#intellectuals and society

[theidealistphilosophy]

Intellect is not wisdom.

Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society.

#philosophy tumblr #philoblr #american philosophy #american authors #black authors #thomas sowell #intellectuals and society #Wisdom #intelligence #metaethical #dark academia #life quotes

[hylialeia]

everyone who doesn't include the full quote when mocking GRRM's "what was Aragorn's tax policy" rhetorical question owes me $200

#we as a society need to move past this 'lotr is above criticism' mindset #'grrm totally missed the point of lotr!!' no YOU missed the point of that quote and also asoiaf #how does no one include the 'what did they do with the rest of the orcs? did they kill the little baby ones too?' part? #the point isn't dismissive of tolkien it's critical of modern fantasy's tendency to avoid these questions #and opt instead for a black and white conflict that doesn't examine the humanity on either side #grrm has gone on about how he admires tolkien. taking a quote that expresses his desire for fantasy to expand and explore #and claiming it's some sort of faux intellectualism just because it makes you uncomfortable #is incredibly small minded and harmful actually and I'm sick of pretending it's not #asoiaf

[philosophybits]

Some have to play the game because they cannot otherwise live, and those who could live otherwise are kept out because they do not want to play the game. It is as if the class from which independent intellectuals have defected takes its revenge, by pressing its demands home in the very domain where the deserter seeks refuge.

Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia

#philosophy #quotes #Theodor W. Adorno #Minima Moralia #academia #intellectuals #norms #society

[sunnysam-my]

Dark Academia is a subculture and it isn't problematic, just misunderstood.

I am so tired of people that aren't a part of this community shitting on dark academia literally any time it gains popularity again, claiming that it's pretentious, elitist and racist. It's not problematic, at least not in a way most people criticise it for.

What all of those people don't seems to understand is that there's the dark academia aesthetic and there is the dark academia the subculture. Even when they do understand they still put people who are only interested in the fashion and overall vibe together with people who are dark academia.

Why is dark academia a subculture?

First let's start with what even subculture is?

It's a cultural group within a larger culture, often sharing a collection of values, beliefs, rituals and traditions. Despite what many believes, it doesn't have to have any connection to music, like Star Trek and Star Wars fans, but there's no need for having a shared fandom at all, like the gays, bikers and youth.

Participation in the dark academia subculture is not limited to following a specific set of fashion. It suggest preferred activities, hobbies, philosophies and lifestyles. The focus is on reading and expanding one’s horizons, on becaming the best version of oneself no matter the cost, especially by engaging in classical literature, history, foreign languages, mythology, art and philosophy. On top of that DA is actually connected to certain music (classical and neoclassical) and fandoms.

The (incorrect) criticisms:

1. One of the more common criticisms of dark academia is that of its superficiality and pretentiousness – that it is more a fetishisation of intellectual life than real intellectual life. "Instead of being a reading society, it's a Dead Poets Society cosplay." This is just simply untrue. Yes, there are people who are purely here for the aesthetic and vibes, but they aren't part of the subculture. People who are genuinely part of this community do read all those books, write poetry, journal e.t.c regularly and try to be well educated.

2. The money issue. Now this is where it gets funny. Dark academia is often called classist and racist because of it's "idealised vision of the academic lifestyle in which the money is simply there". Obviously in places where higher education is strictly financially driven studying is a bitch. Nowadays there are even a lot of doctors who are homeless, especially in US. But DA is mainly a European thing, and in a lot of EU countries studying isn't that expensive, it's not cheap either (books costs a lot and not working doesn't help), but you don't need to pay for a good education, you need to study hard and compete with others to get good education.

This however is not a dark academia problem. It's a harsh reality. One that we need to fight with. Getting higher education shouldn't make you get into a debt. It shouldn't make you sacrifice social life for studying all your life only to end on the streets.

3. "Eurocentric obsession". This is so dumb I don't even know to say. How can you possibly call people, mostly from Europe, problematic for being fascinated by Europe's history, it's past culture, Greek mythology, mostly European philosophers (but American too), Latin that is still fucking taught at many schools here, etc. All of things are taught in schools here. There is nothing wrong with you being obsessed with Asian royalty and making it part of your personality, but God forbid, you, a white person, are obsessed with the best parts of your history and culture 🙄.

4. Another criticism of dark academia is that it encourages unhealthy behaviour, both physically (caffeine overconsumption, smoking, drugs) and mentally (perfectionist, constant competition). The pursuit of perfection comes at a price. The entire idea of DA is to study as hard as possible so you can reach enlighten. It's workaholism, except it's school, not work. Now this is why I think dark academia isn't problematic in a way people think, but is misunderstood.

