The XX Factor : intellectualism

Is Paris Hilton the New Einstein?

Jennifer Olmstead — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:43:00 GMT

You probably wouldn't have known it by looking at him, but your Dunkin' Donuts clerk this morning wasn't thrumming his fingers to the latest Soulja Boy bastardization. According to John Parker's sprawling piece in the Economist 's quarterly offspring,...(read more)

Continent First?

Marjorie Valbrun — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:19:00 GMT

Juliet , Melinda , Lauren , and Rachael , I'm perplexed by your certainty that Sarah Palin did indeed know that Africa was a continent not a country. On what are you basing this assumption? Sarah Palin's denials? Forgive me if I find her credibility lacking....(read more)

Conservatives Should Not Cast Out Their Own

Rachael Larimore — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:59:00 GMT

Melinda, I'm so glad you posted on Christopher Buckley leaving the National Review . I was saddened to read his column in the Daily Beast saying he'd left. Also, I had just been conjuring up a post in response to your post and Ellen 's from earlier today,...(read more)

You Dirty Intellectual!

Ellen Tarlin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Rachael , I hate to be the one to have to break it to you, but you are an intellectual. (And I'm not sure when intellectual became such a dirty word.) You were valedictorian of your high-school class. You went to college. You are educated. You are learned....(read more)

As Proust (and France Gall) Would Say: Ne Soyons Pas Si Bêtes

Melinda Henneberger — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Rachael , I don't guess I know that many people who think of themselves as intellectuals—or would say so out loud, at any rate, no matter how much they love kicking around ideas. (My mom described me that way once, in anger, and it was soooo not a compliment....(read more)

Thoughts on Intellectuals and Anti-Intellectuals

Rachael Larimore — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:10:00 GMT

I'm just catching up on the Palin-Bush "I.Q." discussion , and there is just one point (OK, maybe two) I wanted to address. Juliet, I don't know anyone who feels a "nearly blood-thirsty anger against people who read books," and I think it's an unfair...(read more)