Power and the Intelligensia

July 29, 2018

Movements may be described in two, mutually exclusive, ways as theoretical

or atheoretical. Famously nazism is considered an ideology without any intel-
lectual basis, but suppose the nazis had won the war, then in order to prevent
contamination from opposing ideologies the populus would either have to be
shielded from such or a system of production would have to be established whose
purpose is to answer foundational questions regarding nazism. A generalization
might be proposed: any ideology not backed by theory is highly vulnerable to
doubt and enquiry, the enquiry can either be avoided by censorship or satiated
by developing the appropriate theory.
Thus any successful ideology that isn't heavily reliant on censorship must
eventually produce the necessary theoretical framework, progressivism is cer-
tainly successful and clearly doesn't rely on censorship. Progressivism is com-
paratively a hyper-theoretical ideology, persuasion being its main method of
propagation requires sophisticated arguments that can only be manufactured
by the intelligensia. This alone already promotes the intellectual far above his
ancestors and when democracy and literacy are factored into our analysis the
tremendous power of academia is even clearer. Instead of court intellectuals
answerable to the King, academics have a direct line of communication to the
population, with the rise of living standards more people choose to get a uni-
versity education.
The majority of those who are formally in power - elected politicians -
hold Ivy League degrees or equivalently prestigious qualications, journalists
of CNN/BBC/MSNBC are also as academically accomplished. If you admit
that escaping indoctrination is rare and that universities engage in and solidify
indoctrination, it follows that the political leanings of both of these groups are
somewhat shaped by their academic experiences.

Historical Anecdotes
The demand for intellectual services is typically low, and intel-
lectuals, almost congenitally, suer from a greatly inated self-image
and hence are always prone to and become easily avid promoters of
envy. The king oered them a secure position as court intellectuals
and they returned the favor and produced the necessary ideological
support for the king's position as absolute ruler.