The Case for Intellectualism.
If you could stand atop the metaphorical mountain of the world economy, on might observe in the fields below two different categories of careers present through all societies: the doers and the thinkers. The first category could be better compared to the actors, assistants, etc of a film. Though they actually didn't write the movie, they are acting it out. The overwhelming majority of the population participate in these jobs. Whether they are chefs, mechanics, secretaries, retail employees, car salesman, police officers, lawyers, janitors, elementary school teachers, nurses, airline pilots, garbage men, these jobs work within the framework of the directions and regulations that others create for them performing tasks for others. The other group, the thinkers, is the group that create these directions and regulations for others to follow. They are people that set forth the laws that police officers enforce. They are the people that create the design for the airplane that workers and mechanics build and repair. They are the people that create the foundation for the life we know.
Of course nothing is absolute. In today's democratic society, for good reason, everyone has some form of a voice. Stockholders vote the board into place of major corporations to produce the results they want to see in their company. People engage in voting, violence, sanctions, protests all to have their voice heard. And through and through their voice, or at least the voice of the most active majority of people, is heard. Without the voice of people heard, civilizations controlled by a few, elite few have the tendency to polarize in different directions. The rise of the gulag camps in Siberia were developed by a few thinkers, Stalin and his counterparts. The apartheid that marred South Africa was implemented by the small minority of European-descended immigrants ( <7%) that believed in racial separation. On the other hand, some societies like that of Bhutan has a sole leader, a King, and are the exact opposite. Traditional living has been continued well into the 21st century. Productivity is not measured in Gross National Product, but in Gross National Happiness. The reliance on the automobile and fossil fuels is so small that the country of 672,000 has no stop lights. In fact, the country is transitioning to a democratic republic with election in March of 2008. But the chance that a country with centralized power is ruled by moral or immoral, good or bad, selfish or unselfish people is too much of a chance to take (especially since it could be generalized that leaders that are likely to exploit the population, would rise through violence and intimidation. Thus, more likely to assume power). The people's voice needs to be heard, not only for moderation of ideologies, but for cooperation for the people themselves. The majority of people need to believe or rather need to have justification that the services they perform are good and for the benefit of everyone and themselves.
A problem though lies hearing the people's voice. What happens when the general population believe in ideas that are not moderate or reasonable? World War II happened due to populations of people fighting for and believing in ideas that in hindsight do not make much logical sense. The Germans believed that controlling governing the Germanic people and ultimately all of Europe would make logical sense, because they are the German people. Similarly, the Japanese aired a belief in superiority. They could control the Pacific theater for their own expansion and need of resources. Both societies overlooked the needs and wants of the people they took control of or tried to eliminate out of their own society: the Jews, Gypsies, gays, political dissedents, Polish people, Chinese, Koreans). Even people in these populations that would have normally rejected these actions in normal times, were indoctrinated to believe through war and fervor in what they were doing was right (later shown in the Stanley-Milgram experiments).
Of course nothing is absolute. In today's democratic society, for good reason, everyone has some form of a voice. Stockholders vote the board into place of major corporations to produce the results they want to see in their company. People engage in voting, violence, sanctions, protests all to have their voice heard. And through and through their voice, or at least the voice of the most active majority of people, is heard. Without the voice of people heard, civilizations controlled by a few, elite few have the tendency to polarize in different directions. The rise of the gulag camps in Siberia were developed by a few thinkers, Stalin and his counterparts. The apartheid that marred South Africa was implemented by the small minority of European-descended immigrants ( <7%) that believed in racial separation. On the other hand, some societies like that of Bhutan has a sole leader, a King, and are the exact opposite. Traditional living has been continued well into the 21st century. Productivity is not measured in Gross National Product, but in Gross National Happiness. The reliance on the automobile and fossil fuels is so small that the country of 672,000 has no stop lights. In fact, the country is transitioning to a democratic republic with election in March of 2008. But the chance that a country with centralized power is ruled by moral or immoral, good or bad, selfish or unselfish people is too much of a chance to take (especially since it could be generalized that leaders that are likely to exploit the population, would rise through violence and intimidation. Thus, more likely to assume power). The people's voice needs to be heard, not only for moderation of ideologies, but for cooperation for the people themselves. The majority of people need to believe or rather need to have justification that the services they perform are good and for the benefit of everyone and themselves.
A problem though lies hearing the people's voice. What happens when the general population believe in ideas that are not moderate or reasonable? World War II happened due to populations of people fighting for and believing in ideas that in hindsight do not make much logical sense. The Germans believed that controlling governing the Germanic people and ultimately all of Europe would make logical sense, because they are the German people. Similarly, the Japanese aired a belief in superiority. They could control the Pacific theater for their own expansion and need of resources. Both societies overlooked the needs and wants of the people they took control of or tried to eliminate out of their own society: the Jews, Gypsies, gays, political dissedents, Polish people, Chinese, Koreans). Even people in these populations that would have normally rejected these actions in normal times, were indoctrinated to believe through war and fervor in what they were doing was right (later shown in the Stanley-Milgram experiments).