Member-only story
Fetishizing Intellect has ruined society
Remember when Ethan wrote “Philosopher” in his Instagram bio? Gave you an ick? Yeah, it’s a much bigger problem than you might have thought.
This isn’t just about Ethan. It’s about a culture obsessed with appearing intelligent rather than actually engaging with ideas.
(you can read my articles for free here — Shubhransh’s Substack)
The more niche and obscure of an author you can name, the more aura points you can gain in your pseudo-intellectual friend group, all of whom obsessed with the idea of appearing smart, rather than actually engaging with difficult ideas.
I was scrolling Twitter(X) the other day and came across this young individual around early 20s writing about some political reform that is currently happening.
And I kid you not, I have never, in my entire life, ever read an individual be SO wrong about the facts that they’re presenting yet present it in the most confident way possible hiding behind the shield of big words.
Kinda blew my mind I’m not gonna lie.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to engage in philosophical discussions and learn how to have structured intellectual debates regarding difficult topics, in fact, I really would want that for society.
