[lbo-talk] Noam on intellectuals

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 2/11/07, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This Bakunin passage may shed a little light on what
> Doug called Chomsky's "anti-intellectualism":
>
> Mikhail Bakunin, 1869:
>
> "It happens quite often that a very bright worker must
> stand silent while a stupid scholar gets the better of
> him, not because the latter has any sense but because
> of the education denied to the worker, which the other
> has been able to get because of the labor of the
> worker that clothed him, lodged him, fed him, and
> provided him with tutors, books, and everything else
> he needed for his education while his stupidity was
> being scientifically developed in the schools. [After
> this,] this new aristocrat of the intellect finally
> tells you, 'You know nothing, you understand nothing,
> you are an ass, and I, an intelligent man, can load a
> pack saddle on you and lead you.' This is
> insufferable."
>
> [from _The Basic Bakunin_ , ed. Robert M. Cutler]

If the choice is between a bright worker and a stupid scholar, of
course, I'd rather listen to the bright worker than the stupid
scholar, but what if the choice is a bright worker and a bright
scholar?  In that case, one doesn't assume that the bright worker is
more correct on account of his (or her, but too often his) being a
worker or that the bright scholar is, on account of his (or her, but
too often his) being a scholar.  We should listen to both and evaluate
ideas on their merits.  In addition, workers should acquire more
formal education, and scholars and workers should share their
respective knowledge with each other.
-- 
Yoshie
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