A melancholic comforting dream

It's easy to understand why people think DA is unhealthy or fake. Nights spent studying, writing essays for hours on end, drowning in books and writing excessive notes. For many this sounds like a nightmare, but dark academia romanticise it. It see it as the true joy of university life. At the same time there's taking joy in reflecting on what is irretrievably lost, pessimistic and melancholic.

In reality most people in this community are overworked neurodivergent, usually twice exceptional, youth who struggles mentally. So many people are twice exceptional and it's very obvious. The hyperfixetions, the love for linguistics and humanities, the hate of math.

For many Dark Academia is a coping method.

Staples of dark academia fiction explore intellectualism, classic literature and self-discovery, but also the struggle of fighting for your identity, the way humans are shaped by their trauma, the way they destroy themselves to be better. The word "dark" in Dark Academia is primarily about those dark sides of the human nature, not just the dark colours of the DA aesthetic.

If you think that Dead Poets Society romanticised suicide or Kill Your Darlings academicly motivated drug use then you're the crazy one here. People loved those movies, because of how relatable they were, even the suffering.

Studying is a bitch. If you make it fun then you are less depressed about the fact that you don't have the choice to not study all night. It's not just nostalgia for what you haven't experienced, but what you have to endure all your youth. Some people are forced to study to be the very best and sacrifice their (social) lives, because the system is so broken, but if you can make it into your own, comforting, time - it's better. Sure, the movies and books have lots of harmful copying mechanism, but irl (or in this case online) this community encourages healthy methods like reading, making art, journaling, acting etc.

I do think there's a lot of to talk about when it comes to, for example, sexism, and I do agree DA needs more diversity than just white cis man, but like I said, it's not problematic in a way most people criticise it for.

#dark aesthetic #dark academia #dark acadamia aesthetic #dark academism #subculture #dark academia subculture #mental health #relatable #autism #adhd problems #problematic #coping mechanism #light academia #chaotic academia #dead poets society #kill your darlings #neurodivergent #intellectualism

[textsfromthetva]

so I was doing some early morning mental plotting of the inevitable, angsty post-canon Brad fic (as you do while drinking a coke and smoking a cigarette at 7am, like an adult who has their life together), and there's been a problem since the beginning.

now, as a person who had suffered from debilitating depression and anxiety on-and-off for 20 years, I know very well that no one can pull you out of that hole for you, you have to climb out yourself. but it is incredibly helpful when someone throws down a rope ladder.

(from a personal perspective, an acute lack of interactions and dialogue was also going to make it infinitely harder to write. I'm not good at writing character-driven stories that just have the main character wallowing in their emotions, without external input, from start to finish)

my problem was that I didn't know who that would be. I toyed with creating an OC for the purpose, but it didn't feel right to have someone who doesn't know the truth of what happened - and never will - try to help.

and then a giant cartoon lightbulb appeared over my head and flicked on, as it occurred to me that we do actually have a canon character who is just hanging out in the universe at large at this point, letting time pass. the original unlicensed therapist of the Loki series. a guy who, at the very least, is interested enough in Brad's whereabouts by the end of the series to have a magazine with him on the cover lying on his desk, and could perhaps even care a little that the guy is in extreme self-destruction mode.

Mobius, my man, I'm gonna pull you into some serious shit, and you're gonna do great.

this will be good for him, you know? Loki's currently in a tree (or is he the tree? I'm a little unclear on that), so he's got no enrichment in his enclosure. an opportunity to practice some armchair psychology on someone else will cheer him up, I'm sure.

#the creator talks aimlessly #unfortunately I haven't got time to write anything right now #I'm going to England tomorrow for an academic conference #held by the Byron society #yes it's a Lord Byron conference and I'm going as a civilian for shits and giggles #very *intellectual* shits and giggles #Brad's mental illness will have to wait until Monday

[tortoiseworld]

i love that swifties on here unfailingly saturate the website with long lyric dissection/parallels/interpretation posts when an album drops. itll save me from the brainrot im going to experience on tiktok

#ttpd #taylor swift #tiktok #i do love tiktok for the entertainment but it does get a bit much yk #i love tumblr swifties #you intellectuals are the backbone of this fandom #the tortured poets department #the tortured poets society #taylorswift

[kaleb-is-definitely-sane]

I feel like we have truly forgotten that poetry is intellectual. That art is intellectual. I’m not saying that you need to write following a whole lot or rules — heck I freaking love Wild Nights by Emily Dickinson which is written in Free Verse — it simply shouldn’t be simple. Because we as humans — and our human mind, heart, soul and spirt — are not simple. We are complex. So our art should be complex. We shouldn’t try to simplify complex topics for marketability, we should be delighting in the actual nature of poetry which is that it is how our souls speak. At this point we truly must fight for the survival of poetry. Not just poems but poetry. Soul. Sublimity. Passion. Beauty. Romance. Love. Poetry. Because it is a war, and indeed the very casualty might be our hearts and souls.

