Pseudo Intellectual by xtrachrisbee on Flickr image:32120:1::0

He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes.

- Senior Benedict : from William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Much Ado About Nothing is a play that has been able to describe much of life to me. I can take almost any situation that is comedic, Ironic, frustrating, and amusing and link it back to this comedy of puns. I happen to love Shakespeare's work, I have his complete works on a shelf displayed proudly in my dining room book case. My library also contains The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Prince by Machiavelli, volumes of references on the lost books of the bible, The Necronomicon, College text books on logic and reason, the Kama Sutra, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, and the list goes on and contains books in many subjects. One of my greatest joys in life is reading, learning and piecing together concepts from the past and present and what they would mean for the future.

Yet, I am an idiot. I am an ignorant nobody, who must be "enlightened " according to those who feel their knowledge and comprehension of knowledge is far superior to mine. Excuse me while I roll my eyes. I know it is an infantile gesture from an uneducated simpleton, but none the less it is far more pointed and eloquent than firing off a vocabulary heavy rant indicating that your moronic assertion of intellectual superiority is irritating considering that your understanding of basic concepts is that of a dictionary definition rather than true comprehension of the subject. How is that for a run on?

Paul Wallis, an accomplished, prolific, extremely intelligent, well humored, and honored member of digitaljournal.com recently did an opinion and editorial piece in response to another Op-Ed in the New York Times by Susan Jacoby. In true fashion of opinion, another opinion is formed, mine. Paul has a rather dry humor, so at times I find myself wondering whether he is being serious, sarcastic, or just plain goofy, it must be the British Comedy coming from his Australian roots. His assessment of the current state of America is interesting to say the least, everyone should read it for it holds much truth. However, I must put in my two cents as an opinionated American. Is there any other kind?

Susan Jacoby is on a crusade to bring the word "elite" back to its original meaning. She seems to be quite upset that it has been hijacked by commoners to mean "not one of us" instead of " the best." In the very first paragraph she completely misses the point of her own rant, commoners, politicians, and the like did not hijack the word "elite," the pseudo-elite did.

Jacoby discusses that in the 50's people looked down upon the learned by calling them "eggheads." The sneer was attributed to an aversion of intelligence, but that is not reality, it is aversion to the "better than you" attitude so many people were met with. This attitude is even more prevalent on the Internet in the age of information. Paul Wallis also weighs in on this

In the late 70s, the idea of communication to the lowest common denominator took hold in American business studies. The euphemism was “levels of communication”, and the idea was that you spelled things out so even the most mentally inactive person could at least believe they understood the subject.

We also call this "army proofing."

Lets run with this idea a bit and consider this under the slippery slope concept. If anti-intellectualism is breaking down knowledge into bits and pieces of easily digestible information to reach a different level on comprehension; then intellectualism is teaching in a manner so only one type of person would be able to understand. This means that concepts like phonics would be discouraged when teaching kids proper language and reading skills let alone teaching children the alphabet to understand the basics of phonetics.

It seems whenever a group of people come against an idea that shakes the foundations of their belief system they react to it in a violent manner. Albert Einstein observed this and said "Great spirits have always received violent opposition from mediocre minds." And so the cycle of great spirits and the violent have happened in many walks of life. There were times that the common man would look at a maverick and castigate him or her for the ideas, many times ideas that would change the world. History looks at people, great spirits if you will, that have been killed for the very intelligence that brought us the modern innovations and knowledge of today and holds them in honor. History books also condemn the actions of the groups that lead to the persecution of the gifted, but not only that goes to great lengths to paint them as buffoons. History has the last laugh? Or did History deprive us of the tools to learn from our actions by neglecting to look at the entire story?

We as a species entered the age of reason, where renaissance men and women were looked upon with respect and awe. More people of different castes were able to garner knowledge that previously would not be made available to them. Humanity advanced in leaps and bounds till we entered the information age. Information came at us from all angles, confusing us with the sheer volume, and allowed everyone to have instantaneous access to the voice of the elite of their fields. Knowledge from the east came west and the west came east, people were able to create forums again where they could meet and discuss ideas and learn and grow from one another. Imagine, the common man can now meet, discuss, and grow right along with the learned, many of who are all too happy to lend their knowledge for the common good.

Then we have the modern "elitists." Perhaps they are quite knowledgeable in their field and are simply deprived of social skills, but mostly these are people who feel they have something to prove or delight in ridiculing others on a path of greater knowledge. It is these people who have hijacked a precious term which used to apply to those who are the best of society. The pseudo intellectual elitists can be found in every forum, on every street corner, in every news room, at every job. The cycle of great spirits have come full circle and now the very people who claim elitism are the oppressors of great spirits. These groups of common narcissists gather in large groups to only promote themselves instead of the common good. Who claim to have intrinsic value in society, but are the criminals of intelligence holding back the few great spirits left. These are the people who promote mediocrity as a way of greatness, who establish status quo so that they are somehow left out of it. Alas status quo is has a much large definition since we as humans can now gather into forums and see how many similar groups of people there are.

America is dumbing down, and perhaps it is in an age of unreason, but make no mistake it is not because of the negative view people have of the self proclaimed "elite." Americans look at an elitist and see someone who is out of touch with reality, not because they are supposedly intelligent, but because they lack that complete intelligence that only the true elite possess. For some reason many of the pseudo-elite attempt to further ridicule people by attempting to accuse them of having no concept of their value. Well the common folk do appreciate true intelligence, they appreciate those who not only have "book smarts" but also "street smarts." America is dumbing down because "book smarts" is all that seems to matter to the "elitist" groups of today, while experience, consideration, and actual knowledge seem to be confusing concepts to the people who currently define intellectualism.

