Examples Of Intellectualism In America

Improved Essays
Intellectualism in America America has ushered in a new age of technology; moreover, we have an unquenched thirst for knowledge. This thirst for knowledge of the unknown has caused some people to become frightened towards others for different beliefs on certain ideas pertaining to the way man came about and how we have evolved overtime. This has created numerous “isms”. A major ism that has had a rather large uprising lately is Intellectualism. This is the idea that everything is derived from reason, this idea can also be known as rationalization. This idea has the majority of people against each other, where some people may think that there is some sort of god others may seem that the only logical explanation for our existence is through …show more content…
the statement used by President Eisenhower is a spectacular definition of the an intellectual and what intellectualism is about. Intellectuals believe that they know everything and that what is stated in or what they might read, view on TV or anything of that matter is correct and is the only logical explanation for anything in the world even if the topic is way over their barriers of knowledge. An example of what is deemed to be the embodiment of an intellectual and their views would be Trump our now current president. People believe him to be an intellectual based on his standpoints on numerous uprising complications in the United States recently such as the Syrian airfield bombings. He was the CEO of a multi billion dollar company however he is now a president who is taking actions in war and healthcare two topics he has had little to no background experience in. With the uprise in technology and further knowledge in the world it began to create a sort of blanket over people making them believe that life is set the way they are and that our technology will not fail us; However, it is quite the opposite and with the more technology we acquire we must become more vigilant and aware of what we are using and how it works, there will never be a time where we are set and not needing, or requiring more technology and knowledge. Which has …show more content…
this division has caused so much turmoil that it is turning our people against the president of the United States of America and we no longer have a love for the leader of the nation as most people did for presidents such as Lincoln, Reagan, and Kennedy. “It is only through the opposition of ideas that we can learn to be self-critical, to work towards intellectual humility.” (Ramadan). This statement is powerful to those who believe one side to be worst than the other, without these sides of the spectrum we are no longer able to have decisions in our lives to make us who we are and there fore lose our individuality. The views of the Intellectuals are against Trump and they believe he will bring us to shambles due to his different viewpoints, this creates hostility and separation within our government and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The main purpose of the reading by Matt Motyl titled, “Liberals and conservatives are (geographically) dividing” is that political parties’ affiliations are dividing the U.S. This can be seen through the locations many Americans live such as liberals going to more urban areas as opposed to the conservatives to go to less populated areas in rural states (Motyl, 2016). The author uses the Ideological Enclavement Theory to explain the division of people in the U.S through racial segregation and ideological-segregated enclaves (Motyl,2016). In this theory there are two components which he states, “People have gut-level intuitions about the ideology of different enclaves, and when the ideology if a community matches people’s personal ideology,…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    What makes an intellectual is a work they do in a critical way, that is they enjoy and explore the vast knowledge that is learned within the topic. It is stated, that everyone is an intellectual in a way. Some intellectuals have more influence than others due to the access to large numbers of people, media base and more. For example, someone as LeBron James access to the minds of different people would have a greater impact on some say as a high school teacher. I believe I personally, fall towards the bottom of the scale.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ideology is an extremely common term at this day and age, and can and will be found in practically everything we see or hear. At present, ideology mainly relates to religious and political beliefs that we can derive from a particular media; however the term ideology was originally coined in 1976 by Antoine de Tracy(1801). Initially the term ‘Ideology’ used to be used to entitle ideas of a specific group of scholars in France known as ideologists (Thompson, 1990). Semiotics is the study of visual signs and symbols that create meaning to the particular media. ‘The Matrix’ (1999) is one of the most famous and well-known movies of our generation.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I had no knowledge that the nation was so split in its ideals. If a house divided cannot stand, we as a country have some serious problems on our hands. Based on the data given before, in one more generation or less, America will be as split as a butt crack and make assholes out of all of us. Right now, we could be on the brink of civil war, and the only way to avoid it is to open our minds to other truths and intelligently debate without bias. We have to step out of our situation and look at it from a new perspective, rather than wallowing in it and blaming anyone who disagrees for causing the mess.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grant Penrod's Summary

