Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site tove.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!umcp-cs!tove!dsn
From: dsn@tove.UUCP (Dana S. Nau)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: XSO IQ
Message-ID: <244@tove.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 22-Jun-85 17:34:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: tove.244
Posted: Sat Jun 22 17:34:07 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Jun-85 00:30:10 EDT
References: <1476@utah-gr.UUCP> <1560088@acf4.UUCP> <1100@peora.UUCP> <498@ttidcc.UUCP>
Reply-To: dsn@tove.UUCP (Dana S. Nau)
Organization: U of Maryland, Laboratory for Parallel Computation, C.P., MD
Lines: 58

In article <498@ttidcc.UUCP> hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) writes:
>
> ... There's  a strong  anti-intellectual streak in the culture of the
> United States. ... Examples:
>
>	Effete intellectual snob  (Thank you, Spiro Agnew)

Our esteemed (:-)) ex-vice-president's phrase was "impudent corps of effete
snobs".  "Intellectual" was not there.  The phrase itself is pretty
intellectual-sounding:  how many people normally use words like "impudent"
or "effete"?

>	Egghead
>	Know-it-all
>	Smartass
>	Smart guy
>	Wise ass
>	Wise guy
>
>I've had most of these words used  against  me  at  one  time  or  another.
>Usually  the  person who used them was someone who resented me knowing more
>about a subject than they did.  They are not  always  used  with  sarcastic
>intent.

I think most of the above phrases connote not someone who is merely
intellectual, but rather someone who is trying to *show off* his/her
knowledge in order to feel superior to others.  The only times I have ever
had such words used against me were times when--at least partly--that was
what I was trying to do.  I suspect the same might be true for you.

Also, how about insults such as "dummy", "stupid bastard", "moron", "idiot",
"head up his ass", etc.?  How about jokes (such as Polack jokes) that make
fun of someone's supposed stupidity?  There are a lot of those, too.

>For further evidence of anti-intellectualism, consider teachers' pay scales
>as compared with, say, plumbers' or auto assembly line workers.

I think it's simple supply and demand.  Certain people (myself included!)
are willing to become professors even though the salaries are lower, because
of other advantages of the profession (flexible hours, self-direction, etc).
If there were an oversupply of plumbers, the prices would come down, and
people would stop becoming plumbers.  In fact, computer science faculty
salaries have gotten pretty good in the last few years, because of the
competition from industry.

>Frankly, the implications of this scare the hell out of me.  What  can  one
>say about a culture that values learning so little?

I could be really wrong about this, because I don't know you personally.
However, I can't help but suspect that what really scares you might be the
every-day interactions you have with people, rather than abstractions
like "the culture of the United States".  It might be more beneficial for
you to concentrate on the specifics of those interactions, and consider how
you might be able to improve them.
-- 
Dana S. Nau,  Computer Science Dept.,  U. of Maryland,  College Park, MD 20742
ARPA:  dsn@maryland				CSNet:  dsn@umcp-cs
UUCP:  {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!dsn	Phone:  (301) 454-7932