What are some things that look like they appeal to people of average or lower intelligence, but are enjoyed by a number of intelligent people.
I was reading an article from Cracked.com when I got the idea for this thread. Cracked looks like it should only be enjoyed by people with attention deficit disorders, but if you read the substance of their articles they’re actually pretty perceptive.
The Straight Dope is another one. Every time I use one of Cecil’s articles as a cite I always get one of these: :dubious:. The site’s name, outdated logo, and Slug’s cartoons, don’t provide the site a service in the credibility department. The fact that so many people find Cecil credible is a testament to to his research quality.
Quentin Tarantino’s movies are often mistaken for mindless pop entertainment when they are really quite intelligent. Lady Gaga suffers the same problem with her videos.
Joss Whedon shows.
The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Onion are often trashed by the people they mock as nothing more than comedy. All are more perceptive and intelligent than most mainstream news.
The very name Grateful Dead, coupled with the association with drug use among both the band and Deadheads give many the idea that the Grateful Dead was just a refuge for burnouts from the 60’s and wannabe neo-hippies…
The people I know who are most serious about the Grateful Dead’s music are PhD’s, lawyers, teachers, a district judge, social workers etc.
Not to say there weren’t some real “lost sailors” at any given Dead show, but 95% of the true wierdos (some harmless, others predatory/hardcore criminals) were not there for the actual music, but instead because the scene outside a GD show was a hell of a good party for those merely looking for a wild time.
Sudoku. Whenever I see someone consumed by one of these inane number puzzles, in public no less, I immediately discount their intelligence, and am always surprised, and a bit dismayed, when I find people in my circle of colleagues and acquaintances who enjoy it.
Over react much? He’s not saying they are less intelligent than him. He’s asking for things that look stupid, but appeal to intelligent people. That’s a huge difference from saying people are stupid for enjoying those things.
Back on topic, my cardiologist is quite intelligent, and she loves Spongebob. My 8th grade science teacher had a phd in engineering (or something related to that field), and loved reading the Fear Street books, and Weekly World News. He even wallpapered one wall of the class room with articles from it around the time that comet hit Jupiter.
Yes, Sudoku is a logic puzzle, but its popularity comes from its deceptive simplicity. It seems like it should be more difficult to solve than it actually is, giving a solver of average intelligence a heightened sense of accomplishment. There are logic puzzles that are much more challenging, and are solvable with a little work, yet would never achieve the popularity of Sudoku. Hey, if folks like Sudoku, and millions apparently do, more power to them. It’s just one of those things that make me say “Hmm…”
jz78817. Dial it back a notch or two. This is IMHO, not the Pit.
This isn’t a warning this time, just a note. But, you seem to have strong feelings, and in forums other that the BBQ Pit, you need to keep it under control.
May I flip the OP on its head and bring up a pastime that should appeal to those of high intellect, but doesn’t?
For years I collected, researched, studied, and generally geeked obscure jazz of the 78rpm era. Despite still having a passion for the music - being a musician myself, btw - I eventually stopped collecting and drifted apart from my fellow record geeks. Why? Because, with rare exceptions, the people deepest into the music were a. not musical at all and b. so single-minded as to be almost one-dimensional.
Now admittedly, rare music demands a full-time commitment just to hear it at all, never mind really know it and know about it. But it became clear to me that I was going to have to spend the rest of my life hanging in stuffy rooms with people who were not particularly nice, bright, interesting, or possessed of much awareness, insight, or curiosity about the world we lived in.
I still love the music, but I couldn’t take the company.
My wife is college-educated, well-read, and an extremely talented artist. Back in The Day she won multiple awards for her singing, and was first-chair soprano on an all state choir. She can put any headliner opera act to shame when she tears up Caro Mio Ben or Pie Jesu.
Yet when it comes to the inane babble that is modern country music (We’re country! We’re more pure, honest, God-fearing and hard-working than you city folk!), she eats. that. shit. up. Another one of Kenny Chesney’s musings about how special his hometown is? Turn it up! Another Taylor Swift weepfest about her boy troubles? Hell yeah!
My wife, a college educated dentist, likes and watches the Spanish language equivalents of “Judge Judy” and “Divorce Court” and “Oprah” and other rubbish of the sort. At least she knows the commercials are for stupid things targeting a poor and ignorant audience.
The Onion had an article on middle aged people who realized how stupid it was to participate in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, at their ages! So does The Rocky Horror Picture Show fit here? Or is it really just stupid? (I found the article a bit sad, because after the gleeful silly feeling of anarchy when you’re young and dressed up as Dr. Frankenfurter and you’re out at the midnight show with all your friends…well, time marches on, my friends. And you can’t be a 50 year old lawyer tossing hot dogs and toast at the movie screen as you are now focussed on looking down that long road where you can just glimpse the barn…)
I enjoyed Astro Boy when I was in early high school. I was an excellent student, completely normal in every way, into boys and the Beatles, yet I got up early Saturday mornings to watch a weird black and white Japanese cartoon, and no one - no one - understood why. Decades later, well - Adult Swim, anyone? Who is it watching anime at 2 a.m.? So I was an early bloomer there…
I mean, come on, it is Sudoku. 
