Since the rise of the social sciences, and the elevation of universities to special status, is something of a strangely Western statist/classist/imperialist phenomenon in general, anyway, the whole notion of intellectualism vs. idiocy is questionable anyway.

In fact, for me it’s been rather liberating recently to realize more and more that smart people are dumb, too. Or, intellectuals are human, too. When you publish the good stuff and ignore the rest, it’s easy to think someone can do no wrong. Then, once celebrated, it’s easy to think the bad stuff is good.

I will say one thing: practicing good note-taking, record-keeping, and writing skills, is definitely a benefit to good thought and expression. But not necessary. How many good poets do?

This dovetails with thoughts on Neil Gaiman, who I was reading about in the New Yorker this morning. In response to the old question of “where do you get your ideas,” he points out that everyone imagines, everyone has ideas. The unspoken addition there is, “but I write mine down, constantly.”

I’m increasingly convinced that’s all there is. And then you get noticed, respected, acknowledged, etc. …or you don’t.

Universities are just structured social systems for nurturing certain forms of knowledge-production and acknowledgment.