Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site uwmacc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster From: oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: XSO IQ Message-ID: <1241@uwmacc.UUCP> Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 14:07:10 EDT Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1241 Posted: Mon Jun 24 14:07:10 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Jun-85 07:51:37 EDT References: <1476@utah-gr.UUCP> <1560088@acf4.UUCP> <1100@peora.UUCP> <498@ttidcc.UUCP> Reply-To: oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious oyster) Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center Lines: 37 In article <498@ttidcc.UUCP> hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) writes: >This brings up a point which has troubled me for a long time. There's a >strong anti-intellectual streak in the culture of the United States. As a >demonstration of this consider: So far as I know, colloquial United States >English is the only language in which it's possible to insult people by >saying they're intelligent. Examples: > [etc.] > >Frankly, the implications of this scare the hell out of me. What can one >say about a culture that values learning so little? >-- Another anecdote from my files: I was doing some biking with a group of people from the university recently, and, as it had been raining for 4 hours or so, we decided to stop at a small cafeteria to get some nice warm coffee. When one of the gentlemen I was with was asked by the high-school-aged young woman behind the counter if he wanted decaffeinated coffee, he responded with a spiel about ATPs and what-not, diagrams and all, in spite of her protestations of "Will I care about this tomorrow?" This embarassed me greatly, since it seemed clear to me that it was taken by the young woman as a display of his "superiority" over her. Later on (still riding in the rain), he seemed truly put out about the incident, not because of his "smarter-than-thou" display, but because it seemed that the young woman just wasn't interested in learning what he was telling her! Gosh, he exclaimed, aren't people interested in learning anymore? And you wonder why some people resent "educated" people? Granted, this clown may be the exception rather than the rule, but there is at least *some* cause for anti-intellectualism. Perhaps it has a parallel in the way certain smart, non-athletic people I know look down upon those blessed with athletic rather than intellectual ability. -- - joel "vo" plutchak {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster "Take what I say in a different way and it's easy to say that this is all confusion."