I had a friend named Gil who grew up in Oklahoma. He said that people there kept soldering the intellectuals.
I ask this: How many intellectuals are there in Oklahoma? Do these people even know, or have read, any intellectuals? So how can they be attacking these people when they know nothing about them?
There are also people on Far Right who want to fight for the Western culture. Once again, what do these people know about culture? Have they made up a song? Authored a painting? Written a book?
I know a number of genuine artists and intellectuals, and I’ve been impressed with what I have seen. I do see arrogance among them; however I see arrogance everywhere. There are many doctors, businessmen, engineers, military people and construction workers who think that they are better than everyone else. There are arrogant artists and intellectuals. However they don’t own arrogance.
As for myself, I’ve been arrogant at some points in my life and not arrogant at others. There are many things that are regarded as arrogance that are not. Students who take school seriously are thought to be arrogant. No, they rightfully value learning. Women who want to be loved are thought to be arrogant. No, they want to be appreciated for the vast effort that they put in into being their best. By some people’s definition of arrogance, we owe to arrogance everything that we have. This is the case with science and business; this is also the case with democracy.
I once heard a professor say that there is good arrogance, which he defined as belief that people can figure things out, and bad arrogance, which he defined as oppression. By that standard probably the worst form of arrogance in history was practiced by Spanish colonialists, who destroyed the magnificent Incan, Moore and Aztec civilizations without contributing anything much to mankind. Whereas the best form of arrogance was practiced by the Jews and the Americans, who did vast things to advance science and business without engaging in brutality at anywhere near the level of the Spanish, the English, the Nazis or the Communists.
Why do people in Oklahoma keep attacking the intellectuals? Probably because they don’t have any intellectuals among them to confront them about it. They don’t hear it from the other side, so they get strong in their bigotry on the subject. I would confront them about it. I would tell them that Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were both intellectuals, and that they owe to these intellectuals the conditions that they have.
I am not against people of Oklahoma. I am however against bigotry, and this is what we see here. These people know nothing about the intellectuals, and them attacking the intellectuals is wrong. As for the people who claim that they are protecting the Western culture, they need to learn more about the Western culture. They can start by reading works that were formative to the Western culture and acquainting themselves with the actual culture that they are claiming to protect.