Kung's Words of Wisdom

In many discussions, there is often a certain amount of disagreement or misunderstanding about the definition of a subject. What "intellectual" means is rarely clearly defined. A few days back, I came up with, what I believe to be, a good short definition of the word. I have heard a number of definitions of "intellectual" but never this one.

"An intellectual is someone who prefers theory to experience."

Any additions or thoughts are welcome.

Hoffer was here before you.

The mastery of the art of religiofication is an essential requirement in the leader of a democratic nation, even though the need to practice it might not arise. And it is perhaps true that extreme intellectual fastidiousness or a businessman’s practical-

Hoffer, Eric. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classics) (p. 164). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

I still have to pick up a book by Hoffer and have a look.

Either True Believer or The Ordeal of Change. 
A few quotes from the Ordeal of Change

The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.”

It has been often said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the fruits of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.

And what of the masses in this intellectual’s paradise? They have found in the intellectual the most formidable taskmaster in history. No other regime has treated the masses so callously as raw material, to be experimented on and manipulated at will; and never before have so many lives been wasted so recklessly in war and in peace.

Also, an intellectual is someone who values self-congratulations over truth.

We tend to think of intellectuals as someone pompous and large such as Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, or even William F. Buckley Jr. They pontificate upon high (rightly or wrongly) and attempt to be the modern equivalent of the Oracle at Delphi.

And that type still exists, and in large numbers. But not to be overlooked are the legions of atomized intellectuals who post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. And they do so with all the blind pompous flair and self-righteousness of the big-white-whale intellectuals.

I think this is one reason that any kind of reasonable discourse is so difficult. Everyone is so cock-sure of what they believe and are quite sure that everyone else is an unenlightened heathen. And all intellectuals value self-congratulations over truth. And to the end, words don't actually mean things (an aspect Rush was well aware of). Words are mere Play-Doh to be molded as needed to serve the righteous cause of one's sense of superiority.

And everything good, true, or beautiful suffers from this deep rot of egoism.