Warp wrote:

>   What is it with the western culture that makes studying and intellectuality
> a good thing and a shame, all at the same time?

Because western culture is shaped primarily by non-intellectuals and 
pseudo-intellectuals.

I think the cause of the way that being smart is not worshipped in the 
same way that being good at football is worshipped, is because pursuing 
athletic success doesn't change you the way that pursuing intellectual 
success does.  Becoming good at scoring goals in football doesn't change 
you, it just makes you richer.  Becoming good at understanding nature 
does change you.  A football star is not as different from the average 
Joe as is the man who developed the TV set that enables the average Joe 
to watch the football star perform.

Ask an average Joe what he would do if he were good at football, and 
he'd point at the football star and say "what he's doing."  Ask him what 
he'd do if he were good at math, and you will find that he has no clue. 
  And that the question annoys him.

Regards,
John

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