It's a little bit funny....

I often wonder why people betray themselves. I see it happen everyday, especially in a drinking-mediocre-apathy championed subculture that seems to flourish in Kalamazoo. I should clarify what I mean by betrayal: a definite set of speech that allows one to appear less intelligent than they really are in order to be successfully assimilated into said subculture. The easiest way to understand this principle is simply by watching people interact at a bar. Conversations so rarely foray into real topics that matter; or admittedly, topics that should matter.

This is not merely my personal opinion that those who possess intelligence have, to echo Lionel Trilling, a moral obligation to exert that intelligence in some way. There are too many in American society that do not possess high intellectual capacity or ability, but believe that they do, as evidenced by this wonderful study: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
Bertrand Russel's "In the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt" is incredibly apt.

I think the situation must be remedied or at the very least, improved. I suggest to those who notice this phenomenon, especially if they are apart of Russell's "doubting intellectuals," that they try to be a bit more cocksure. I have always championed this approach successfully. True, it does contain the possibility that you might be viewed as a party pooper or know-it-all, but seriously, is that really a legitimate reason to not uphold the truth? Just because something is easy doesn't make it right, and to let people languish in their own under-conceptualized perspective of the world is just wrong. I pursue these conversations because maybe, just maybe, there is a chance that my interlocutors will see a glimmer of the perspective from which I approach the world. For other intellectuals--some of my best friends in fact--it is a worthless enterprise, but for me it is too enticing to ignore.

Naturally, you might be asking yourself: Well, he is awfully sure of his own perspective, what makes him so confident? Besides the fact that I personally love to argue about anything (and it isn't to be a dick; nay, it is in the pursuit of my idealized [naive?] goal above), it is the knowledge that society is an ever changing and relative structure, and is bound by the limits of discourse, institutions, and power. This really touches home for me, because I have been all over the world and seen the accomplishments of our race when we work as a collective of intellectuals. I wish I could describe the awe of gazing up at the largest church dome in the world and knowing that it has been around since the *16th century.* Seriously folks, what happened? Next time you are at a bar, try pursuing a topic of conversation that enhances or challenges a perspective, whether yours or someone else's. To bring us full circle, I think it would be best to end this post with my favorite quote. It is certainly an apt observation of society, and one that I interpret as a call to arms in many ways:

"It isn't evil that is ruining our earth, but mediocrity. The crime is not that Nero played while Rome burned, but that he played badly."--Ned Rorem (1964!)