# What motivates political anti-intellectualism, what counteracts it

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-motivates-political-anti-intellectualism-what-counteracts-it/519093>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 27, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-motivates-political-anti-intellectualism-what-counteracts-it/519093 "2009-11-27T03:40:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 49

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**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-motivates-political-anti-intellectualism-what-counteracts-it/519093/49 "2009-11-28T02:51:20Z")

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> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> **William F Buckley: I would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than by the 2000 members of the faculty of Harvard University**
> 
> Things like that make no sense to me.

Well then I’ve got some good news for you. Buckley [wrote a book](http://www.amazon.com/God-Man-At-Yale-Anniversary/dp/089526692X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259376359&sr=1-1) explaining his distrust of the academic world, so an intellectual like you can order it and get to reading right away.

> [@Odesio](#):
>
> I’m an atheist but nobody sent me the club newsletter informing me that most college professors and scientist were part of the club.

It was posted on Wikipedia and is therefore true. And by the way, there’s nothing ironic about **Wesley Clark** complaining about anti-intellectualism and treating Wikipedia as a reliable source in the same post. Nothing.

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