#poetry #poems and poetry #dark academia #light academia #romantic academia #words words words #poet #prose #tumblr poetry #spilled poetry #prose poetry #poetrylovers #poetryisnotdead #poetrycommunity #poetry writing #poetry prompts #poetry lovers #poetry love #poetry corner #poetry on tumblr #poetry community #poetry blog #poetry and prose #poetry quotes #original poetry #anti intellectualism #this is me #kaleb aesthetic #personal aesthetic #dead poets society

[infernal-lamb]

I love the concept of Narinder (in theory) being eventually sweet and compassionate simply for the fact that I know every time I looked at his dialogue in game I was just like “what the fuck is this guy’s problem” like u dgaf about those cats you raised? why are you saying such mean things

#SIR UR COLD AND ACTIVELY CRUEL DEMEANOR IS EXPECTED YET UNWELCOME……. #like I KNOW what his problem is intellectually I’m sure the weight of insurmountable power atrophys an individual’s sense of morality #esp since in a cult-as-institution society it’s probably not even something in need of defending—it simply Is a reality of their world #like what do u mean u care not for aym and Baal sir you better fix ur attitude #maybe that’s why it’s so hard for me to buy the idea of this character arc

[infinitysisters]

“The first thing to notice is that the student in the video pretends to be asking for the teacher's opinion but is in fact probing to find out if his teacher has the right opinion. That is, he's trying to find out if his teacher is part of "the people" or an "enemy of the people."

Bc of the power dynamic (the student is alone, particularly), he's unlikely to be able to initiate a struggle session, though he could deliver "criticism," in line with Mao Zedong Thought by accusing his teacher of being out of step with "the people's standpoint" on the issue.

His opener, though, where he pretends to be interested in the teacher's take or opinion is actually a test as to whether or not criticism needs to be delivered for having a wrong opinion. In other settings, it's the basis for shunning and even outright struggle sessions.

Struggle sessions were a form of psychosocial torture used by Maoist activists to humiliate and shame people who had the wrong opinions, trying to force them into conformity or into a process of thought reform ("ideological remolding"). Alternatively, it would just destroy them.

It's crucial to understand that this video opens with the student probing to find grounds to initiate criticism and struggle against the teacher. Had this gone differently, it's possible the teacher would face MANY students going after him later bringing vicious criticism.

You will find that with Maoist activism, the style is often to seem to probe what you think as a justification to rain opprobrium (struggle) down on you if you don't think what they want. It's very Hundred Flowers: let people speak so you can crush ideological enemies.

The Hundred Flowers Campaign (baihua qifang) was a time in the late 1950s when Mao encouraged free speech against his regime for a while then rounded up everyone who outed themselves as an "enemy" and sent them to be reeducated or die in the countryside (gulag).

The next thing to notice from the video is that the student hasn't formed his opinion about JK Rowling on the basis of any facts. It's what other people are saying. He's in the "outer circle" of the cult, like most people. He's locked in socially and emotionally ONLY.

You can tell this is the case for three reasons:

1) He presents it as such, lacking any substantive evidence;

2) He doesn't actually agree with the people's standpoint perfectly himself but defers to it;

3) He cannot articulate (intellectualize) WHY she's "transphobic."

If he were intellectually committed in addition to socially and emotionally locked ("inner school" of the cult), he would have been able to spout off any number of BS rationalizations for how Rowling is "transphobic" by stating the reality of sex. He can't, though.

This is important to recognize when it happens because people in the "outer school" of a cult are the most rescuable, as we see by the end of the video. They believe it because their social and emotional identities depend on it (so, hijacked psychosocial valuation schema).

A psychosocial valuation schema, by the way, is a method by which people evaluate themselves as good people (psycho-) or good members of a community (social). It's a fascinating subject, but Maoist "unity" through criticism and struggle (peer pressure) hijacks it, as seen here.

