Why Intellectual Superiority is an Oxymoron
Intellect — “the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract or academic matters.” The Oxford Dictionary
It seems there isn't a day that goes by without yet another diatribe from someone lamenting the aggregate deficiency in the intellect of those with which they disagree. Like a well-reputed June snowfall in Vermont, it can ruin an otherwise lovely afternoon on the back deck.
The most recent installment is an essay from a fellow medium author about the evils of the evangelical right and how, if they would only give up their undefendable religious beliefs and bow to the altar of superior intellect, the world would be so much better off for everyone. All the current conflicts, the most recent of which is the latest dust-up over Roe vs. Wade, would evaporate in a light airy mist of enlightened wisdom. Climate change, racial and income inequality, LGBTQ+, gun violence, global conflict, and all the rest would magically disappear.
Really?
A true intellectual understands that socioeconomic progress is grounded in a complex web of human interaction across a wide chasm of moral, socioeconomic and yes, religious contexts. Social change occurs slowly. Often two steps forward one step back. Sometimes we even go back 50 paces when we get too far over our skis.