It came to me how much I hate intellectual snobbery when I was sitting with two people yesterday who thought that because I'd been trying to make a documentary about my nations favourite Islamic hate figure for two years, that made me their intellectual equal and therefore worth talking to. I always go into the same mode when I encounter such people. I interupt their flow, asking them to explain words I don't understand. When I am supposed to laugh I look at them blankly and say
"Sorry mate, I'm afraid I don't understand what you are talking about. I could pretend to if you want?"
I'm after that look they give people they believe to be intelectualy inferior.
A more politically active friend of mine showed me some footage once of a fairly famous American left-wing political writer and documentary maker who was talking to a small audience of friends at his house. He was talking about various Politicians and buisiness types he had met, dividing them into groups.
"Now he's intelligent, but so and so is not so intelligent." he went on like this for ages.
Since when does being more intelligent make you a better fucking person than someone else?
I think of intellectual snobs the same way I think of car drivers who continually shout and moan and tut at every other road user they come across. They are really annoying to be around in the same way. It must be so hard for them living in a world surrounded by so many inferior people.
I also hate uniformity and am glad that it blatantly doesn't work in my country. I love to be served by mumbling shop assistants who don't look at me or smile or tell me to have a nice fucking day. I want to see that these people are unhappy in their uniforms and can't wait to get back to their lives. I want them to gossip and ignore me and paint their fucking nails.
The best experience I ever had in a supermarket queue:
An old caribean lady in the usual bland, shapeless uniform was sitting behind her checkout making cheerful conversation with the woman she was serving.
"I bet she doesn't talk to me like that." I thought to myself, thinking she would judge me as wierd.
When it came to my turn she beeped the first of my items, looked up, fixed me with a deep stare and shouted at me
" WHAT IS IT? THIS LIFE?"
Fucking priceless.
14 comments:
i wanna be an idiot... unashamedly autistic, grinning drooling happy fool... the money the time the pain i invest in damaging my brain... am i an idiot yet dave?
"I'm losing my mind, Dave, I can feel it." (HAL in 2001)
and you are the worst of them aren't you you bastard.
I thought you were going to post a comment correcting all my spelling and gramatical mistakes.
I agree. They don't even seem to have real conversations. It's more like a script, and if you don't already know the script, you suck. One will say "Oh, I read such and such a book" and then everyone else is in a contest to see who can state the most wry opinion. You can't ask what the book was about. If you don't already know -- die, idiot!! Plus, the most interesting thing ever to happen to them is their thesis paper.
I like how you deal with them. Wish I could.
You are the worst example of anti-intellectual elitism you wonker. If someone has actually read books and uses words longer than two syllables and speaks another language you just look at them down your nose and won't give em the time of day.
Who was it you spoke to that inspired you to write this post?
""I bet she doesn't talk to me like that." I thought to myself, thinking she would judge me as wierd."
You are weird, for fuckssake look at you - YOU'RE GREEN.
i love this post dave. totally hits home with me. you're thing where you ask them to explain everything, i do that too...i love it when they get really annoyed. everyone is proud of the things they are good at. but, what makes you an asshole is when you think it automatically makes you superior because you read more, or make more money, or go to church more, or exercise more. it doesn't make you better...just different. thank God for the difference.
i meant "your"...[sigh] i could never be an intellectual, snobby or otherwise.
The more "intellectual" someone tries to be, the stupider they really are.
Click for Joe
We gotta get our status from somewhere. If we're not rich, we're smart. If we're not smart, we have integrity. And if we have none of these, we can feel good about ourselves for being above it all ;-)
bloody hell, never had so many comments. Hmnmm Anti-intellectual elitism. That makes me like Pol pot or something no? Who inspired me to write this? Not you mr M.H. A couple of thespians darling.
We are the anti-intellectual elite!
(Manifesto coming)
This post got me thinking about the elitism I have encountered in my life, and Kimberly’s post today got me thinking about hippies. I believe that elitist intellectuals and hippies actually share a lot of traits. There is the need to always be correct, (factually correct vs. politically correct). I’m not talking about ALL hippies, just the elitist type, and I have had some horrible, demoralizing experiences with elitist hippies. These hippies like to overdo their hippieness just like intellectuals do so that when you ask them about it, you look like a corporation loving, rainforest killing idiot. I used to live next to a hippie compound in backwoods FL. One day, I asked for some aspirin for my headache. “We don’t have aspirin,” I was told, smugly, “but we do have some white birch bark you could chew on.” (You requested a prepared medicine! Baby killer!!) They were more elitist and judgmental than the richest WASP in Manhattan could ever wish to be.
I mention all of this because this post left me thinking about the other faces of elitism as well. (a.k.a. Sorry 4 the long comment.)
long comments, short comments, links to pictures of naked women, all is OK as blogger is free.
In the city of London when I first got baptised into the spirit of Goa trance in 93-94 my acid told me that it didn't matter how old you were or what you looked like but WHO YOU WERE. I was lucky enough to speak to a 75 year old at the weekend who told me that was what the sixties was all about.
I tried to live in the beauty of this in London and the reaction I got back really fucked me up for a long time.
Beauty elite west london cliquey strutting peacock fucking hippies. Are you cool enough to speak to me?
I wasn't strong enough to carry on with my beliefs regardless and stopped speaking to anyone at parties. For years. Every weekend tripping out of my head, talking to no one.
I painted huge UV psychedelic artwork, two of which are here I had the intentions of focusing everyones trip into a communal far out rush.
I was so happy when people came up to me and said
"Shit man, you backdrops totally fucked with my mind."
I went through every psychedelic party promoter in london. They all looked like hippies, and left me out of my head on the pavement with my backdrops and as little money as possible.
I got he feeling that they were wearing the wrong uniform. They should have been wearing suits and fucking ties.
I'm really glad mike introduced me to blogging. Its a great leveler, as everyone connects cerebraly above all else. I would never have met kimberley in real life. This is great no?
i think we have the first two lines of a song, Dave: "Beauty elite west london cliquey strutting peacock fucking hippies. Are you cool enough to speak to me?"
:)
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