In short, the student is perceiving that if he has the wrong opinion about Rowling, he'll be a bad "community member" (ally), which means he's probably a bad person, worthy of shame, guilt, and exclusion, demanding he "do better." This dynamic is crucial to the cult brainwashing.

The teacher skillfully picks apart that this "outer school" cult member student doesn't know why he believes what he believes and forces him to think for himself, breaking him free from the Maoist psychosocial valuation schema for the duration of the exercise.

The next thing to observe is that the student later confesses to the fact that he personally sees nothing wrong with the statement but can see how others would find it problematic. That is, the psycho- part is breaking away from the -social part of the evaluation schema.

What he's expressing there is actually that he has adopted "the people's standpoint," as Mao called it. Wokes would call it "positionality" or "the standpoint of the oppressed" (yes, for those who know, "standpoint epistemology"). He knows he's supposed to see the world that way.

Psychologically for the student, this is the most dangerous and most important moment, and kudos to the teacher for effecting the deprogramming well. The reason is because the Maoist brainwashing program of "self-criticism" depends on the psycho- and -social being out of step.

The guilt and shame cycles in Maoist brainwashing, together with "leniency" or "love bombing" when people uphold the "people's standpoint" and criticism and struggle when they don't, are most powerful when the psycho- and -social parts disagree, not when they align.

The dynamic is to make the target feel like they're the only person who doubts "the people's standpoint." The student, in the wrong setting, would immediately feel alienated, alone, and ashamed that he knows "the people's standpoint" but secretly disagrees with it. This is key.

Maoism as a psychosocial brainwashing phenomenon requires "milieu control," such that the social group around you all publicly seems to perfectly hold to "the people's standpoint" so that each person believes they're the only one who thinks it's probably bogus.

In that state, you will "self-criticize" because you think something must be wrong with you. Indoctrination is external criticism. Conversion is self-criticism. Now note Robin DiAngelo saying "antiracism" is a lifelong commitment to self-reflection, self-critique, and activism.

In the end, the teacher breaks through, and the students sees not just that he was relying on "the people's standpoint" (psychosocial valuation) instead of his own critical thinking, and the teacher gives him space to feel accepting of "feeling like an idiot." That's very good.

In the Maoist environment, so with Woke teachers, the "people's standpoint" is pushed from the top, the interrogated "student" is urged to confess his sinful private doubts with increasing sincerity, and the social environment reinforces it all (to avoid their own struggle).

After breaking people down psychosocially this way and getting them to half-adopt and fully profess "the people's standpoint," the process enters another phase, xuexi, which means "study." That is, "outer school" cultists are pushed to become "inner school" cultists.

The point of "study" is to lead psychosocially locked people into intellectual rationalization, where the student would have been able to rattle off a litany of robotic-sounding theory (thought-terminating cliches and rationalizations) for how Rowling IS "transphobic."

That not only keeps them hermetically sealed (iykyk) in the cult, making deprogramming FAR harder and rarer, it also creates a demonstration for "outer school" members who can be convinced that their beliefs have intellectual foundations they just don't understand yet.”

- James Lindsay

#maoism #intellectual high jack #cult brainwashing #deprogramming #identity politics #authoritarian groupthink #critical thinking #ftw #release your mental adolescence #growth #fuck ​socially regressive ideology #fuck pseudo intellectualism #think for yourself #free yo mind and yo ass will follow #freedom #society #education #mala educacion #si se puede #gender ideology #pseudo community #communism #propaganda #james lindsay #Youtube #struggle sessions #we got a long way to go #the REAL resistance #how to escape brainwashing

[bypatia]

why is my family like succession but without the money?

#I mean if we’re all going to be emotionally abuse each other it might as well be for a financial gain #like what’s the ‘intellectual driven family’ narrative going to do? #hold respect in society? #what fucking society? #what are you going off on? #like literally what’s the fucking point? #emotional abuse #mother wound #daddy issues #etc etc #is there one for granddaddy issues as well? #cats rants #if I’m Shiv Roy so are my sisters #so fucking weird that the most well adjusted for all of us lmao #but that’s trickle down patriarchy for you #the other brother is a psychological experiment lab rat though so I guess that cancels it out #succession #*most well adjusted is our brother

[alectology-archive]

love when authors write books that are supposed to be meant for kids but you probably develop the capacity to enjoy them on a deeper level when you read/reread them as an adult

