Cheeky

An annonymous commenter from my last blog brings up some very good points, most notably, of course, the one about me, the question as to whether I consider myself a part of some “intellectual noblesse oblige class”.

Answer: well, yes, I do consider myself an intellectual. And what is wrong with that?

In America, this is seen to be some kind of automatic conceit when one admits it aloud. “Intellectual” is a compliment that, as an American, is to be meet with false humility, a sweet smile, and some folksy response like “naw, I just like to think” or some such thing.

Truth be told, many think that I live in Germany because I am an opera singer or because I am gay. The real driving force behind me being here, though, is that I live in a place where someone who is intelligent and has a lot of curiosity about the world, driving him to learn more and more, is not viewed with suspicion. In fact, intellectuals in Germany are heralded. I first learned this about Europe when I was an exchange student in Brussels. I remember distinctly watching an American movie subtitled in French. As I followed the subtitles, I remember noting that there was no good translation for “nerd”. I asked many people about this, and later came to understand that “nerd” was not a term directly translatable because denigrating someone who was good in school or interested in learning would make no sense in Belgian/French/German--European society. Why would there be some horrible pejorative term for something for which all students aspire? Hmmmm, I thought, Europe might be just the place for me. Ever since then, I dreamed of living here, free of the societal pressures to “just be normal”.

In America, there is nothing more dubious than being an intellectual. The best villains out of Hollywood are Shakespeare-quoting, latte drinking, opera aficionados hell bent, for whatever reason, on blowing things up in their search for world domination. “Real” Americans like Andy Griffith, whistling on his way home to have lunch with Aunt Bee and Opie, not a care in the world, proud to tell you that his chosen reading includes the Bible and Life Magazine. That is why Sara Palin is such a danger. She has a very folksy appeal that Americans love.

In America, I was always some kind of black sheep, unless I was tucked away in my little university town. From the time I was a small child, no one in my town of 1,000 shared an interest in Classical Music, “the Avengers”, “Doctor Who” and literature from the Middle Ages. When I say it like that, you begin to understand, don’t you? I am everything that is reviled within the unspoken portions of the American psyche: a gay, intellectual opera singer. Three strikes and you’re out. People ask me when I will return to live in America. You should see the looks of surprise when I say “probably never.”

I love America for what it is. It is an idea, a philosophy, a beautiful country, and a well-meaning people. But America never really liked me. They didn’t have a cookie cutter in my size, I guess.

As to “noblesse oblige”, well, I don’t think that really exists in America, does it? Some of the smartest people I know are teaching at $30,000 a year in universities. There’s nothing “noblesse” about that.

As to the rest of the warnings of becoming an “embittered lefty”, I wouldn’t worry too much. My vitriol about Sarah Palin stems simply from the writing I see on the wall. GW is an idiot. I knew it back then, but people voted for him anyway, because they would have preferred to have a beer with him over Gore or Kerry. I knew it was a horrible mistake, one which was made for the country by social conservatives and die-hard Republicans coming out of the woodwork in 2000—“real” Americans. I never was one of those who insisted that the election was “stolen” or some such thing. He won fair and square as far as I am concerned. But, that such an idiot could be elected to our highest office TWICE really says more about our country than I ever could, doesn’t it?

Now, we can get into a debate about whether intellectuals (we may need to define that, I guess) are better suited to running the country than cowboys, but that will have to be another time.

BTW, I thought my last entry was quite tongue-and-cheek funny. Oh well.