From Working For Change
By Sean Gonsalves

My beautiful babies: in my last letter, I may have given the impression “intellectuals” should be put on a pedestal.

If that’s the case, pardon my lack of clarity. What I was warning you about is the anti-critical thinking virus, which is dangerous because soft heads can create hard hearts. And social misery. That’s what I meant by “anti-intellectual.” I used it because “anti-critical thinking” sounds so, um, intellectual.

This is important because some folks have a tendency to fall for what’s called an either/or fallacy. If you are against X, you must be for Y. If you’re criticizing anti-intellectuals, you must consider yourself an intellectual, etc.

It’s more common than the mass marketing of bad hip hop. “Either you’re with us or against us.” “Stay the course or cut and run.” Now, we’ve got this new brand-name called “surge.” So, it’s either “surge or surrender.” I trust you see the bad logic there. If not, just throw this letter away and, no, you can’t ever borrow the keys to the car.

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