Intellectual Americans
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URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=25698
Printed Date: 23-Apr-2024 at 23:31
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Topic: Intellectual Americans
Posted By: Paul
Subject: Intellectual Americans
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 15:45
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No I had been lead to believe by television and movies there is a national divide in the US North vs South. The north is filled with educated, well mannered, sophistacated people and the south fill by ileducated, cud chewing hicks.
A quick look at the AE map however shows a very different tale. There seems to be no north south divide, instead and east/west one. People from the east, both northerner and southerner seem somewhat intellectually superior to their northern and southern, western cousins.
The media has been to me all these years. Next time I think of the US I will appreciate those intellectual people from Alabamha and look down on those knuckle scrapers from Seattle.
http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=18955155wa1.jpg - http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=18955155wa1.jpg
------------- Light blue touch paper and stand well back http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk - http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk - http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk |
Replies:
Posted By: Parnell
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 16:34
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And as you can see, Europe is teeming with little blue dots :-)
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Posted By: Seko
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 19:23
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Since I take offense to the thread title I'll change it from "dumb americans" to something else. That being said this bit of news is interesting. The Americans with current events smarts are readers of: The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Harper's Magazine.
http://www.livescience.com/culture/081015-political-news.html - http://www.livescience.com/culture/081015-political-news.html
Out with demographic stereotypes and in with high brow magazines! ------------- |
Posted By: King Kang of Mu
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 20:24
Hey, they didn't survey the audience of 'Savage Nation'. What are they afraid of, huh?  ------------- http://www.allempires.net/forum/forums.html |
Posted By: hugoestr
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 20:33
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Paul,
Western U.S. is sparely. That is what accounts for the lack of stars there. Once you get to the West Coast, which is densely populated, you see those stars showing up again. ------------- |
Posted By: Goblin Monkey
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 20:49
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Actulley there are many intelectual southeners.Men like Mark Twain who wrote books like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn came from the south.Great Genrals like Robert E. Lee and ''Stone Wall'' Jackson were also from the south.Really these two men fought for the South or Confederecy during the Civil War. ------------- Is it just me or did your mom just wink at me? |
Posted By: gcle2003
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 21:26
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So did my wife.
I rest my case.
Edit: I meant she came from the South, not that she fought in the Civil War. ------------- |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 22:00
Yes exactly. Aside from Washington and California the West has barely any people compared to its size especially. ------------- |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 17-Oct-2008 at 23:10
Not too surprisingly, Ireland only has 3-4. Pubs must have been closed.
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: Panther
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 01:56
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Some things are just best left unsaid! ------------- |
Posted By: Kevin
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 02:46
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The American Media which mainly has it's organizations centered in the Northeast takes a very unfair view of Southerners and as mentioned before in this thread potrays them as uneducated and misguided culturally. However it is certainly not the case in the Southeast especially in my home state of Virginia, which has one of the biggest intellectual communities in the nation concentrated in the Northern area of the state around Charlottesville and Williamsburg. Btw look at the map we have just as many if not more blue stars throughout the South as the North does. |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 03:26
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No I had been lead to believe by television and movies there is a national divide in the US North vs South. The north is filled with educated, well mannered, sophistacated people and the south fill by ileducated, cud chewing hicks.
Since when has anyone been able to Lead you to believe anything? And how old were these movies?
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: Goblin Monkey
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 04:54
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You watch two much Beverley Hillbilles. ------------- Is it just me or did your mom just wink at me? |
Posted By: Paul
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 14:36
check your sig ------------- Light blue touch paper and stand well back http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk - http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk - http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 15:19
So you based your perception of the entire population of the Southern US on a fictional character who, is supposedly autistic.
Has anyone ever told you that you spend too much time alone?
 ------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: Reginmund
Date Posted: 18-Oct-2008 at 21:05
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Anyone notice how there is always a blank spot in south-southwest France? What's up with that?
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Posted By: gcle2003
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 10:58
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Its where they all play rugby.
Probably enough said. ------------- |
Posted By: babyblue
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 12:01
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Wow...Asia is so dumb!
