Help Not Wanted

Anti-intellectualism, toxicity, and more

Facing the Mountain

Do you want to save the world? Well, maybe you just want to improve it. Either way, there is a mountain one reaches in his or her self-helping journey, and it appears as too challenging, and enormous, to climb.

Maybe you are leading lots of people along the way, and you and your weary followers have made it far from base camp. It was there, at the beginning, that people hoped to leave behind self-sabotage, regrets, low self-esteem, self-harm, and shame. Getting to the mountain is very impressive. You should be proud of yourself.

Yet, it remains as a barrier. The mission is now in doubt. People start to murmur and reckon they were better off before starting this long trek. They mostly forget their progress and prefer the warmth of their old foibles to the danger that awaits them. No one can muster enough faith to take on the mountain, and it seems you have gone as far as most human beings are able to go.

If this happens, you become frustrated. You want others to know what enlightenment means, what real freedom feels like, and how life can be when the baggage is thrown away. Perhaps a self-helper renounces his purpose altogether.

This is sad and can easily happen. People can disappoint us. Your good intentions may not be welcomed. Furthermore, many folks out there will fight against opportunities for self-improvement and will resent your existence as a self-helper. In the following space, I want to discuss why people resist attempts to lead them toward a balanced and enlightened state of mind.

Anti-intellectualism and Toxicity

Anti-intellectualism was not a term familiar to my younger self. After it entered my consciousness, I can look back at both the recent and faraway past and find plenty of examples. Anti-intellectualism hovered nearby everything all the time, threatening to squash authentic interactions and reduce life to its bleakest form. This is the small-town life not idealized in entertainment yet lived by millions of people.

I am talking about the opposite of open-mindedness, sincere curiosity, humanism, and deep self-reflections. Anti-intellectualism is a shoot-to-kill network of defenses ready around-the-clock to destroy unfamiliar information. The systems live within human beings and exist outwardly among them. Fancy words are not welcome, and books are not prioritized. Advanced knowledge (more so than education itself) is regarded with some skepticism.

In my experience, many men dwell and “hang-out” amid circumstances where intelligence is a liability. Women are not excluded from what I am saying to you, but I am focusing on what I have seen and where I have been. In short, I am now referencing “toxic masculinity” in the way I understand it.

Toxicity among men is of the playground born. I am calling the general attitudes and preferences that many males exude the “playground mentality.” It leads to anti-intellectualism which in turn causes some folks to believe that climbing mountains is either not worthwhile or should be left to more capable people.

The playground is a place of exclusion, bullying, and brutality. The thing is, in many ways society has not left this stage of “development,” so the playground mentality continues forward for more men and women than you might imagine. Yes, it is true.

What children do will also be what adults do without the introduction of mature socialization. Some never grow up, and the evidence for this is obvious.

Toxic maleness is childish, competitive, primitive, envious, sometimes violent, hostile to others outside the group, and defies self-confidence and overall sound mental health. Generally, toxic masculinity and anti-intellectualism are the enemies of the kind of soul-searching and self-acceptance that every mental health professional recommends.

In my peculiar way of calculating, anti-intellectualism thus supports unsound thinking that we sometimes classify as mental illness.

Both anti-intellectualism and toxic masculinity are insular in nature. Each seeks to keep foreign ideas and people from threatening worlds built on ignorance and fear. At the same time, some men are rightfully ashamed of what they do and say in the company of other toxics. In other words, the behavior is embarrassing and only is meant to be exposed under very specific conditions.

Therefore, the playground mentality exudes suspiciousness and a foreboding sense of dread.

Anti-intellectualism is not confined to small towns, but rural isolation often promotes this nefarious thing I have been describing.

Why do people invest time and energy building and protecting zones where intelligence is viewed as a problem? Fear is the easy and correct answer. Let’s also add laziness and something I’ll call the “master of small worlds” syndrome.

You may not need me to explain that, dear reader. But to do so anyway, we can think of scenarios where men with low self-esteem find greater contentment among a group of self-congratulating sycophants than out in the world of achievement, creativity, and inquiring minds.

This is dangerous and not merely a laughing matter.

Cultural Conditioning

We must resist the idea that only received wisdom, common sense, and traditions should rule our decision making. You might notice, dear reader, all those terms can be good and have a quaintness and “common man” appeal that seems unharmful and almost innocent. That can be true, but common sense (I am using to represent all those terms) has a dark side.

Common sense assumes that everyone agrees with something without asking too many questions. It applies tradition in wide swaths to all sorts of complicated issues. Finally, commonness also insinuates that all who disagree are weird and simply refuse to acknowledge what is “true.”

Common sense inserts patterns of thinking that excludes people with differences from the story.

All the time, popular culture presents us with some contest where common sense engages in battles with intellectualism (sometimes called book smarts). Again and again, our preference is for the traditional to defeat the more worldly and nuanced points of view.

Traditions are sometimes not good things to keep alive or conform to with unquestioning loyalty. The anti-intellectual crowd favors received, traditional wisdom because it feels safe. Also, common sense often supports what people already feel; giving people an excuse not to interrogate closely-guarded beliefs or make changes that might be difficult. In short, anti-intellectualism provides evidence that supports the status quo.

Elements of our culture today proudly tout anti-intellectualism without saying those words. I am especially thinking about Country Music. The songs played on the radio judge and then advertise what life is like when ideal. It is common sense that the good ol’ days were better, the music informs everyone.

The lyrics typical of Country songs are worrying precisely because of the inherent nostalgia that makes us feel good. We learn that small town values should be everyone’s values. Again, like with toxic male culture, it is reckoned that all good people agree on what constitutes right and wrong. When some people conclude that everyone agrees, it does not make sense when an individual chooses an identity not aligned with conformity. People are ostracized, or even worse things happen.

I am not trying to indict all Country artists in some conspiracy, but Country gathers together many kinds of anti-intellectual impulses together in one very popular artform.

Country music and toxic masculinity are factors in this tendency to diminish the relevance of theories, research, and ideas that make some people uncomfortable. Never have I said there is a simple causation for anti-intellectualism. To investigate and clarify anti-intellectualism in full, I would need to write something much longer. Actually, there have been books devoted to the subject, and Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life is considered a must-read for those interested.

The Mountain Revisited

Now, let’s return to the journey and the mountain. In addition, I want to ensure that we also talk about something more uplifting than small-mindedness, intolerance, self-defeating attitudes and dispositions, and fear-based instincts.

It should not be surprising that so many shudder at the thought of change. Mountains are intimidating.

I have noticed, in my own journey, many people with good intentions trying to bring light to those dark places in human minds. If you are one of these, remember that society trains us not to try hard and follow the path of the herd.

It is not easy to dislodge well-practiced sensibilities. People want to protect themselves and all that is familiar. It is frightening to step away from the herd and walk in the opposite direction.

Yet, people traverse and conquer mountains all the time. There are endless examples. This last word is very key for all I have said in this story.

Your best argument for change is leading by example. People like to be shown the way instead of only hearing words about it. This too is hard. Really, everything outlined in this story is difficult.

To remain in the toxic bubbles that many occupy means a life that is unfulfilled. In fact, people are born and die totally in the dark.

You see all that and your heart is wounded if not broken. You have found something better by opening that heart, and some mysterious power propels you to be part of the solution instead of the problem.

Keep going. It is a tough road ahead, but, for you, there are no realistic options other than exposing that inner light to dim the darkness.

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