Why I dislike intelligent people…

When I was teaching eighth grade English, one of the stories we read, the eighth graders and I, was “Flowers for Algernon”.  A kind of one hit wonder like the song “I’ll Stop the World,” it was made into a novel and then into a movie.  I found the plot a bit moronic, but, for eighth graders, who knows, it might have been right on level.  It was after all in the their textbook.

The story is about a mentally challenged person who underwent surgery to allow him to become more intelligent.  It was sound discovered, however, that eventually the treatment lost its effect and that the person receiving treatment returned to their initial state.  The tone of the story was sad; the reader was made to feel sorry for the main character who the writer made seem so lowly in his ignorance. 

I always thought that the story missed the point.  Somehow, ignorance is always seen as something as a bad thing.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think an education is very important.  Children need to be taught how to reason and the skills needed to obtain a job.  However, somehow, the idea has been passed around that the pinnacle of human development is intelligence.

I think intelligence is overrated.  Intelligence when exuded by intelligent people is somewhat comes off pompous and a little obnoxious.  I can’t think of a single time when someone was being intelligent when they were using it in a way to destroy something beautiful or somehow changing, modifying, or otherwise manipulate something creative in a way to destroy the simplicity of it.  I think this is due to the fact that there are very few people who can carry off intelligence.

The saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss.”  I think no truer statement ever existed.  Simple thinking allows you to shut out dangerous thinking.   Things don’t seem to be bother you as much.  When you are not attempting to be intelligent, to be humane is not so much a stretch.  The happiest people I know all are people who are not necessarily the smartest people I know.  The most miserable people I know always seem to be depressed or angry or just plain mean.  As the other phrase goes, intelligent people seem to over-think everything.

Of course, it impossible to become less intelligent without causing yourself brain damage.  If you do, then you are not as intelligent as you think.  What I am suggesting is perhaps, instead of wielding your intelligence, you should perhaps think in a more simple and humane way. 

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