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Posted By: Reginmund
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 12:21
Different sphere, I suspect. They have their own history forums. ------------- |
Posted By: Anton
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 12:34
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Good American Universities are placed pretty much everywhere, although the majority of them are in East and West coasts. This, I think, contradicts to your suggestion. ------------- . |
Posted By: Paul
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 14:49
Oh Brother Where Art Though, Dukes of Hazard and so on.
Remember I didn't create the steriotype, I'm fighting it.
I think the bible belt is home to the most intellectual, erudite and thoughful members of US society of all, unlike those dumbos in California.
------------- Light blue touch paper and stand well back http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk - http://www.maquahuitl.co.uk http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk - http://www.toltecitztli.co.uk |
Posted By: pikeshot1600
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 15:11
Too many bottles of bordeaux....kills brain cells.
Enjoyable though.
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Posted By: Maharbbal
Date Posted: 19-Oct-2008 at 15:52
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Actually, it's the same as in the US, Southern France is empty Besides, I'm not sure the percentage of people speaking even a remotely correct English are sufficient to allow anybody to join AE ------------- I am a free donkey! |
Posted By: Omar al Hashim
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2008 at 11:19
Remotely correct English is only spoken by foreigners. English speakers usually accept any sort of destruction of the language possible. ------------- |
Posted By: Reginmund
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2008 at 12:00
This is true, and I always feel out of place when I have to correct native English speakers. I assume they have grown up with popular corruptions of the language and that these have become ingrained in their mode of speech. It's the same with many dialect speakers in my own country; they mix up their dialect and the standard language, the end result being rather confused, while immigrants learn pure standard from scratch. ------------- |
Posted By: Styrbiorn
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2008 at 12:54
Standard language is boring. I try to teach all foreigners I know proper dialectal words and expressions. |
Posted By: Reginmund
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2008 at 15:27
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As long as you know how to separate the written standard language and the dialects it's harmless to play around with them. The problem however is when people don't know what belongs in spoken dialect and what belongs in written standard.
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Posted By: JanusRook
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2008 at 18:05
That there is quite simplistic, anything you decide which sounds good in your spoken dialect I think you should have in any variety of speaking or writing. Damned be all who would stifle the evolution of language. The world worked quite fine without standardization for 99% of it's existence. ------------- Economic Communist, Political Progressive, Social Conservative. Unless otherwise noted source is wiki. |
Posted By: Reginmund
Date Posted: 20-Oct-2008 at 22:03
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System is the basis of civilization.
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Posted By: Lipovan87
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 07:30
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Something I have noticed is that intellectual capabilities are more tied to subcultures than the larger American society. The Northern US states have large numbers of Blacks who migrated out of the South while it was still a very poor and uneducated region. They also brought dysfunctional values with them that afflicted the larger Southern mindset. Over time, Southerners of all backgrounds but mostly Whites started to disdain the Hillbilly mindset that is still parodied and supposed to be dominant in the South. The most distasteful idiots I have encountered have been hedonistic young fools who by virtue of their being in a wealthy coastal suburb in the North, supposed they knew everything about society and moral philosophy. It would have helped their case had they understood the difference between a specific and a general statement. The problem is not an IQ level but the "empowerment" beyond common sense. I have had more reasonable conversations with manual workers due to their not claiming to know everything than with young College students who magically understand how to create a utopian socialist society without understanding economics or even thinking how things would get done. Less self-confidence and more curiosity would help. The problem is often aggravated in "High Policy" magazines as they are technical just enough to get credibility but not detailed enough to understand the situation. ------------- Human error is a certainty, the location of it is not. |
Posted By: Al Jassas
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 15:03
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You see too much Joe the Plummer adds.
Al-Jassas
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Posted By: Lipovan87
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 16:25
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I don't have a television and have only heard of Joe the Plumber by reference.
