The quotes from Wiki used here are challenged on their sites. In the case of anti-intellectualism, its "neutrality is disputed." One would think an honest intellectual would include that caveat. But alas . . .
On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 2:16 PM, david buchanan <[email protected]>wrote: > > John said to Horse: > Despite your superior expertise, I think you're wrong. ... And all the > expertise in the world will not obviate this fundamental truth. So there. > > > > dmb quotes Wiki: > > An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or > skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is > accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific > well-distinguished domain. An expert, more generally, is a person with > extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation > and in a particular area of study. Experts are called in for advice on their > respective subject, but they do not always agree on the particulars of a > field of study. An expert can be, by virtue of credential, training, > education, profession, publication or experience, believed to have special > knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that > others may officially (and legally) rely upon the individual's opinion. > Historically, an expert was referred to as a sage (Sophos). The individual > was usually a profound thinker distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment. > Experts have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and > education in a particular field. In specific fields, the definition of > expert is well established by consensus and therefore it is not necessary > for an individual to have a professional or academic qualification for them > to be accepted as an expert. In this respect, a shepherd with 50 years of > experience tending flocks would be widely recognized as having complete > expertise in the use and training of sheep dogs and the care of sheep. > Another example from computer science is that an expert system may be taught > by a human and thereafter considered an expert, often outperforming human > beings at particular tasks. In law, an expert witness must be recognized by > argument and authority. > Research in this area attempts to understand the relation between expert > knowledge and exceptional performance in terms of cognitive structures and > processes. The fundamental research endeavor is to describe what it is that > experts know and how they use their knowledge to achieve performance that > most people assume requires extreme or extraordinary ability. Studies have > investigated the factors that enables experts to be fast and accurate.[1] > > > Anti-intellectualism is the hostility towards and mistrust of intellect, > intellectuals, and intellectual pursuits, usually expressed as the derision > of education, philosophy, literature, art, and science, as impractical and > contemptible. In public discourse, anti-intellectuals usually perceive and > publicly present themselves as champions of the common folk — populists > against political elitism and academic elitism — proposing that the educated > are a social class detached from the quotidian concerns of the majority, and > that they dominate political discourse and higher education. > As a political adjective, anti-intellectual variously describes an > education system emphasising minimal academic accomplishment, and a > government who formulate public policy without the advice of academics and > their scholarship. > > Dictators, and their dictatorship supporters, use anti-intellectualism to > gain popular support, by accusing intellectuals of being a socially > detached, politically-dangerous class who question the extant social norms, > who dissent from established opinion, and who reject nationalism, hence they > are unpatriotic, and thus subversive of the nation. Violent > anti-intellectualism is common to the rise and rule of authoritarian > political movements, such as Italian Fascism, Soviet Stalinism in Russia, > Nazism in Germany, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and Iranian theocracy, en > route to establishing the national totalitarianism. > In the 20th century, intellectuals were systematically demoted or expelled > from the power structures, and, occasionally, assassinated. In Argentina, > the biochemist César Milstein reports that when the military usurped > Argentine government via the 1962 coup d’État, they declared that “our > countries would be put in order, as soon as all the intellectuals who were > meddling in the region were expelled”. In Brazil, the educator Paulo Freire > was banished for being ignorant, according to the organizers of the coup d’ > État of the moment.[1] > Extreme ideological dictatorships, such as the Khmer Rouge regime in > Kampuchea (1975–79), killed potential opponents with more than elementary > education. In achieving their Year Zero social engineering of Cambodia, they > assassinated anyone suspected of “involvement in free-market activities”. > The suspected Cambodian populace included professionals and almost every > educated man and woman, city-dwellers, and people with connections to > foreign governments. Doctrinally, the Maoist Khmer Rouge designated the > farmers as the true proletariat, as the true representatives of the working > class, hence the anti-intellectual purge. (cf. Great Proletarian Cultural > Revolution, 1966–76) > Governmental anti-intellectualism ranges from closing public libraries and > public schools, to segregating intellectuals in an Ivory Tower ghetto, to > official declarations that intellectuals tend to mental illness, thus > facilitating psychiatric imprisonment, then scapegoating to divert popular > discontent from the dictatorship (vide the USSR and Fascist Italy, cf. > Antonio Gramsci). > Moreover, anti-intellectualism is neither always violent, nor oppressive, > because most any social group can exercise contempt for intellect, > intellectualism, and education. To wit, the Uruguayan writer Jorge Majfud > said that “this contempt, that arises, from a power installed in the social > institutions, and from the inferiority complex of its actors, is not a > property of ‘underdeveloped’ countries. In fact, it is always the critical > intellectuals, writers, or artists who head the top-ten lists of ‘The Most > Stupid of the Stupid’ in the country.” [2] > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with > Hotmail. > > http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5 > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
