I think it is extremely socially acceptable. Though, maybe some people make fun of uneducated people. Not primarily dumb people. On the other hand, there are the disgusting Darwin awards. Which I consider very cynical. I have leftwing friends that consider themselves to be very woke. But being dumb is still used as an insult for other people. I think this is very normalized in culture.
I think most people are not really aware that it is sort of awful to make fun of people that they consider dumb. I once met a Quantum physics professor that was the smartest and best educated person I ever talked with. And he sounded like an activist against intelligence based discrimination. I think my intelligence obsession was really unpleasant for him. But he tried not to judge me.
This is the point I want to make. I think intelligence is not really defined well. I debated a lot of people that considered themselves smart and at the same time they looked down at people whom they considered stupid. However, none of them was like PhD or top master degree level educated. I think the scale has to be climbed a lot further to reach top heights. My point is. IThey would probably also consider it unpleasant if way "smarter" people judged them in a similar way. There is also a culture around that. There is trash TV where people gawk at uneducated people on TV to make fun of them. I was raised in such an household. And I listened to German songs as teenager that made fun of the stupidity of people who watch trash TV just to feel superior. But I just switched the perspective. I just climbed the ladder higher up. I did not escape the hierarchy. I merely changed my position within it. And my new rank empowered me to make fun of the people below me. And if we play this game further. We all end up in societies that are ruled by elites that have no empathy for the average Joe and Jane.
I think so that our societies function there is a need for humanistic elites. The most interesting stories in this instance have people who know both sides. I think the quantum physics professor was dyslexic and it sounded like he went through bullying because of that. I think he tried to hide it. But in his eyes the bullying that I experienced just turned me into another bully. And there is some truth in that. I think my thinking is strongly antagonistic. I tend to black-white thinking. I often perceive people as a threat and try to anticipate the danger. I try to outsmart them. When he witnessed how traumatized I am and that my life will only consist of anxious rumination about suicide he pitied me. And he saw I was full of self-hatred and my mind reading of his mind should not be used as a vehicle to loath me. I think it is easy to see that I have this obsession with intelligence because I was bullied. But there is another reason. My parents loved me but they were stupid as hell. They showed me their love by abusing me and well it has made my life a living hell. I think this is one reason why I have many pejorative connotations when it comes to people that can be considered stupid. However, thinking in exactly this pattern is dumb. Because this interpretation is based on our most primitive instincts and education gives us the choice to perceive the world around us with empathy and compassion. I struggle to grant myself that.
There was also Habermas with his cleft lip. I think there are stereotypes of low intelligence around that too. I think he has very enlightened approach to education/knowledge a similiar one to Chomsky and David Foster Wallace in his This is water speech. The irony intelligence is often assigned over stereotypes. And really intelligent people don't have to show it all the time.
I think most people are not really aware that it is sort of awful to make fun of people that they consider dumb. I once met a Quantum physics professor that was the smartest and best educated person I ever talked with. And he sounded like an activist against intelligence based discrimination. I think my intelligence obsession was really unpleasant for him. But he tried not to judge me.
This is the point I want to make. I think intelligence is not really defined well. I debated a lot of people that considered themselves smart and at the same time they looked down at people whom they considered stupid. However, none of them was like PhD or top master degree level educated. I think the scale has to be climbed a lot further to reach top heights. My point is. IThey would probably also consider it unpleasant if way "smarter" people judged them in a similar way. There is also a culture around that. There is trash TV where people gawk at uneducated people on TV to make fun of them. I was raised in such an household. And I listened to German songs as teenager that made fun of the stupidity of people who watch trash TV just to feel superior. But I just switched the perspective. I just climbed the ladder higher up. I did not escape the hierarchy. I merely changed my position within it. And my new rank empowered me to make fun of the people below me. And if we play this game further. We all end up in societies that are ruled by elites that have no empathy for the average Joe and Jane.
I think so that our societies function there is a need for humanistic elites. The most interesting stories in this instance have people who know both sides. I think the quantum physics professor was dyslexic and it sounded like he went through bullying because of that. I think he tried to hide it. But in his eyes the bullying that I experienced just turned me into another bully. And there is some truth in that. I think my thinking is strongly antagonistic. I tend to black-white thinking. I often perceive people as a threat and try to anticipate the danger. I try to outsmart them. When he witnessed how traumatized I am and that my life will only consist of anxious rumination about suicide he pitied me. And he saw I was full of self-hatred and my mind reading of his mind should not be used as a vehicle to loath me. I think it is easy to see that I have this obsession with intelligence because I was bullied. But there is another reason. My parents loved me but they were stupid as hell. They showed me their love by abusing me and well it has made my life a living hell. I think this is one reason why I have many pejorative connotations when it comes to people that can be considered stupid. However, thinking in exactly this pattern is dumb. Because this interpretation is based on our most primitive instincts and education gives us the choice to perceive the world around us with empathy and compassion. I struggle to grant myself that.
There was also Habermas with his cleft lip. I think there are stereotypes of low intelligence around that too. I think he has very enlightened approach to education/knowledge a similiar one to Chomsky and David Foster Wallace in his This is water speech. The irony intelligence is often assigned over stereotypes. And really intelligent people don't have to show it all the time.
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