Why Do Intellectuals Oppose the Military?

At The American Thinker, James L. Holmes looks into the question of why our elite chattering classes are so opposed to the military. He takes as his starting point an essay by Robert Nozick that asked the question, in broader terms, of why intellectuals often oppose the capitalist free society that makes their lifestyle possible. In both cases the answer seems to be that the wider society does not automatically provide them with the respect and rewards that they deem themselves worthy to receive. Coming from a rigid educational background, our elites are used to being the best and brightest in a highly structured and stagnant environment. When confronted with the larger culture with all of its uncertainties and its differing value system, they reject it because it is "unfair" to them.

Almost a decade ago the late Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick penned an essay asking "Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?" That is, why would those who live well reject the open society that allows them to do so? The essay was less a venture in social science than a thought experiment about the upbringing of intellectuals and the outsized influence this group exerts on society. Much of what Nozick says about intellectuals' reflexive disdain for capitalism also helps explain their disdain toward the military - and even the differences are intriguing. So his essay is worth pondering today as we survey civil-military relations in a nation at war.

Whom are we talking about? In his book Intellectuals, Paul Johnson defines a member of this elite group in general terms, as "someone who thinks ideas are more important than people." By contrast, Nozick confines his attentions to "wordsmith intellectuals" concentrated in professions such as the academy, print and electronic journalism, and government. He deems "numbersmiths" working in the sciences, business, and other quantitative fields less prone to anti-capitalist animus, despite similar intelligence and academic attainment. (Why this should be true warrants looking into.)

Schooling, maintains Nozick, breeds in intellectuals a sense of superiority, and with it a sense of entitlement to the highest rewards society has to offer - not just top salaries but praise comparable to that lavished on them by their teachers. After completing their formal academic training in the centralized environment of the classroom, intellectuals go forth into a seemingly chaotic capitalist society, which purports to reward individual citizens by merit but in fact applies a different standard of merit from the one imparted in the classroom.