Pseudo-Intellectuals

How do you spot them?  Easy.

They focus on unimportant minutiae and miss the point entirely.

I remember my high school English teacher calling J.K. Rowling a bad writer because her sentence structure wasn’t sophisticated enough for his taste.  He missed the point.

I remember listening to an inexperienced player criticize the lead guitarist in a Led Zeppelin cover band because of how he held the fretboard.  He missed the point.

I hear companies talk about how they need social networks and iPhone applications  because Obama was able to leverage them during his campaign.  They’re missing the point.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in your beliefs and only see what fits.  Stepping back to see the big picture is hard because it makes your opinions vulnerable.  The facts might shatter your worldview.

Rowling is a phenomenal storyteller; any flaws in her writing are greatly compensated for.  That guitarist delighted everyone in the venue; his form is irrelevant.  And Obama gave a large group of people hope; the tools were potent because of his following’s belief in him.