Intelligencism

Is intelligencism even a word? Not really. A colloquialism, perhaps.

Anyway, this is brought about by a particular individual that I interact with everyday in my french class. In addition to the fact that he slurps his coffee loudly throughout class time and pretends to know everything about exercise, he also thinks that the French language is stupid. He says so everyday, and is not hesitant to tell anyone that he should be allowed to "clean up" the language. It really makes him angry, and since we began he has clearly lost any initial interest in learning. This view is clearly ignorant, and probably would not be well received by the over 100 million people who use the language regularly. It could also be considered to be ethnocentric. So where does this intelligencism thing come in?

I can't stand this guy. I tell myself it's justified because he is arrogant and ignorant. But if he shouldn't be able to call French stupid, can I ever be justified in calling him stupid? Does he have a choice? Was he born with the brains that he has today, and are they too limited to allow him to see other viewpoints? Or is there something about it that he sees that I don't? Was he raised this way, and so does not have a choice? Am I supposed to be sorry for him for not having an open mind? Should I respect this opinion as any other? Is it right for me to dislike him because of his opinions, when I don't think it's right for him to dislike french? Is my way open-minded, or fence-sitting?

Obviously this is a "slippery slope" argument that could eventually end up at issues such as whether or not humans have free choice and nature versus nurture. So I will jump immediately to my (and therefore, on this soapbox, the most important) conclusion.

I think I am justified in condemning this opinion. Maybe I'm just lucky because I have been given an open mind and a decent serving of intelligence. Or maybe it is because I have always been taught and worked to understand both sides of an argument. Perhaps because I have limited experience in the world I don't have as many opinions ingrained in me. Or maybe it is because I grew up in a bubble of a suburb that I have a more difficult time seeing the folly of the way other people do things. No matter. Have your opinions, of course. But if they are ignorant of others...then I'm probably not going to like you.

"Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth."
--Charles A. Dana