Prompt 2 Public Intellectuals
When I thought of intellectuals, I thought of white guys who looked like they had just rolled out of bed because they were too cool to care about appearances. They would talk over coffee and cigarettes about topics that were too complicated for a simple mind such as mine to understand but as I explore the topic, I think that public intellectuals can take many forms. I think to be an intellectual or a public intellectual, you must be intelligent and educated. Despite the readings, I find my professors and people in academia to be intellectuals. You also have to have a platform that promotes knowledge for everyone. You can't be satisfied with just being understood by some. For this reason, I believe the following are influential intellectuals of our time.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- I believe that she is a strong picture of intersectional feminism. She uses her platform to explore the caveats of feminism and the role that her African roots and culture play. I think that this is important because feminism has been turned into a bad word and often only encompasses the experiences of white women. The intersectionality of race and gender are topics are not discussed in mass forums and I think that Chimamanda does an amazing job at bringing those issues to light.
Rachel Maddow- Aside from being extremely charismatic, Rachel Maddow is incredibly smart (Rhodes Scholar). She uses her knowledge to promote news that everyone can watch and understand. She doesn't just report the news but rather conducts investigative work that contains and can be backed by facts. In the days of alt-facts we need people like Rachel to keep it real. She is also someone who willingly talks to people who have opposing viewpoints. She does does in a way that does not attack the other side which I can imagine is really hard to do. She brings the facts and debates them in real conversation.
Janie, I loved how you described your image of intellectuals, and I do think your image matched with mine as well. I also strongly agreed with your ideas that you find your professors and people in academia to be intellectuals and. Intellectuals cannot be satisfied because others can understand them.
ReplyDeleteI honestly didn’t know these two amazing people you introduced as intellectuals. Especially, I wanted to know more about Chimamanda. As I didn’t have any knowledge about her, I went searching about her. Her TED talk was very interesting (https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread)
She is objective while she uses her own experiences and perspectives that bring us the truth of what we ‘imagine’ of things we actually do not know. As you mentioned, intellectuals are people who are educated, knowledgeable as they are informative, and she is it! Thank you for sharing.