This post doesn't belong on a tech blog, and it'll probably be pretty short. I just don't have a better medium right this minute, so you know what, screw it!

It's not exactly some kind of secret that anti-intellectualism has caused some big problems in the world, and in USAmerican culture in particular. But there's a side of it that I don't really see talked about very much, where it comes to emotional intelligence.

This is easier to talk about if you start with the value proposition, so you know what you're missing. If you're a curious and analytical person, you'll probably direct some of those curious and analytical impulses toward _yourself_ over the course of your life, and you'll learn useful things. What do I like? What do I want? How do I currently respond to the world, and how's that going for me? How might I change my actions or mindset, so it goes better? All sorts of stuff that's easy to take for granted if you know it, but a huge blind spot if you don't.[^1]

Paying attention to these things doesn't just make your life better (although: it does that). It can actually feel good in its own right, in the way intellectual exercises often do! Puzzles are fun. That can still apply when the puzzle just happens to be yourself. It's not the same type of fun as, I dunno, Six Flags Marine World or whatever. But there's something satisfying and savory about considering an interesting problem, and then getting value out of it in your life.

I think anti-intellectualism, as a cultural attitude, tends to throw a wrench in this experience. If you don't learn to enjoy puzzles, you won't enjoy the self-puzzle. So you probably won't _do_ the self-puzzle. And then you'll marry the completely wrong person, tell them what _they_ want to hear about whether you want kids, cheat on your partner with your boss who's either dramatically younger or older than you, and move to Minnesota when it all blows up. And when someone asks you about it at the bar, your answer is "I guess I'm just a dumb motherfucker."[^2] Happens to a few of us every year.

Enjoying the use of your brain doesn't mark you as a chump. Just the opposite. It's also like a sport: you don't have to be good at it to have fun, but if you're having fun, you'll practice more, and the practice will make you better. The thing about knowing yourself is, you've got your whole life to do it, so you don't have to be some kind of genius. Time is on your side - if you're spending the time.

I always thought the metaphor "eating your vegetables" (meant to mean "doing the necessary chores to maintain your health, even if you don't enjoy it") was kind of funny. I grew up with a lot of vegetables in my diet, and there were some I didn't like, but I was genuinely excited any time my mom made squash with onions. Even frozen peas-and-carrots mix is tasty with a little butter and seasoning. In fact, every vegetable I thought I _didn't_ like, I eventually tried at a friend's house or a fancy restaurant, and discovered how Brussels sprouts or Lima beans can shine if you treat 'em right. But I grew up surrounded by vegetable skeptics - in fact, it was kind of going against the grain to admit that veggies could be _good._ And meanwhile, in Japan, kids are saying things like "my favorite school lunch is the one with the steamed carrots!" That's not a genetic difference, it's a cultural one, which is great news, because culture is way more flexible and fixable.

Maybe you'd like some vegetables, literally or figuratively, if you didn't think you were supposed to hate them. Worth trying with an open mind. You might find something you enjoy in there.

[^1]: Most of these questions are also valuable to interrogate about other people in your circle, be they friend or foe. In fact, that applies to this whole post.

[^2]: A statement which will probably be either untrue or irrelevant. There are dumber people than you having better lives. This is just another nested excuse not to introspect _for real._