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From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: XSO IQ
Message-ID: <501@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 15:32:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.501
Posted: Mon Jun 24 15:32:30 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Jun-85 01:11:34 EDT
References: <1476@utah-gr.UUCP> <1560088@acf4.UUCP> <1100@peora.UUCP> <498@ttidcc.UUCP> <244@tove.UUCP>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 61
Summary: 

In article <244@tove.UUCP> dsn@tove.UUCP (Dana S. Nau) writes:
>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"?

My apologies to Mr. Agnew for the misquote.

>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.

Sometimes, but not always.  I've had others take that attitude when  all  I
was  trying  to  do  was give a complete answer to a complex question.  How
does one distinguish between that  and  "showing  off"?  For  that  matter,
what's  wrong  with  "showing off"?  People are seldom attacked for showing
off athletic ability.  Like many intellectuals I  had  most  tendencies  to
"show off" beaten out of me on the schoolyard.

>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.

Certainly, name-calling  and  ethnic  slurs  are  odious  in  any  context.
Applying  them to a positive attribute such as high intelligence only makes
them more so.

>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.

I've never  yet  heard  anyone  complain  of  an  oversupply  of  qualified
teachers.  The way our school boards tell it they're scarce as hen's teeth.
Yet the voters regularly defeat education  funding  issues  at  the  polls.
Then  they  wonder  why  their  children can't read when they graduate high
school.

>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.

No, you don't know me personally.  If you did, you'd know my opinions about
amateur  psychology (I have a Master's in Clinical Psychology) (Sorry.  Was
that showing off?).  Suffice to  say  that  the  above  paragraph  violates
several  sections  of the APA ethics code (with the best of intentions, I'm
sure).
-- 
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The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
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