#this is about his dark materials <3 #this is not to say that the kind of appreciation that children have for them is inferior in any way - just that a lot of nuance may be lost #on them #text #I guess this post functions as a segue into the conversation about how this site loves getting off on posturing about their apparent #intellectual superiority because they refuse to interact with media ‘made for kids’. god forbid passing up the opportunity to derive petty #pleasure from small-minded approaches to appreciating storytelling. oh yeah literature aimed at children has definitely never #contributed anything meaningful to society 🙄

[springsteens]

I’ve just found out Pedro Pascal reads Bulgakov, Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Mann, Salinger, Márquez, Baldwin... AND ALL Y’ALL DO IS TO ASK HIM TO CALL HIMSELF DADDY DURING INTERVIEWS? 🤡

#i hate modern society #hes a fucking intellectual stop doing this to him #posted by me #pedro pascal

[luvring]

scrolling past every babygirl joke people make with a frown on my face

#💬nia.rambles #we as a society can do better than this #i think a lot of people can. struggle with What else to say #'babygirl coded charas“ specifically . talk about how easy it is to fluster them. how ur gonna annoy the shit out of them #call him a sopping wet kitten. say god hes such a dumbass im going to kiss him on the lips and serenade him #say missionary because his eyes pretty and his face handsome. say youre going to tuck his hair behind his ear #His x y z looks and cringe fail personality have captivated me. his big eyes and loser boy personality. #this is also for when ur trying to talk about female charas w/o saying girlboss/mother btw #just go god shes so fucking cool. no ones doing it like her #someone might want her but you want her in a deeper intellectual way. no crimes to forgive because she didnt commit any. #she could fix me could make me worse she could say whatever and i would heed her call like a devout follower to their god #go i need them so bad im dizzy. i could change their life #like u have the brain capacity and meme/reaction album to think of jokes outside of. 3 terms. i believe in u #& how did babygirl charas go from ironic Big (serious) muscular men to Feminine Featured(?) Easily Flustered 'Pathetic' Men. #like im sure both cases existed before but. what its turned into now....its majority the latter... Hrmm.... #< part of why i switched to saying my handsome beautiful prince etc etc. uve made me feel odd and upset.. #babygirl character just say pathetic guy . loser dude. shy and silly . errrrghhhh...

[thriftdyke]

"what is romance" I mean I guess its like gender. defined by the person experiencing it. it is theirs to call romantic, or not, and not one idea to be shared and compared

tea

#sorry I don’t have the brainpower for an intellectual response rn lol #I’m tired of getting notes on the post cuz its overwhelming my notifs but glad it’s resonating w ppl #everyone has shared similar thoughts & sentiments #which has been validating #I don’t identify as aro or aspec cuz I don’t percieve myself as lacking anything I just don’t seem to understand romance the way most ppl + #mainstream society does #so its cool I’m not the only one #answers

[professor-doc-emeritus]

it's incredible to me how some christians online will be like "you stupid atheists just don't understand Christianity, it's really like this!" and then go on to describe a heresy that would have gotten them burned at the stake 500 years ago

#i saw this one video of a guy trying to make a comeback to atheists who make the comparison between believing in god and believing in santa #or the tooth fairy #and his response was “well they exist too!” #he went on to describe how the IDEA of these things existed and had influence on the world and peoples lives #and made the ultimate point that santa and the tooth fairy and God are real in the same way a government or a society is real #its not a tangible thing but it nevertheless exists #and it was incredible to watch somebody in real time somehow miss the point that both parties are making #it's like dude the christians are not making that claim and the atheists are not addressing it #i don't think any atheist would contest that the idea of God exists and has influence on the world and people's everyday life #but they would contest that God is a thing that actually exists in material #which is in fact the core claim most theists put forward and try to defend #and i mean im normally not one to tell people what to believe or how to worship #but if God is no more real to you than harry potter or a ufo story then why is it at all important or interesting? #why base your life around it? #its such a bizarrely academic position thats so concerned with being technically right it becomes intellectually useless

[musingsofacuriousmind]

Well, perhaps I fell off the Dark Academia wagon today, I don't know. But I liked this outfit, whatever aesthetic it is, and I'm still the girl who loves all the same dark academic things, and that must count for something, right? What aesthetic would you call this outfit besides "Saturday Chic?" Lol. I really want to know, please comment below!

#what is my aesthetic #disability #dark academia #classic literature #light academia #service dog #dark academia aesthetic #dark academia vibes #books and reading #classic academia #dissociative identity disorder #complex ptsd #old money aesthetic #twee aesthetic #dead poets society #poetrycommunity #poets on tumblr #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #intellectuals