------------- Human error is a certainty, the location of it is not. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 17:12
 ------------- |
Posted By: Lipovan87
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 18:31
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Here is a problem I have run into in my own studies. People write long and intricate articles about the impact of air strikes on diplomatic negotiations yet fail to realize that there effect they ascribe to air power could be more readily attributed to a massive ground offensive. That the people on the ground and military personnel observing it judged the ground offensive to be the major element in the diplomatic changes. A bit bit of common sense would say that if people keep fighting despite air-strikes, they are unlikely to surrender if the air strikes continue. If they say that land invasions are their determining factor, then they are probably right. It doesn't take a phd to realize that and most people know that instinctively. Despite that, people become overconfident when they are recognized as smart and suddenly start making erratic predictions due to overestimating their capabilities. ------------- Human error is a certainty, the location of it is not. |
Posted By: gcle2003
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 20:11
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Interesting enough subject. But what is it doing here? ------------- |
Posted By: Lipovan87
Date Posted: 03-Nov-2008 at 22:06
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Simply pointing out the often disconnect between being considered smart and actually having an idea about the world. Which is the more intellectual? It depends on the definition. The less educated man with greater curiosity and willingness to acknowledge his lack of information often accomplishes more intellectually than the person who sets out to prove his intellect by massive feats of analysis. A concise admonition of ignorance is a valuable corrective but also is used to deny a person the status of "intellectual" by the more defensive of "intellectuals". ------------- Human error is a certainty, the location of it is not. |
Posted By: gcle2003
Date Posted: 04-Nov-2008 at 11:13
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One of the clauses in my definition of 'intellectual' would be the capacity to recognise that you are probably wrong.
Being convinced you are right is surely a sign of 'anti-intellectualism'? ------------- |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 29-Dec-2009 at 19:04
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RED CLAY, wrote, with a bit of sarcasm, I hope;
"No I had been lead to believe by television and movies there is a national divide in the US North vs South. The north is filled with educated, well mannered, sophistacated people and the south fill by ileducated, cud chewing hicks." Reading the responses I tend to side mostly with Lipovan87 (what ever that is intended to mean?) and since all of my family, has resided in the Southern USA, since the 17th Century, I would tend to defend my own kind! First of all, I might tend to question these words of RedClay; "well mannered!" If, indeed anything might be said well about the Southern part of the USA, this might well be the first thing thought about by visitors from another nation! Southerners, at least until the invasion of millions of Yankees since the War of Northern Agression, were known, and mostly are still known for the graciousness of their manners, etc.! Thus, the respected terms in European Royalty such as "yes, sir, or yes, mam'am!" etc., is certainly more "mannered" than the mere "yes" or "no" that comes out of the mouths of babes in the more "mannered" NOrth! Laugh! What is really strange is that the Communistic / Socialist North, degrades such "respectful" terms, and for that very reason! Indeed most all of those who disregard such terms, were already used to being disrespectuful to those in authority, or those of Royal blood, when they left the Old Countries! They were mostly "democrats" even then! Whereas, in the Southern States, the majority of landholders, were from the world of "Gentlemen and Ladies!", and not from the scum of the Earth! chuckle! You must know that I am being somewhat "tounge in cheek!" But, it is even a known fact that the poor state of Mississippi, at least until the 1980's or so, had more scholarships to OXford/ Cambridge, "per capita", than any other state in the USA! Funny what? ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 30-Dec-2009 at 06:15
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If you had gone all the way back to the first post you will see that it wasn't me who wrote that, but Paul.
I have a lot of fun once in awhile picking on my own Southern and "hill-folk roots"but it's always in fun and never degrading.
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Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 30-Dec-2009 at 08:59
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Sorry! Paul you should be ashamed! Laugh! ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: eaglecap
Date Posted: 19-Jan-2010 at 12:54
I don't see the point of this but to call some Americans, mainly conservaatives, stupid. I must have missed this thread but it is pointless. Most of the original contributers we cannot get a reply from anymore.  ------------- Λοιπόν, αδελφοί και οι συμπολίτες και οι στρατιώτες, να θυμάστε αυτό ώστε μνημόσυνο σας, φήμη και ελευθερία σας θα ε |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 19-Jan-2010 at 17:38
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My dear Eagle! As a "stupid" conservative American, I salute you! Prosit! It does seem that those "holier than thou" former members are now well set, in their new digs!
Their "rapier" wit, and constant "downgrading" of any post that challenges their view of the ideal current world, or their view concering the "ancient world", are basically the same! That is, there is only "one way" and it is supposed to be "their way! chuckle! Regards, ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |