Philosophy Now Forum

Here in America, Intellectuals are not valued....
they are, at best, a necessary evil.....
Here when someone wants to insult another person,
quite often the deepest insult is, "he is an intellectual''
and in politics that is virtually a death sentence to be
called an ''Intellectual''....

Americans don't want intellectuals, we want men of Action,
the reason we cherished George Washington over Thomas
Jefferson is because Jefferson was an intellectual and Washington
was not....

And many men of political fame were intellectuals, but did their best to
hide that... Adams, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Obama.... were all intellectuals,
and all of them did their best to hide that fact... and Hilliary Clinton was clearly
far, far smarter than IQ45..... but in America, Intellectuals are despised
and not trusted....part of the reason IQ45 won in 2016....

but plans of action can only carry one so far, and today, today, we must
revisit what it means to be an American because we, as American's
have no idea where we want to go or what path we are taking to get
into the future..... for men of action have no sense of the path to take,
they just want to do something, but today we must think about
where we are and where we want to be and that is not the men
of action forte.... but the intellectual, that is down his wheelhouse....
Biden is by no means an intellectual..... he is a man of action, to be
doing something is his thing.... but where does that action lead us to?
that is the question..... action must have a direction, an understanding
of what it is doing and why that thing/direction, and not another direction......

For decades, America's goal/direction was to fight communism, to
be the opposite goal of communism..... but there came a time
where we ''won'' and suddenly we had no goal, no direction because
for decades fighting communism was our goal, our direction.....
but now what? what should we be doing now that we no longer
need to fight communism? and therein lies the many insults
intellectuals get is to be called a '''communist'' it is almost
a reflex action..... for human beings need a direction..
and calling someone a communist, even if they are not a communist,
is to give one a direction.....to give one meaning.....
for as far as I can tell, no one on this site is an actual communist,
but that is irrelevant... to those seeking a path, a direction to
go for....he is an communist and I must fight communism.... is
the thinking for those who with reflexive action is to call someone
a communist, create meaning and purpose for themselves.....

a communist is evil by virtue of the fact they are intellectuals...
no other reason need be given.....communist are thinkers,
and that in modern day America is a crime...

but that leaves us the issue/problem of what is the next step?
Where does America go from here? and a man of action has no
idea because they can only do something, not plan or think about
what is next...just doing is their thing.....and that is not what is
needed today... we need a plan, an option as to what we should
be engaged with next..... so, as Americans, what's next?

Kropotkin

for today, right now, what truths, does America stand for?

I stand for law and order, used to be what the GOP stood for,
but their attacks on the very use of law and order on IQ45,
shows us that the conservatives no longer believe in this
dated idea of justice and law and order......

so, what other truths do Americans believe in, stand for?
certainly not the very old fashion idea of America being
the ''city on the hill''... that's been dead for decades....

that the primary act of being an American is to adhere to
justice and equality.....the right certainly doesn't believe in that.....

the idea that we can pray to the god we want to.....
that is perhaps the oldest idea in American history and the basis
for the founding of America itself....

if the right achieves its goal of putting the ten commandments into
all schools, as Louisiana, wants to, then prayer has an official religious policy
and that policy is Christianity...... thus denying the very thing upon
which this country was founded on, religious freedom.....

but that is the curse of doing and not thinking... it leads one into
hypocrisy and nonsense....for the doer, has no thoughts about
past, present or future.... the point is to do something...not think
about it.....and in doing, and not thinking, we are lead into
the doing the very opposite of what this country was founded upon...
the very basis of America, in the days of being founded,
was religious freedom...there was no other foundation, in America
for over 100 years, outside of religious freedom, America
stood for nothing else from 1619 to 1776....
that was its selling point for over a hundred years...
religious freedom.....

and today, we are trying to take that away..... because we are doing,
and not thinking......

Kropotkin

listen to the two parties... and what does one hear/

on the right, we hear anger, vengeance, hatred, revenge,
power..... do we hear what is in the best interest of the people,
or what is the best path for America going forward?

No, no we do not..... what does the left say?

there we hear about far more traditional statements
about putting food on the table, and educational concerns
and cheaper health care and the high prices in our grocery stores....

what does the right promise to do for the average American citizen?

