The "Intellectual" Left
The Left, in the United States, lays claim to all intellectual high ground. Most of higher education is stocked by members of the Left intelligentsia. And yet, the attacks on leaders on the right is usually couched in terms of ridicule or opprobrium.
The mantra of the Left, at least in the United States, seems to be that if you do not agree with them you are either stupid or you are evil. The only way you can show intelligence is to agree with them on all things. The only way you can show humanity is to do things their way. If you oppose a position taken by these intellectuals you either don't understand or you are an evil person who is willing to turn your back on the greater good of humanity. Denigrating your opponents intelligence and/or their motives is easier than having to respond to their positions. |
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I can't believe you just wasted scarce, precious oxygen to come up with this.
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What left?
For that matter, what intellectuals? For an educated American to rail against 'intellectuals' is not only absurd, it is frankly pathetic. America is, more than any other country in the world, possibly any other country on the planet, the country of the mob - and it is usually a hysterical and knee-jerk mob at that. It would not have stomach for a self-professed intellectual of any variety even if it knew what one was. Denigrating intellectualism - which is of course a term covering all higher human thinking - is only done by those who fear it or regard it within insecurity. As I don't think you are afraid of higher thought or insecure about it, dda, I can only assume you are parroting this crap from some loudmouth knobjockey who is. |
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Was this an attempt to break the irony record on the internet by launching an ad hominem attack on the entire educational establishment of the USA over the fact they use ad hominem attacks :confused:
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The attacks on the Far Right are rarely framed in serious debate because the arguments made by the Far Right are rarely more than rhetoric. Both dies are guilty of this and it's an important part of the American political system, in that the result is to reduce discussion of real issues to a minimum. |
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It is also frustrating that those people who hold themselves up as intellectual beacons are as prone to it as those they demean. |
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G. D. is rife with such positions. |
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The mantra of the Right, at least in Europe, seems to be that if you do not agree with them you are either stupid or you are evil. The only way you can show intelligence is to agree with them on all things. The only way you can show humanity is to do things their way. If you oppose a position taken by these intellectuals you either don't understand or you are an evil person who is willing to turn your back on the greater good of humanity. Denigrating your opponents intelligence and/or their motives is easier than having to respond to their positions. There you go. I presented a subjective position based on my personal bias and views with little or to no analytical backing. |
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The first part of this is my opinion and you are free to rebuke me for it with a counter-argument - you have not done so. The second part is based on a reasonable suspicion, as you have previously referenced the fact that you read the sort of shit which would inspire this thread. There has been no attempt to refute this second point either, which rather leads me to suspect it is true. Quote:
I was unaware that a thread all about slagging off America and making sweeping generalisations about it's political culture was not the place to make critical comments about American political culture, my apologies. Quote:
Oh, the humanity! Yes, so what do we have here up to now: a thread created to air a prejudice regarding "the left" as supposedly being intolerant and condemning any opposing points of view, in which you proceed to entirely dismiss any opposing comment as being unfounded and "demeaning". And they say Americans don't do irony. |
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Well we havently really narrowed anything down have we. "The left". What left, and who is enaging in this behaviour? This is what I mean by 'pathetic'. At a time when all the narrow and bluntly ideological intolerance in American politics is quite pointedly coming from the right in the shape of the tea party, what do we do - we attack 'the left'. Fabulous conclusion.
Also your identification of intellectuals is contradictory. 'An intellectual is someone whose mind is open'. So how can an intellectual be part of this supposed intolerant left? If they're intolerant, they're not an intellectual. But as I've never met a single person in my life who self-identified as an intellectual, I'm not really sure on what basis it's useful. My comment on 'the country of a mob' is my rather unflattering take on America's democratic and egalitarian impulses, and it's suspicion of elites. All of which I believe can be, and in the case of America often are, taken too far. As, I would waspishly suggest, this thread partially demonstrates. |
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So, what about those of us in the middle, those of us that have opinions that fall on both sides of the bi-partisan aisle?
I happen to adore mocking people regardless of their beliefs. Does this automatically put me on the "left"? What about my education level, as I have an advanced degree, not to mention self-identify as an intellectual (which I define as a person who uses knowledge and critical thinking to understand the world)? Do I have to be either a trust fund baby, or a lower class factory worker to be part of the "right"? I know people of all walks of life, of all races, creeds, colors and sexes that fall on both ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between. The most accepting person I know did not complete secondary school. I know multitudes of closed-minded individuals self-identifying as intellectuals. And yes, I have mocked them all (including myself), with reckless and joyful abandon! You are entitled to your opinion, as am I. I do not agree with your opinion, however it is not an uncommon one. Also, "the Left intelligentsia" definitely does not have the monopoly on either mockery or determining the opposition is stupid or evil for disagreement. Wherever you have passionate opposing sides, there will be both. If you truly question the truth of my words, just take a look at any one of the planetarion suggestion threads... If you would like a general comment, all humans are egocentric, puerile simpletons, firmly convinced of his/her superiority to not only others of the species, but other species... and all because we have no scale to compare ourselves to to know how truly ignorant we are. Definitely including me. ;) |
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next on fox news...
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It makes me sad how we are no longer a forum with even a modicum of self-awareness or sense of irony. I, for one, blame T&F.
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maybe you should go post in "Alliance Discussions" about it.
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Maybe you should not post at all.
Already pretty much there aren't we? |
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sup dude, got any new fancy skinnyjeans lately? Could you advice me on the kind of belt I should wear with it, white is still the color of the day? I hear Uggs are acceptable for male nowadays, would you advice me to go for them or am I already behind the times? dunno man dunno, i just feel like ordering stuff. And dancing, i also feel like dancing, dancing in my skinnyjeans. I feel like opening threads about me dancing in skinnyjeans so everyone can comment on my style. s. t. y. l.e. yep |
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Hey Jonny, are you still Irish and mysterious and drunk?
Let's shoot some movies. |
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I'm just hella excited about :
the Rally to Restore Sanity... Also, what's more fun than taking yourself too seriously on the PA forums? Or hell, on PA in general? |
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I thought the thread title meant left here.
I entered it to wish you luck :p |
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Mint-tea!
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Hi Big Boy
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dda is just jealous, couse the right doesnt have any intellectuals of their own.*
* Neither of these are intellectuals: Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck. |
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