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It seems as if this person is just discovering old fashioned American anti-intellectualism (unintentionally ironically presented in an intellectual wrapper).

There's a reason beyond laziness that many American's look down on typical urban, liberal arts thought and discussion, and it's close to what this post posits: tribalism and in/out group signalling. The difference is that the author sees being "basic" as a signal that one is wealthy enough not to have to work creatively for a living, and the historical practitioners of anti-intellectualism are signalling a disdain for productionless thought.




Eh, there's more to it than this. 'Basic' is also the perspective that we're really just animals working to survive. That we're all just dipshits cluttering up the world while we attempt to assemble some kind of respectable way of living. No cynicism here - I feel a real kinship to others when I'm in this mood, rather than caught up in high-mindedness - which can be fun, too, of course.

I think the fact that she terms it 'basic' rather than 'anti-intellectual' makes it less reactionary - a baseline humanity that joins all of us. I think even the term 'American anti-intellectualism' is a misnomer, considering that ancient figures such as Jesus or Buddha were in this vein - preferring terse wisdom to chains of detailed jargon. They spoke in 'basic', in a way.


It's the "X-Class" from Paul Fussell's classic book _Class: A Guide Through the American Status System_ retooled for the present day.

https://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/...


The other reason is that a typical urban, liberat arts thought and discussion seems to have deteriorated greatly in the age of Internet. Or maybe lack of filtering through time and publishers just allowed for the usual quality to surface.

Either way, anti-intellectualism is looking a little better every time an intellectual tweets.


>There's a reason beyond laziness that many American's look down on typical urban, liberal arts thought and discussion

Yes, its dismal historical lows...




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