Intellectual yet idiot
Intellectual Yet Idiot (IYI) is a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his essay by the same name that refers to the semi-intelligent well-pedigreed "who are telling us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think… and 5) who to vote for". They represent a very small minority of people but have an overwhelming impact on the vast majority because they affect government policy. IYI are often policy makers, academics, journalists, and media pundits. Taleb dedicates a chapter to IYIs in his 2018 book Skin in the Game.
The IYI pathologizes others for doing things he doesn't understand without ever realizing it is his understanding that may be limited. He thinks people should act according to their best interests and he knows their interests, particularly if they are "red necks" or English non-crisp-vowel class who voted for Brexit. When plebeians do something that makes sense to them, but not to him, the IYI uses the term "uneducated". What we generally call participation in the political process, he calls by two distinct designations: "democracy" when it fits the IYI, and "populism" when the plebeians dare voting in a way that contradicts his preferences. [1]
The term was used late in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by Newt Gingrich when he criticized the negative response Trump received after the first presidential debate stating that "The Intellectual Yet Idiot class is so out of touch with America that they don't even realize how badly they are doing and how well Trump is doing."[2] Gingrich has mentioned the term multiple times in interviews and speeches since then [3][4][5] and has included in his book Understanding Trump a chapter called "The Rise of the IYI" [6]
The term has been used extensively and has been cited in numerous periodicals including The Guardian[7], Financial Times[8], and The New Statesmen [9]. Jonah Goldberg, in an article from the National Review, reference the term in defense of non-liberal intellectuals who have been branded "anti-intellectual" by the Left.[10] Graham Vyse in his article "Democrats Should Stop Talking About Bipartisanship and Start Fighting" from The New Republic referenced Gingrich's use of IYI as divisive and that until the Republican's become more collaborative, "Democrats need to drop the subject, too, and fight like hell instead."[11]
References[edit]
- ↑ "The Intellectual Yet Idiot, By Nassim Nicholas Taleb".
- ↑ "Newt Gingrich: Trump won the debate. Don't believe the "Intellectual Yet Idiot" class".
- ↑ "TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POLICY AGENDA, "Intellectual Yet Idiot"". C-SPAN. 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
- ↑ ""Gingrich Predicts Cabinet Will Dismantle Federal Bureaucracy"".
About 288,000 federal workers are employed in Washington, and "I'll guarantee you" 35 percent or 40 percent of them fit Taleb's description. The answer is not to figure out how to manage them, but to get rid of them
- ↑ "It's the end of the world as we know it".
- ↑ Newt Gingrich (2017). Understanding Trump. Center Street. ISBN 1478923083. Search this book on
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/20/newt-gingrich-book-understanding-trump. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.ft.com/content/a21da152-1b01-11e8-a748-5da7d696ccab. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2018/03/why-author-nassim-nicholas-taleb-ideal-public-thinker-age-trump. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "The Science of Intellectual Tribalism".
- ↑ "Democrats Should Stop Talking About Bipartisanship and Start Fighting".
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