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To have such an important role in leading our country, one has to be smart and ready to make decisions. Not everyone can become a President, it takes a lot of strive and intelligence. Anti-intellectualism is supported by most public figures but not…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the article “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, he writes about how the American society views street smarts in the lines,” Nor do we consider one of the major reasons why schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts: the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti intellectual concerns. We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inheritably weighty and academic. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Pluto, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV, or Video Games.” (Graff…

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Merriam Webster’s dictionary meaning of intelligence was “The ability to to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations”. One man who fits that description is Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson used is intelligence to change the world as we know it. Thomas Jefferson was a genius and widely regarded to be the most intelligent president in America (Marshall). Thomas Jefferson used his undeniable intellect to change the course of this country and the world that we live in.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It may even come to a point where humans cannot live without it or else their world would succumb to disaster. One can blame technology as much as they like, but it will not change the fact that…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Samual Yisehak C. Petitti ENGL 1105-42R 29 September 2016 Hidden Intellectualism Response Gerald Graff, a professor of English at the University of Illinois, wrote Hidden Intellectualism, an excerpt from the book They Say/I Say. The essay tackles the issue that one cannot be intelligent in any context except for the academic world. Intellectualism by any other subject is just as academic. I agree with Graff’s main point, however, I take umbrage with small details used in the essay.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anti-intellectualism was first proposed in an American historian Hofstadter Richard's book "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life". As Anti-intellectualism has different forms in different countries, he did not give a precise definition for "anti-intellectualism". However, he mentioned a rough definition for it: Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy, and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical and even contemptible human pursuits. Anti-intellectuals present themselves and are perceived as champions of common folk-populists against political and academic elitism-and tend to see educated people as a status…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is polarization? Throughout the course of American history, arguments occur regarding what role and function the government should play in the democratic process. Since the formation of two major political parties during the 1800s, political polarization began to impact how the government functions. According to Political Polarization in American Politics, polarization is defined as diverging from median Republican and Democratic views and increases when the political stances and ideologies move further to the left or right of the middle, central view (Hopkins and Sides 2015, 17).…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An intellectual is defined as a person who places a high value on or pursues things of interest to the intellect or the more complex forms and fields of knowledge. This definition of an intellectual has been restricted by an educational system to mean indoctrinate students into what the system believes to be “academic”. Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism” argues that there is knowledge and intelligence beyond what the traditional education system is practicing. Graff contends that incorporating the interests of students into the lesson will help students think more effectively and logically. “Intellectualism” is seen by how well a student does in traditional subjects.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zinn's Two-Party System

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Howard Zinn, a noted historian and social activist describes the American system as the “the most ingenious system of control in world history.” This system has perfected itself in manner that prevents the middle and working classes of the United States from joining together and actually challenging the system. Throughout his book, A People’s History of the United States, Zinn describes a plethora of government actions and major events that have contributed to this system. I believe that he would point to the advent of the two-party system as the event or series of events that did the most to lead us to our current situation.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.” This quote said by Daniel J. Boorstin, an American historian at the University of Chicago, is one way people may view the educational system in the United States. Getting an education is about learning things that one would have never studied before and improving one’s intellectual thought process. A similar quote my math teacher used to say: “It’s the same thang with another name,” brings out an argument that education is learning to think about what one knows in a different light. In Gerald Graff’s essay, “Hidden Intellectualism”, he responds to the educational system, arguing that street smarts are just as important as book smarts.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Human Being are Becoming Slaves of Modern Technology Have you seen how people today function? If you have you would see that we do not function well, especially without technology. Technology has been taking over enough to where we can not be but one second away from it. We have become too reliant on it, if it were to be taken from us we would not last long. Even though people think technology is helping us in many areas, if you take a closer look you would see that it really is not.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays