Who feels like a pretender?
I've seen several posts where someone is saying they don't consider themselves intellectuals or they like to listen to intellectuals. What do you think is an intellectual? I'd argue most here are in different places on the path of intellectualism. The biggest hurdle is the one where you decide you are, in fact, an intellectual. That speaks to intent--not to the level of competence you've gained on the path.
Celebrate yourselves (just a little). I challenge you to challenge yourselves to identify yourselves as intellectuals, and then notice what changes it makes in you. What would your world look like if you had something substantive to contribute to the body of understanding?
I'm here because of most of the people I've read here. I appreciate your curiosity and your hearts and your desire to take that next step up.
You're intellectuals. I have no doubt.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I sure hope I'm an Intellectual...'cause if I had to use my lack of physical talent to get by, I'd starve pretty quickly... =\
WilliamLWeaver
Level 5
Apr 24, 2019
1
I don’t consider myself intellectual and I’m not uni-educated. I am well-read across news sources, opinion pages and social media (I eschew books now, unfortunately). I apply common sense and (usually) have a keen analytical eye on what surrounds me.
I’m not sure that I’m open to new ideas - I was when I was a lefty (Admission #1 - I thought all, each and every, illegal immigrant was a genuine refugee) about ten years ago but it wasn’t hard to be persuaded from a leftist point of view as my opinions then were based on emotion or surface information only. Now, I’m either not open to views from the left or there genuinely is no merit in their arguments - I can’t tell - all I know is that I’ve never been persuaded back to a leftist viewpoint on any topical issue.
The reason I don’t regard myself as an intellectual is due to the fact that I cannot go ‘in depth’ on a topic. I hold a view for my own reasons, but once an interrogator pushes me to explain my stance in detail I lose interest (admission #2 - 5-second attention span) and/or lose the thread of the argument if It gets convoluted (admission #3 - no strategy skills whatsoever. Don’t ask me to play chess).
But! Regardless of the above, I do love reading the posts on IDW Community and the ensuing comments because, unlike Faceplant, I’m learning a lot more from everyone here as you are all the closest to like-minded individuals that I’ve found to date.
JacintaL
Level 6
Apr 23, 2019
2
An intellectual is anyone seeking truth with an openness to evaluate new information using facts, logic, and reason.
Holding degree(s) from a university does not make you an intellectual nor does not having degree(s) make you a non-intellectual.
I'll self identify as "intellectual" because every time I think I've found the truth, new facts take me to a new truth or at least a modified version of the one I held.
cRaZyTMG
Level 7
Apr 23, 2019
3
I love your encouragement ...and I can sense that you are also at this crossroads ... lol, I think that being an intellectual is like being anyone walking down the street. We all have a purpose ...some happen to use the brain while others use common sense ... lol. I think that generally, most people find that niche and go for it.. while other find that niche..and that niche opens up a menagerie of other niches. .. lol, I suppose that is where the intellectual part plays a role I suppose. But it is often a work of passion regardless of education. lol...they say that one must practice Ten Thousand Hours to Become a Master.
KebblerFox
Level 5
Apr 22, 2019
2
I am pretty sure people like Marx and Engels, Machiavelli and Mao, Hitler, Stalin, and more could all be seen as intellectuals. Intellectualism is not a belief system - it is neither dogma nor doctrine. It is a quality or characteristic of persons who are inquisitive and find themselves in an almost compulsory search for answers to all manner things. There is or can be a problem with this. Man tends to create God in his own image. Where he goes with his inquisitiveness is often determined by his own preconceived ideas about the who the what the why and the how. This often leads to dangerous and just plain amoral conclusions.
iThink
Level 9
Apr 22, 2019
3
"An Intellectual is someone who's open-minded enough that their stance or belief can be changed by facts, logic and reason" - this my friend is the definition of the Classic Liberal Mind. @MADcHATTER
@MADcHATTER
I can't exactly remember the proverb but it's something to the effect of:
Trust the man that has doubts. Distrust the man who has none.
Its a good day when I read a comment and I'm down the rabbit hole for one or two days lightly researching and looking for holes in an argument. Don't like being wrong but I'm for the better when I get corrected.
RobBlair
Level 8
Apr 22, 2019
3
Reasonable.
Just want to make this point. We're ALL WRONG ALL OF THE TIME! At our best, we don't know (better off when we admit it). Statistics as discipline were created to measure how wrong we can be at any given time. An entire academic area built because we're always wrong. Who cares? There's no shame in doing the best we can trying to learn.
I sorta loathe the word. The idea, even. The definition aside, the notion of "other with brainlyness" or "other not so nearly well minded" is just Fu@king offensive. We have among us individuals who are poking at the edges of their own understanding and people who are making a living and doing the best they can with the knowing they have at hand. The vast majority of us aren't overly smart. The vast majority of we who are curious aren't overly smart. Yes, we want to know more, but most of us have just a curiosity...a questioning mind. But mostly we have a willingness to challenge... to call Bullshit when convention goes off the rails.
Most of us aren't intellectuals. Most of us are bullshit detectors and question askers.
govols
Level 8
Apr 22, 2019
1
Of late, to be a conservative commentator you don't have to have any especial insight... just a smattering of common sense and the willingness to express it.
As you put it both more succinctly and more pithily... the ability to detect BS and call them out on it.
Btw during the Obama years I kept hearing about his "soaring rhetoric." What's the difference between Soaring rhetoric and Boring Rhetoric? Just a little BS.
