Anti-intellectualism is Anti-community

 I don't have any degrees. I went to University for, as my dad called it, "Basket-Weaving", not exactly an intellectual pursuit - it was Theatre Arts, but whatever, I ditched after 1 year. Much later in life, after moving to property in the north, I took a certificate course in, as I called it, "How to Play in the Woods", which was a Rural Recreation program. In between those times, about 20 years, I played the guitar and wrote songs, spending hours of my days in practice (mostly because I was searching for meaning, broke, and there was nothing else to do... but I digress). I am pro-intellect and I am pro-community.

I've always respected and appreciated those who've had the gumption, energy and brain power to spend much of their time learning to the point of accreditation, which takes many years. They're not learning to say, "look at me, look at me!", they're learning because they are interested in knowing more about something. They're interested in using that knowledge to better themselves and the world. And when you see people with accreditation, you know that those people are probably better informed about their particular specialization than you are - at least that's what one would think...

When uninformed opinion is presented as fact, there's a problem. When uninformed people believe that opinion, there's an even bigger problem. As an analogy: with the amount of energy/time I put into guitar-playing over 30 years now, there's no way someone only practicing for a few months would compare - that's just fact. You get what I'm saying?

Anti-intellectualism as per Wikipedia: hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical, politically motivated, and even contemptible human pursuits.^[1] Anti-intellectuals present themselves and are perceived as champions of common folk—populists against political and academic elitism—and tend to see educated people as a status class that dominates political discourse and higher education while being detached from the concerns of ordinary people.

Well, I'm ordinary-common-folk, as are many of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Yet most of us, if concerned with fill-in-the-blank, would rather listen to people who've studied for years about fill-in-the-blank than those who have not studied fill-in-the-blank at all.

Anti-intellectuals would never label themselves so, because it just doesn't sound very good, and it isn't - So who are these people? Anti-intellectuals are a problem, even if nobody admits to being one. Some are smart, but there's a chip on their shoulders, and they haven't actually taken the time to be accredited in anything. They are angry and bitter folks who somehow think they've been duped by smarter people who they resent - resent why? I could answer here, but there are past blog posts that might explain it.

And yes, some intellectuals are assholes, but there are many more who are not. Also, let's acknowledge that there are many people contributing great things to the world who don't have any degrees or accreditation. But, the progress of our communities and our world rely on people who understand the need for learning and growth in all areas. Jerks come in all shapes and sizes and intellect, so there's that, and so do ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Community is dynamic and it needs to progress, progress needs learning, learning needs discipline, and that discipline needs respect.