Replies

"Do you enjoy wine tasting, art museums, concerts and political lectures because they appeal to you personally, or because you were taught to do so in college?"

Nope, that's just my personal likes; however, I did develop some of them in college. Frankly, I cannot stand hanging out in bars and found by the end of my freshman year of college that whole scene was really old. There was much more interesting things to do on campus.

"Do you believe that "Army guys" are taught to enjoy camping and football during basic training, or maybe at the burger-flipping academy? "

Probably class difference... A guy (or gal) from a working class background probably has different interests than I do. It isn't right or wrong (I'm sure that they think I'm an idiot because I don't like football); it's just the way the wind blows. People generally flock to people with similar backgrounds.
"And finally, what do you think makes you "intellectual"?" I enjoy intellectual pursuits, i.e. reading, foreign films, lectures, etc. This is different than saying I'm a Harvard professor.

"And finally, what do you think makes you "intellectual"?"

I enjoy intellectual pursuits, i.e. reading, foreign films, lectures, etc. This is different than saying I'm a Harvard professor.

So consuming other peoples' works makes you an intellectual?

No... That makes you a pseudo-intellectual.

Creating new things makes you an intellectual.
Thinking new things makes you an intellectual.
Becoming a new thing makes you an intellectual.

You haven't even paid the entrance fee to Intellectual-land....

In spite of it's trappings, an MBA is merely a high-level vocational degree. It is all concerned with the worries and narrow-mind of the shopkeeper.

It is the concrete world; not the abstract ideas of Science; Math; Medicine; Art; Politics or War.

You may become a highly successful businesswoman without ever having had an original idea....

At least the 'PTA Mom', the 'burger flipper', and the soldier you denigrate all create something new and they all make life better for other people.

In such they are Noble.

You spurn nobility for the narrow-mind of the bottom-line--for the worries of the shopkeeper.

and you consider yourself an intellectual.

Probably class difference... A guy (or gal) from a working class background probably has different interests than I do.

I see. So your parents, in turn, were college-educated, upper-middle-class types. I guess it's the old nature/nurture question... If you had chosen not to attend college, would their genetic purity still enable you to enjoy museums and fine wines, or would you sink down into the semi-literate knuckle-dragging football fan demographic due to your lack of "education"?

It isn't right or wrong (I'm sure that they think I'm an idiot because I don't like football)

Actually, they don't. They think you're an idiot because of the ridiculous, uncharitable and mindlessly stereotypical assumptions you make about people who merely make choices different from your own. I don't like football either, but I have yet to see evidence of some inverse correlation between, say, football fandom and GMAT scores.

I enjoy intellectual pursuits, i.e. reading, foreign films, lectures, etc.

All things that may be appreciated by a person of limited financial means, or one without a college degree.