@Olivier5,
Quote:Re: layman (Post 6103205)
I usually have a lot of patience for arrogance, at least when it's backed up by real life achievements, knowledge, or smarts. Knowledgeable people are often found arrogant by ignorant people.
I'll have to infer what was said you are referring to here, Olivier5, as on returning to a2k, I quickly found reason to put that chap on ignore.
But let me point to something I suspect is quite relevant. There is a long history of anti-intellectualism in American culture (perhaps the key study here is historian Richard Hofstadter's "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" - which I deem a must-read). It's just baked into the culture to such an extent that really obvious instances of it pass by quite without notice.
Here's a dilly of an example. Take Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman as portrayed by the team of animators at Disney. The story, of course, is of a bookish fellow who arrives (from the east) in an Appalachian village. The local pretty girl is smitten. Her beau, a hunky local boy, utilizes local rough-hewn 'wisdom' and manliness to trick the effeminate and long-nosed (snooty) interloping intellectual out of town. Here are the images of these two men...
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/c/cd/Ichabod5.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141231001757
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/d/dd/Iceraichabodmrtoad4128.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120427230505