I knew someone who openly professed their ignorance of all things mechanical, using the word “thingee” as a type of boast: “Could you hand me that screwdriver thingee”
“I think I need a hammer thingee”
“Should I use the can opener thingee?”
Eh, I was an English major, and I probably did 90% of my critical thinking in my Lit classes (well, I took a lot of Lit classes). I don’t think it’s that far removed from other types of critical thinking. I know I’ve been able to apply that type of thinking to a whole other range of subjects.
That could be. My undergrad major was Spanish so I read a lot of literature and wrote a lot of essays. I don’t know how much it generalized.
I also studied a lot of philosophy.
The reality is the more you learn about anything, the more you realize how complex reality is.
We have a dominant culture that is actively hostile to that complexity.
Taking it to the extreme, they would have to ask for a “thingee thingee”, I suppose.
But getting back to topic: it does seem that there are people who are proud of, and even boast about, their ignorance. My wife’s mother for example, used to say proudly that she knew nothing about history.
I guess that is a failure of the educational system, combined with a persistent meme (which seems more common in the US than the UK). The ‘canny country boy’ who outsmarts all them perfessers with their book-larnin…
Wishful thinking, I suppose. Perhaps magic will save you?
I find it depressing that at my job where I work with dozens of engineers, scientists, and technicians who develop and build biomedical devices that our parking lot is filled with Toyotas, Hondas, and Fords. Over at our corporate offices where the CEOs and VPs with the business degrees are is where you find the BMWs and Mercedes.
I would certainly expect the smartest people to drive Hondas! 
Confucianism and Aristotelianism both did fairly well and are, ostensibly, intellectualist movements.
But I’d note that both focused on rote memorization and prioritization of slavishly repeating what you’ve been told is “the truth” over free thinking, debate, and uncertainty. Some idiot that can repeat lots and lots of stuff can still do very well and rise through the ranks. This ability to use the intellectual learnings to climb socially is, generally, the basis for the success of the movements.
Keep the core convictions basic and simple, which is what holds the “common clay of the Old West” - mainly “bullies suck!” Everyone agrees with that in principle, especially those who never examine beyond principle.
The enemy isn’t the plain folks, and it isn’t other intellectuals (as contrarian as they like to be for its own sake). The enemy is the pseudointellectuals. And their most vulnerable point is where their main motivation lies: money. Sue ‘em, tax ‘em, drive them down to where they have to literally grow gardens straight out of the last chapter of Candide.
If I join, can I get a cool leather jacket?
I want one, too!
Re-reading this thread, I am reminded once again of the different, and oppositional, cultural strands in the US. I was enlightened years ago by reading David Fischer’s Albion’s Seed, a social history of the foundational strands of American colonialism. The value for critical thinking, a broad and deep education, and social equity, comes from the Puritans who settled New England, and whose ethos still dominates a band of western expansion through the upper Midwest and into Oregon and Washington.
The pugnacious anti-intellectualism, and penchant for misogyny, bigotry, and violence comes from an entirely different set of settlers, the tribal Scots and Irish who came here with centuries of displacement and oppression by the English in their cultural memories. They were the servants, overseers, and laborers of early America. For a long time, they could not acquire much power, because they were so intransigent and could not bear authority. They became the dominant white culture of Appalachia, the South and and the Southwest. A lot of the ‘cowboys’ of the West were from this group.
The leaders of early America came from the educated elite, both from the southern plantation owners who of course received the best available educations, and the egalitarian New Englanders.
Andrew Jackson was the revenge of the other group. Who were, and are, always nursing a grudge against the educated, who literally lorded it over them since medieval times. Of course these people know nothing of their own history, because they don’t read. But it’s all there.
As Faulkner wrote, the past is never dead. It’s not even past.
IQ is starting to decline due to two things.
The ending and potential reversing of the Flynn effect is causing IQs to drop.
Covid-19 infections cause IQ drops. An infection with covid-19 can cause the equivalent of an IQ drop of 3 to 9 points.
So an intellectual renaissance is not likely on a society wide level. Also widespread infectious disease makes people more conformist and authoritarian. We are sadly in the beginning phases of a downturn in cultural society due to the effects of the Flynn effect and the covid pandemic. We are going to become a less intelligent, more authoritarian, more conformist society.
Also we are evolved from animals that lived in the wild before written history. In those environments being a badass held meaningful benefits. Being a badass meant that other creatures didn’t view you as an easy target, and women were drawn to you. The badass would have more control over resources. You can’t just unprogram millions of years of evolution with a cultural trend like that.
Having said that, there are cultures where academic achievement matters more. East asian nations place a lot of cultural value on education for example. But they have their own problems where education may not encourage independent thinking as much.
Critical thinking skills are a better predictor of having fewer negative life outcomes than IQ.
That’s okay. I’ve been lurking, reading the posts and responding. I’m thinking…