Kill The Anti-Intellectual In Your Head

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There is an anti-intellectual in your head. Its not your fault they're there. He was put there by the state. It is your job however, to get rid of him.

The anti-intellectual in your head is the little voice going "its not that deep" when you start to think about the implications in media. Their the voice going "The curtains are just blue" when you think about the authors possible intent in symbolism.

The Curtains are Just Blue

When this is brought up, its about a book or poem in which the author has said curtains are blue, or uses a color to describe something. In school your teacher would ask "what was the intent of making the curtains blue?" This saying coming only after I heard something like this in school, it was a meme, i don't think it started as an actual way to discredit the question but since its inception it has become a way to genuinely discredit looking deeper into writing.

"What if the author didn't mean that and it was just subconscious, or it has a different meaning." That doesn't matter, the artist intent is secondary to literary analysis. The author can have their own reasons for making something the way it was.

Heres the deal, Its not that your lacking any comprehension of the writing. Its that your lacking any idea of what the question actually is. "Why are the curtains blue?" Doesn't mean. "Give me the only factual answer to this question." Its "Give me some reasons why the author may have chosen to make the curtains blue in this scene?" Your answer to that question is about if you are actually engaging and analyzing the art in front of you.

It's Not That Deep

Note: There are two main ways "its not that deep" is used, One is the dismissal of something bad happening to you or someone. You have a bad day, you say its not that deep. That is not the meaning I'm making fun of here, where its the dismissal of literary analysis, where the saying has been co-opted by the right.

When you see someone analyze a movie, or game, or book online. You will inevitably see someone reply with "It's not that deep." Maybe the stupidest fucking comment you could have honestly. Its another "not what the author meant" moment but worse as it acts as if there is no meaning or symbolism in whats said.

Not only are you saying that art has no meaning, but you look stupid doing it. I can't imagine anyone who's reading a blog post in 2025 on some random indie web page says this so I'm just being mean here to people who aren't gonna see it. Its fucking idiotic.

ChatGPT Isn't a Fucking Search Engine

This is gonna be a small tangent. It fits perfectly into this though.

The more I see people going "I'll just ask ChatGPT" cause they dont want to just look it up themselves, drives me wild. Even if you are getting correct information, which you likely arent. ChatGPT says itself to not use it that way because it cant actually verify the information it gives you.

You need to learn how to actually search for shit, and I dont mean "get better at googling" I mean find alternative search engines, as there are a whole number of them just for research! GenAI in this way is making us fucking stupider.

Why Is Art So Political Now?

Here we go baby, now I get to bring politics into this!

Art has always been political. Always will be. Simple as that.

Every piece of art that is created no matter what is political. Porn? Political. Landscapes? Political. Realism? Political. Impressionism? Political.

This is because to create at its core in the society is political. Your own political identity follows it. Or the politics in play for it to even exist in the first place. These things mean by proxy the art is political, even if its just "a pretty landscape" or "just an oc".

But I know i know thats not what they mean! Why does it seem that every piece of art suddenly has some political meaning behind it? Because they always have. Art has always been a way to express symbolism and meaning, and one of those meanings is politics.

Nazi's And Art.

This is a subject I care about a lot.

If you have ever called modern art degenerate, you are spewing nazi ideology.

The Nazi's during ww2 attacked a lot of things publicly, and one of those was the new wave of art coming in at the time. Hitler saw realism and old pieces as true art. While anything else he demonized, and even would arrest people for making it. Artist who didn't make the art that the Nazi's though was right was actively criminalized.

This way of looking at art is still here today. The hate for "Modern art" (which is not modern but contemporary art) is rooted in nazi ideology. You do not have to enjoy contemporary art, Its when you argue about what is and isnt art that it starts to become an issue.

To sit there and say something is not art because it doesn't follow the conventional means of art is to ignore art history. Impressionism is art, Realism is art, Abstract is art, Dadaism is art, That stupid fucking banana taped to a wall is fucking art. Im sorry to burst the bubble here but saying something is not art because you cant understand it doesnt somehow make it true.

The Right and Anti-Intellectualism.

So the right wing loves stupidity. If it wasn't obvious this is more of an issue of the people on the right than it is of most people. The issue is that when america is going mach speed head first into the wall that is fascism. Right wing talking points and culture are going to become even more popular.

Once they start controlling what is art, and what can be made. You are going to see the most lame ass fucking art ever. Shit that just promotes no thinking, no analysis, cozy trash. They already try to push shit they think has no meaning, like old roman statues and shit. Without understanding the politics behind them even.

Bigoted ideology only works because they are giving you a simplistic (and wrong) answer to what is happening. Those answers feed into your hatred, making you an easy tool of fascism.

Anti-Intellectualism and You.

They are targeting you. You may think that you cant become stupider. That anti-intellectualism doesn't work because once you know you cant un-know, and like sure you can't technically un-know something. You can however become lazy in your learning journey.

The moment you start acting like things don't deserve analysis is the moment you should be worried that you are falling into that pipeline of anti-intellectualism. You cant unlearn things but you can be made to stop learning, and stop growing. Your brain is a muscle and you need to train it.

Kill The Idiot.

Right now there is an anti-intellectual in your head still. You need to get rid of him. Just like the cop this is easier said than done, however likely still easier here.

Our Brains Love to Learn

Im gonna repeat this a lot, the brain is a muscle. It likes to learn, we love learning. Watch things that genuinely challenge your brain to think about them. Learn new things. Learn why things are the way they are, or why we see things in certain ways.

Expanding your knowledge about the world is only going to help you in the long run.

Analysis

Getting rid of the anti-intellectual is active, when you finish something, any piece of media, book, game, movie. Think about why you did or didn't like it. You can even do this with a friend, just talk to them and tell them your thoughts. They don't have to be deep at first. Just understanding what did or didn't work for you is step one.

Analyse the message what did it say to you? What did it make you feel? How did it do that? What worked in favor of the message? What worked against the message?

These are good questions to ask. Their not hard to think about either. Watch something with a friend and then put aside a few minutes to ask these questions between each other.

Write About It

You could start a journal, or diary, or blog post *wink wink nudge nudge* where you talk about games, or movies. Review things for people. Just get your thoughts on things out into the world either public or privately.

Once you start doing it its easier to continue doing it. The brain is a muscle that you train, its something you get better with. Writing is an easy way to get better with your brain. It challenges you to actually put to words your own thoughts.

Bonus if you put it in a blog post, you can force all your friends to read them and say they like it :3

Kill The Anti-Intellectual In Your Head

Kill The Anti-Intellectual In Your Head

The Curtains are Just Blue

It's Not That Deep

ChatGPT Isn't a Fucking Search Engine

Why Is Art So Political Now?

Nazi's And Art.

The Right and Anti-Intellectualism.

Anti-Intellectualism and You.

Kill The Idiot.

Our Brains Love to Learn

Analysis

Write About It

Further Reading