Peter_Puget Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 I laughed so hard as I read this ! Pure freaking genius. Although only Mtngoat or Fairweather will probably read it! PP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minx Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 interesting read.... don't agree w/all of it. but then again i'm a liberal type Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 i don't usually read in entirety the articles people link to this site, but this one i did. i found it fascinating. i can't say i agree with all of his ideas and statements, but it definitely made me think and it's something that will start stewing itself in my head. but maybe that's just because i consider myself an anti-capitalist intellectual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 What is an intellectual anyway? It is such a nebulous word that is bandied about as though everyone was in agreement about exactly who was being referred to. The guy makes so many sweeping generalizations it is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 (edited) . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 What is an intellectual anyway? It is such a nebulous word that is bandied about as though everyone was in agreement about exactly who was being referred to. The guy makes so many sweeping generalizations it is ridiculous. The guy makes so many sweeping generalizations it is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 OK Jordrop what % of Anthropology PHDs get good jobs in private industry? I think he would be in complete agreement that there are smart types in private industry. PP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWolfe Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 catbirdseat said: What is an intellectual anyway? This is where real intellectual are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Peter_Puget said: The guy makes so many sweeping generalizations it is ridiculous. what do they say? if you have to ask ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 (edited) . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 MisterE said: This is where real intellectual are i have been a member of mensa, and i do not consider all of those people to be intellectuals. although "related" ... intelligence does not equal intellect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sloth_Man Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 zzzzzzzzzzzzzz couldn't even get through the article. Guy sounded like a typical 'wordsmith' 'intellectual' to me. Full of crap and getting paid to dish it out. Probably got a master degree in that shit. G'me a fuckin break! Talk about right wing bullshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sloth_Man Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 mensa shmenza every body I've ever known that claimed to be a member was an alcoholic and crazy and either a raging asshole or a bitch. Yeah real supperior folks those mensa types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 The essay/article sucks from a prose standpoint. Guess the author is not a wordsmith, I mean intellectual, I mean anti-capitalist. Hell, I don't know what he's trying to get at. An essay for the sake of an essay, ignored by many, forgotten over time, and archived on the dusty lowest shelf of history. My question is: why the hell does he use the word "wordsmith" as a catch-all for intellectuals opposed to capitalism or intellectuals of the far left? Right-wingers can be wordsmiths too. In short, the ability to write has nothing really to do with your political/socio-economic views. My opinion is he should have found a better word than wordsmith. I guess you could say he should have wordsmithed his way past 'wordsmith.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr._Natural Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Sloth_Man said: mensa shmenza every body I've ever known that claimed to be a member was an alcoholic and crazy and either a raging asshole or a bitch. Yeah real supperior folks those mensa types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 Brainiacs are also anti-cap because capitalism has lately allowed massive media monopolies to arise, which serve to stifle independent viewpoints and research. Jordrop - Reread the first sentence in the third paragraph and it will become appearent that he is not refering to "braniacs" at all. Egads! Please elaborate further on this as well as it seem to be a non sequitor: "I love Darwinian justifications and explanations for capitalism. They're so neat and tidy " PP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelawgoddess Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 klenke said: My question is: why the hell does he use the word "wordsmith" as a catch-all for intellectuals opposed to capitalism or intellectuals of the far left? i think you mis-read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 (edited) Quote Peter_Puget said: OK Jordrop what % of Anthropology PHDs get good jobs in private industry? I think he would be in complete agreement that there are smart types in private industry. PP . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 he defines an intellectual as only those who do not work in private sector He never made that definition!! I will pay the first hour of beer at the next PC if you prove me wrong.(Up t0 $200) that Freudian side of dislocation Please explain further I believe you are missing something. PP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Third paragraph. First use of 'wordsmith': "By intellectuals, I do not mean all people of intelligence or of a certain level of education, but those who, in their vocation, deal with ideas as expressed in words, shaping the word flow others receive. These wordsmiths include poets, novelists, literary critics, newspaper and magazine journalists, and many professors. It does not include those who primarily produce and transmit quantitatively or mathematically formulated information (the numbersmiths) or those working in visual media, painters, sculptors, cameramen. Unlike the wordsmiths, people in these occupations do not disproportionately oppose capitalism. The wordsmiths are concentrated in certain occupational sites: academia, the media, government bureaucracy." He initially uses the word 'wordsmith' here to label one side of his argument. The others would be non-wordsmiths (he cites "numbersmiths" as his example). From then on, he applies the label 'wordsmith' regularly throughout the essay. If his point was solely to say that a wordsmith has a tendency to be a left-wing, anti-capitalist intellectual, then I think this is an error because it is a sweeping generalization. So what if someone knows how to write, how to be a wordsmith. I have written poetry, a novel, critical views, and professed/instructed, and would consider myself a 'wordsmith.' I am not a left-wing anti-capitalist intellect, though. Two of these three things I'm not. I'll let you choose the one I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sloth_Man Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Hey guys, All that intellectual stuff they're pumping you full of at school: it's bad for you. You need to lay off before you start to believe that the stuff you're talking about actually has meaning. It's just a game you play to get employment Ok? Don't take it seriously. Sheesh! The article is a piece of trash. You're arguing over meaningless trash. Hmm... but I guess if you're getting a masters degree in arguing over trash and you need the practice then go ahead. My bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Hey we have got an Archeology PhD working for our company And a fridge full of beer too Is it beer:thirty yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Sloth_Man said: Hey guys, All that intellectual stuff they're pumping you full of at school: it's bad for you. You need to lay off before you start to believe that the stuff you're talking about actually has meaning. It's just a game you play to get employment Ok? Don't take it seriously. Sheesh! The article is a piece of trash. You're arguing over meaningless trash. Hmm... but I guess if you're getting a masters degree in arguing over trash and you need the practice then go ahead. My bad. Amen, brother sloth man! I now quit this thread for good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 (edited) Quote Peter_Puget said: Quote Brainiacs are also anti-cap because capitalism has lately allowed massive media monopolies to arise, which serve to stifle independent viewpoints and research. Jordrop - Reread the first sentence in the third paragraph and it will become appearent that he is not refering to "braniacs" at all. Egads! Please elaborate further on this as well as it seem to be a non sequitor: "I love Darwinian justifications and explanations for capitalism. They're so neat and tidy " PP . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordop Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 (edited) . Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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