Who would you rank as the top public intellectual?

Posted by: Consciousmess on 10 February 2012

Now, to me that is an interesting question as I have found the diversity of people on the Naim forum to be pretty big.  Of course there is the common denominator of all of us as that is why we read and post 'here', but I am curious as to the answer you put for this thread's question??

 

Regards,

 

Jon

Posted on: 11 February 2012 by m0omo0
Originally Posted by Purity of Essence:
(mais j'aime vachement les Smiths)

  N'importe quoi !

Posted on: 11 February 2012 by Chief Chirpa
Keep up, Maurice. Johnny Marr / j'en ai marre
Posted on: 11 February 2012 by Martin_C

Tempted to agree about Jonathan Meades but that's largely because I believe him to be a Saints fan. So instead:

 

Clive James

Posted on: 11 February 2012 by m0omo0
Originally Posted by Chief Chirpa:
Keep up, Maurice. Johnny Marr / j'en ai marre

Well, I thought I did Chief. But didn't see the one you point to I confess.

Posted on: 11 February 2012 by Don Atkinson
Originally Posted by Christopher_M:

Nothing from you yet Consciousmess Jon? Maybe you think it's enough to lob a pebble into the pool and watch the ripples spread . IMO it's not!

 

Chris

Chris,

 

I near;y didn't bother with my post above for this very reason. Bad manners IMHO

 

But then I can't recall when Consciousmess ever contributed to his own threads after his initial post, so rather than get up-tight about it, I just posted anyway. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

 

Cheers

 

Don

Posted on: 11 February 2012 by Christopher_M

Thanks Don, I'm pleased it's not just me!

 

Best, Chris

Posted on: 12 February 2012 by Consciousmess

Nothing from you yet Consciousmess Jon? Maybe you think it's enough to lob a pebble into the pool and watch the ripples spread . IMO it's not!

 

Chris

 

_____________

 

Well, Chris, I was firstly interested in the variety of responses forum members would give - perhaps so I could get an idea of the tone the interpretation would take!!

 

In fact, here is something else - and thanks Don for your observations!!  I am a big fan of listening to others before speaking myself in a sense this corresponds incidentally to one of the recommendations my top public intellectual had:

 

"You always have the right to hear someone fully" (I paraphrase)

 

In fact Carl Sagan once said that no matter what someone says, whether you agree or not, you will never meet an individual like that anywhere else in the universe and that should be treasured.  Again, I paraphrased.

 

So my top public intellectual is Christopher Hitchens as much as I know he was a controversial figure.  I wouldn't so much say that I was in agreement with everything he said.  Not so much because I disagreed with him, more like my understanding of the issue at hand was comparatively lacking compared to him and so by logic I was left in the position of being indifferent!!

 

Regards,

 

Jon

 

 

Posted on: 12 February 2012 by Andy_1912
Tony Benn - saw him few years back and on stage and he picked audience questions from a hat and then just started talking... Intellectual; wise, and compassionate 3 chacteristics rarely seen together.
Posted on: 12 February 2012 by Christopher_M

Thanks Jon.

 

Best, Chris