Alright, @govols, let's go down that road a bit. What constitutes smart to you? Do you have a sense of scale--even the population parameters in general? There are 7.6 billion people on the earth. Are you in the top billion? Top 2 billion? Given what we know about SES, infant stimulation, education? Were you generally at the 50th percentile or better on most of the testing you did in school? I'm guessing we don't have many below the 50th percentile, and I'd imagine we may not have anyone below the 75th percentile just based on my observations of verbal reasoning.
Look, I know there's a temptation to undervalue ourselves in honor of humility, and I think that's a great thing IN CONTEXT. But, we're just having a safe conversation here, and I'm trying to push the thought to what is reasonable inference? In a sense, we're not talking about us at this point. We're talking about the world.
Did you know 33% or so in the US now have an undergraduate degree? Used to be 13% of those go on to get a masters, and then 13% of those go on for a PhD. So, think in terms of numbers--how small a number does that end up being? Now, chances are most on this site probably have high school education or an undergraduate degree, but you're still talking about that being pretty good relative to the whole world. It's a scaling question.
The term intellectual has gotten a terrible connotation for some good reasons, but the truth is the term is innocuous--appropriated for misuse by people who wanted to sound smarter than they could just by calling someone an asshole. There are tons of terms that have gotten a negative connotation, and we sacrifice our ability to communicate precisely by acquiescing to pop-cultural appropriation. Screw that. So, suck it up and wear it. WEAR IT! Own that sht...hahahaha.
Okay, your turn.
@chuckpo Okay, I have to admit to a bias that's coming out. I think of the word intellectual and it comes out intelligentsia; my mind makes a slur of it before I ever have a chance to think about it. My mind goes to the chattering class who've spent years talking down about the poorly educated, among whom I'm generally counted. I've had some college but very little beyond comp and algebra.
So, smart eh? Well, I suppose it depends. I won't call out an IQ or percentile because I know some mid-wits who are very damned good--effective--at the things they decide to and set about to do. Still, I get where you're coming from; it would probably do all of us some good if we decided to be intellectuals--if we decided to more vigorously pursue the areas of knowledge that really stimulate our curiosities.
Me? As far as my ability to learn, I haven't yet found any limit beyond my willingness to do the work. I'm here because I like to talk with people, and because I'm still working on the question that popped into my head--yet again--a few years ago: "What the F is wrong with these people?" I'm still working on it....
@govols, hahaha, awesome! I had you at, ' I haven't yet found any limit beyond my willingness to do the work.'
You're an intellectual. And, that's okay. Look how 'masculinity' was appropriated into something nasty. Well, I reject that noise. Masculinity--it's a model--is about positive traits and identity. I refuse to allow someone of another gender define for me what it means to be a man. I'm fully able to do that on my own. Intellectualism got appropriated in the same way. It doesn't mean some intellectuals didn't bring it on themselves, just like there are some truly awful men that look just like us good men. But, they don't control what the categories 'men' and 'intellectual' are either. I'm proud of what good men are, and I'm proud of what good intellectuals are, and I'm not ceding the ground. There is no power like the power of good people set upon doing good things. It's how we roll that counts. What the F IS wrong with these people? Ummm, I don't care. They don't get to run the world.
@govols
Nice response on intellectuals and effective intelligence. and I loved your conclusion.
And therein you have hit upon the mystery of the ages, "What the F is wrong with these people."
The Buddha himself oft meditated on this very question. The mantra "Ohm" has been imperfectly understood.
"Ohm My God" is the true short form of the mantra. In deep meditative state the Buddha's mantra was "Ohm My God, What the F is wrong with these people?"
Although reality has yet to render an answer, contemplating the question is a very spiritual thing.
I have always had a strong hunger for knowledge but not what could be filled in the book education system, I never stop picking my husband's brain who is very well read etc. But I must learn my own way or I lose interest sharing information is addictive to me as much as receiving information. Hand's on is a must. My dream was to be a Achyologist so I think that explains my search for truth as well.
Gerri4321
Level 7
Apr 22, 2019
3
I have some doubts... the older I get the dumber I feel.
When I watch a Jordan Peterson debate... the doubts grow quite a bit stronger.
Btw... as to celebrating myself I have a better idea. If I change my name to Diversity, all liberals will have to celebrate me.
I mean the streamers and confetti get old real fast, but never having to pay for lunch never gets old.
An_Ominous
Level 7
Apr 22, 2019
3
the older I get the dumber I feel.
Brilliant! I've never heard anything smarter than that statement right there.
And, JP is flat out a better version of me. I admit it. But, here's the thing. Are you comparing yourself to possibly and arguably one of the foremost intellects of our time? How is your basketball? Do you compare yourself to Michael Jordan? It's a bit rough making your standard of acceptable someone that may be in the top 100,000 around the world of 7.6 billion. Really? That's your bar? Pass/Fail? Ouch. I can't compete with JP UNLESS I did the work he's done. He built himself on his own work, and he's earned his place. I haven't done that work, and I haven't earned his place. That doesn't mean I'm an idiot without anything important to say.
If I change my name to Diversity, all liberals will have to celebrate me.
Hahaha, that's funny. Well played, ominous, well played.
@chuckpo
I'd change my name to Intersectionality but I have no idea what it means.
Offhand I'd say it has something to do with LGBTQ drivers...or sofas, not sure which.
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