In fact, the right only talks about revenge and hate and vengeance
for a ''perfect'' legal decision made by 12 citizens of New York.....
and the right makes no promises for the citizens... because
the right doesn't care about the average citizen.... the GOP/MAGA
party is a party of one.... IQ45....
and if you are not that one, it doesn't give a shit about you.....

there is no intellectual thought about this..... it is the time of the
doer, not the thinker, at least according to the right...
but once again, asking the real question.... ok, why should we
do something, why this action and not another?

the right will never tell us... they are only focused on revenge
and retribution for every single ''sin'' perpetuated against the right......

ask yourself, who is looking out for my interest? certainly not the right,
they are engaged in violence and revenge.... how do we know?
they have said so.... time after time after time over the last few days,
they have only talked about, the right, about vengeance and retribution
for a clearly legal action..... is that a party thinking about you and your
needs? I don't think so.....

Kropotkin

OMG.

How would an imbecile such as you distinguish - discern WHAT is of intellectual worth and what is not?

..just saying

I know, right?

Show keter how it's done and school em with the divine etymology argument, fish.

attofishpi wrote: ↑Sun Jun 02, 2024 4:20 pm OMG.

How would an imbecile such as you distinguish - discern WHAT is of intellectual worth and what is not?

..just saying

K: what is more annoying that your post, which is frankly no big deal,
is the passive-aggressive manner you go about it...
with the insults and then try to pretend that you are ''reasonable'' by
using words like ''just saying" ... just say it... don't be so passive-aggressive
about it..... or saying that another way, be a man about.... say what you mean
and mean what you say....


Kropotkin

quick, name two American intellectuals?

of course, everyone is going to name Chomsky, but can anyone
name a second intellectual? no, the fact is that intellectuals
are forgotten in America today.... of no use and certainly not
of any value to anyone.... America has for generations, been
known to be anti-intellectual..... in America today,
only those who can ''do'' are valued..... but why?

there is a false narrative that only ''doers'' can create something.....
but that neglects the reality of life.....we can only build if
we have a theoretical understanding of something.....
let us suggests that Architects just build without any knowledge
of what keeps a building standing.... stuff like engineering,
building materials, math understanding..... just build without
any theoretical knowledge... and see how many building collapse.... 
or allow a surgeon to operate without any medical knowledge of
how the body works... and how many will die from a lack of
theoretical knowledge of how the body works....

the basis of all doing, comes from the theoretical knowledge
that field must have.....the heart of any action or doing comes from
knowing the theory behind that action or doing......

at my work, I run the self checkout machines at work....
bring in someone without any knowledge of how the machines
are supposed to work on the assumption that no theory is
needed to operate the machines, will end badly.....
you have to have some idea of the theory behind the SCO
machines or you can't run SCO...... all doing requires
theory to make it work.....

and the more complicated the doing, the more theory
one needs.... heart surgery needs a whole lot of theory,
where doing stitches, needs less theory.....

and that is the value of the intellectuals..... they provide the theory
under which the doing/action takes place....... without the theory,
we can't actually run the government, keep businesses afloat,
run our country or have our cars work...... all of these need theories
in order to function.... no theory and nothing functions.....
and the more complicated something is, the more theory
it needs...

that is kinda the way things work......

Kropotkin

and in further thought, the reason that we don't recognize
literature or ART in America today is simple....

it is not doing, ART is nothing more than theory....
and America has no need for theory, no need for ART or
literature or even museums... they are theories.....
and according to the American mind, useless and unwanted.....

to be engaged in ART... to paint or to sculpt is to theorize
and thus be useless..... quick, without looking, name me a
painter in America today? or name an Amercian Architect living
and working in America today?

I can't think of one, can you? but that is the ''fatal'' flaw
of ART today.... it doesn't ''build'' something..... and
of Writers today.... quickly, name a living American writer?
or perhaps name a poet working today? but we can name
those who have ''built'' a company, Gates, Ellison, Buffett,
Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk...... we can name them without trying......
but ARTISTS? Not one.....(I am exempting musicians and actors because that is
another story)..... just as the intellectual doesn't create something that can
be touch or seen or hears..... just words on a paper that can blow away
in the wind.........

we must become far more engaged in theory and far less
impressed by those ''doers''... for without the theorist,
the ''doers'' cannot do their thing....

Kropotkin