It's almost like a paradox to be a leftist and not be "anti-intellectual." (At least for certain values of "intellectual.") If we take the most elite of elite academics -- the most cited living prof -- he claims that American anti-intellectualism is healthy:
"In fact, if you compare the United States with France, or with
most of Europe, for that matter -- I think one of the healthy
things about the United States is precisely this: there's very
little respect for intellectuals as such. And there shouldn't
be. What's there to respect?"
So even if I'm rabidly pro-intellectual, shouldn't I take this uber-intellectual's words seriously, this intellectual's intellectual -- and be a bit anti-intellectual? ;)
Same goes for the "self-flagellating" mental workers you mention -- maybe these intellectuals are right! Listen to these wise intellectuals! The wisest ones see their own folly!
On a more personal note... in the single year I spent at university, I felt painfully aware how separated it was from what I considered the "real world." I hadn't been exposed to serious left literature, but I didn't need to be; the reality distortion field seemed obvious and oppressive.
(For instance, you'd expect that the businesses surrounding/within universities would be labs in advanced economic systems. And systematic worker mistreatment would cause crack squads of psychologists and sociologists to parachute into the situation to figure out what went wrong. Well, suffice it to say...)
So I'm not saying that using your head is bad, nor that anyone should patronizingly attribute supernatural wisdom to workers; but our intellectual culture is obviously messed up.
Tayssir