[fporretto]

As a grace note to Mr. Rittenberg's analysis, I'd like to contribute the following: In many cases, these verbally-talented "intellectuals" are not very intellectual at all. That is, they possess less actual power of ratiocination than they're presumed to have. They neither analyze nor synthesize; they merely comment. Thus, what matters most about them is their unusual facility with words.

"I shall say it a hundred times if I must... We really ought to free ourselves from the seductions of words!" -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

[HenryLeeII]

As a grace note to Mr. Rittenberg's analysis, I'd like to contribute the following: In many cases, these verbally-talented "intellectuals" are not very intellectual at all. That is, they possess less actual power of ratiocination than they're presumed to have. They neither analyze nor synthesize; they merely comment. Thus, what matters most about them is their unusual facility with words.

Exactly! Your's is a more scholarly way of phrasing my eternal question: Why are intellectuals so stupid?