Here are some of the tell-tale signs:
1. Your career does not yield a particularly high income but required years of tertiary study (legal aid lawyer, academic, journalist).
Yep.
2. Your holidays feature expensive air fares and cheap accommodation. You think spending $80 flying to the Gold Coast then $1200 staying at Palazzo Versace would be a gauche waste. Spending $1200 flying to Cambodia then $80 on guest house accommodation for the entire trip makes complete sense.
Hey, show me a cheap flight to Cambodia and I'll take it!
3. You have taken the bourgeois anxiety about discussing money to an extreme. Not only do you think it is naff to talk about money, you think it is naff to care about it at all. Even though your love of beachside living and late-night tapas is totally dependent on it. You would be mortified if anyone thought you recycled Christmas wrapping to save money but if they think you recycle it for environmental reasons, that's fine.
It IS naff to care about money!
4. Your tertiary education makes you sceptical about the way the mass media distil complex academic terms into buzzwords and simplify class dynamics into matters of lifestyle, yet you feel drawn to read such tosh when your own milieu is the topic of discussion.
The fact that I'm blogging about the topic is enough evidence really.
But for me, I'd take the idea (or is it ideals) of post-bourgeoisism further. Not only do I not care about money, after completing 2 burn-out inducing degrees I don't care about knowledge either. These days I'm quite happy to sit back and let my friends and colleagues espouse their sound, evidence-based points of view without feeling the need to hold my own position or appear clever. I suppose its a mild form of benign anti-intellectualism, except that I don't feel any hostility towards intellectuals or intellectual pursuits. In fact, all my friends are terribly clever and it causes me no consternation at all. Nor am I coming from the perspective of a religious fundamentalist or authoritarian dictator. I guess what I'm saying is I'd rather bake cupcakes than watch the news.
4 comments:
Maybe an agnostic anti-intellectual?
I think not wanting to watch the news proves you're terribly clever :)
That is a great Gob quote - i applaud you.
I regulahly read your Blog and think it one of the grandest examples of recycled, unbleached A4paper that could be evah exclusively derived from old growth Tasmanian forests by eunuch vegan axemen. No greater praise could i give. You is also sustainable.
Er ... thanks
I don't think your finding making cupcakes fulfilling is anti-intellectual, it just means you want to use your energy in an uncompetitive, creative and life affirming way!
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