms: the Greeks, the Romans, the Mongolians etc etc. It's always been social or religious complacence. I think we're seeing America and Europe(specifically Britain) following this trend of anti-Intellectualism foreshadowing a rapid decline.

I hope I'm wrong... I like being a Westerner.

This is very similar to a book I co-wrote a few years ago (still not published-argh!) about empire mindset, and how all nationals of countries that have recently had an Empire or similar (like America, Britain, Germany and Japan), have different, very negative attitudes towards education, globalisation, and politics. The best example is if you go to "holiday hotspots", such as the Spanish islands in Europe (for British and German tourists), major cities in Europe/Asia (for Japanese/American tourists) and central Africa (for American tourists). They are demanding, attempt to convert these places into little clones of their own homes, and create communes of their own people. They rarely attempt language, or fitting in at all. They have an arrogance and overwhelming anti-intellectualism.

The book is far longer than that summary, and explains any flaws in the theory that crop up from this paragraph, (also highlights the difference with Japan and the others, as well as the difference with the communist "Empires" of the USSR and China), but is a great read. There's a collective mentality, and if you compare how recently the "Empire" was lost you see a clear difference in attitudes of society. For example, as you pointed out, British and German societies are closer matched than British and American societies, as the Americans have yet to loose their claim on the world. There is a mathematical formula for it, but buggered if I can reel it off of the top of my head

 

[ranyilliams]

Members of the Escapist, the academics in particular, have you ever been confronted with anti-intellectualism or any form of depreciation of intellectual pursuits?

I believe that, a few days ago, I had my first encounter with a borderline militant anti-intellectual. A friend and I (both university students) were on our way home on our daily commute, when suddenly this man started babbling at us in the train. I'm uncertain what he was saying exactly, as it was a mix of his mothertongue and mine. However the parts he did speak in Dutch suggested he had an intense loathing of students, saying we should just get a job out of secondary education and whatever we were studying he would understand in an instant. Also, he apparently supports our governments new ruling that students who take extended time for their studies are fined ?3000,- (roughly $4069.2 USD) for each consecutive year after the first extra year taken. (Granted, loafing requires some proper consequences, but COME ON.)

Then again, the man might have been drunk, drugged, or enibriated in another way.

Honestly man part of being an intellectual is dealing with this problem, there are always going to be stupid people. its just the way it is, so try not to be so hurt by this one drunken mans opinion but i do agree i'm from canada and that amount of money for one additional year for nothing is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[esperandote]

Every TV show directed at teens today.

 

[Hafnium]

Occassionally, but it's not too bad.
I remember one specific time, I was about 14, probably the first time I got drunk (the legal age was 15 then, 16 now). I must have jokingly called out a classmate for saying something that was worded wrongly or didn't make sense, and got called a "dictionary" in a derogatory tone. I never knew that knowing HOW TO USE WORDS was wrong.