Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Shorter Nick Kristof

Link:

Because the only "intellectuals" I know are the ones who are my colleagues in the Times newsroom, it's apparent to me that intellectuals are basically total idiots.

Money paragraphs:

A year ago, I wanted to ornament a column with a complex equation, so, as a math ninny myself, I looked around the Times newsroom for anyone who could verify that it was correct. Now, you can't turn around in the Times newsroom without bumping into polyglots who come and go talking of Michelangelo. But it took forever to turn up someone confident in his calculus - in the science section.

...

But there's an even larger challenge than anti-intellectualism. And that's the skewed intellectualism of those who believe that a person can become sophisticated on a diet of poetry, philosophy and history, unleavened by statistics or chromosomes. That's the hubris of the humanities.


Shorter Atrios:

Uh, Nick, who the fuck are the people "who believe that a person can become sophisticated on a diet of poetry, philosophy and history, unleavened by statistics or chromosomes."