Susan Jacoby seemed to sneer at Hillary Clinton calling economists elitists when they criticized her about her gas tax holiday.

Senator Hillary Clinton’s use of the phrase “elite opinion” to dismiss the near unanimous opposition of economists to her proposal for a gas tax holiday was a landmark in the use of elite to attack expertise supposedly beyond the comprehension of average Americans. One might as well say that there is no point in consulting musicians about music or ichthyologists about fish.

Personally I completely understand where she is coming from with the accusation although I disagree with her reasoning behind the holiday. These are men and women who look at everyone and everything as a number. They have a great view of the macrocosm of economics, but a poor handle on the microcosm. In other words they can see how economics can effect the world on a large scale, but not on the small scale. These are people who are commentators on news channels and discuss gas prices and recession like they are some kind of myth while the "common man" watches on wondering how they are not feeling the effects of it. The gas tax holiday will be welcome, and would only save about $6.00 a fill up on 20 gallons of gas. So every weekly fill up a family would be able to now buy an additional gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, while the funds for public infrastructure dwindle. Does considering the needs of a family make someone less of an intellectual? I think not.

On another personal note, I tend not to consult musicians when I am considering if I think a certain style of music will benefit me when I listen to it. I consult them when I want to know the name of an artist, or clarification of advanced musical theory concepts I learned when taking the class. Why do I bring this up? It does not take an intellectual to appreciate music, nor does it take an intellectual to appreciate the concept of money. However it does take someone knowledgeable to tell me what a key change is when I hear it, or what an interest rate is when I pay it. Very small difference to be sure, but that is the difference between an "elitist" and an intellectual. An intellectual knows the knowledge and the application, an "elitist" can identify a concept but has little to offer about the application beyond the book definition.

Another discussion in the New York Times article made me quirk a brow.

During the past few months, I have received hundreds of e-mail messages calling me an elitist for drawing attention to America’s knowledge deficit. One of the most memorable came from a man who objected to my citation of a statistic, from a 2006 National Geographic-Roper survey, indicating that nearly two-thirds of Americans age 18 to 24 cannot find Iraq on a map. “Why should I care whether my mechanic knows where Iraq is, as long as he knows how to fix my car?” the man asked.

But what could be more elitist than the idea that a mechanic cannot be expected to know the location of a country where thousands of Americans of his own generation are fighting and dying?

In all due respect I do not think the point the man was trying to make was that a mechanic cannot be expected to know the location of a country, but that if they do not know the location of a country they should not be looked down upon. That if they are an elite mechanic, why is it important for them to know the location of Iraq. The man had it right, when you take your car to a mechanic your primary concern is if the mechanic is the best at his work, an elite mechanic. What pray tell is know the location of Mogadishu going to help when the mechanic is checking a fuel line? Ms. Jacoby must not understand the time demands on a normal mechanic. They get up quite early in the morning and go to work usually lifting and maneuvering heavy objects. They work 8-10 hours a day in a dirty grimy hot garage so that people like you, me, and her can use our cars to travel. There is usually no down time. Many times these men have families to support, so taking a sabbatical is generally not an option. They come home at night, take a relaxing hot shower, eat a hot meal, and then either sit down with their family or go to bed. What time do hard working men have to learn geography, further more why should they care what a person thinks about them because they do not know the location of a country on a map? They have to worry about putting food on the table and making sure people like Ms. Jacoby can go to work where their entire day is consumed with being able to learn whatever they wish to because that is essential what they are paid for. Unless Ms. Jacoby and people like her wish to learn about busted radiator caps and break repair, fix their own cars and give these men a break to have the luxury of time for higher education, perhaps they should not underestimate the "simple" car mechanic.

I bet that does get under the skin of many pseudo elitists, that a car mechanic can have more intelligence than them, especially when you consider the different types of intelligence. Howard Gardener defined nine types of intelligence, which helped people understand that just because someone is not good at one thing does not mean they cannot be good at another. The multiple intelligences theory has been explored but not used enough in education in the United States. Focusing on the exceptional qualities of an individual has been scoffed at and replaced with the demand that all children be renaissance children. This means that the United States is breeding a long line of mediocre children that are being disguised as "well rounded." Not to say that exposing them to all valuable information is wrong, it is the best approach, but criticising them and holding them back from life because they learn in a different matter is ludicrous. Many times they are the very children whose true intelligence is stifled at the hand of the "elite" who are afraid of the competition of a great mind being fed the food it needs instead of multivitamin supplements with bread and water.

In conclusion, am I elite because I have a large library, am adept at medical concepts, can grasp scientific theory, can apply religious principles to life, can dance, sing, act and play 3 instruments, write articles and stories, garden, craft, and demonstrate many other talents? Not according to the "elite." But I do get quite a bit of respect from my elders who have had years of experience, have learned much, and enjoy the hunger for knowledge I have. I plan on living my life as a student, and if one day I am the best at any field, you can bet I will not be accused of being elite, because I will have the distinct honor of being a teacher and someone who inspires rather than degrades the intelligence of those around me.