I was having a conversation with my brother over dinner (Our parents were out, so it was just me and him) and I said that no one really reads the paper anymore. Most people get their news online. Despite the fact that it is more environmentally friendly, I still feel like the internet has one big problem, anyone can comment. With a paper, sure you can send in an editorial, but they don't run every editorial, especially if it has three swears a sentence like many comments do (Luckily, few comments are longer than a sentence). Plus you have to go through the trouble of sending it in (Or emailing it) while with a comment, it takes you ten seconds to type a short one.
Anyways, my brother said I was wrong because he reads the newspaper every day. I always thought it would be cool to read the newspaper everyday, a nice little skill you could have. To make sure my brother didn't start bragging, I told him he was an intellectual, so he didn't count. But what makes someone an individual intellectual (I don't really there can be an intellectual who isn't an individual).
I have thought about this a lot and have come to the conclusion that the thing that makes someone an intellectual is whether or not you parents are smart. This is not saying that you somehow inherit the "Smart" gene, or that you succeed because your parents are smart, and therefore rich (Plenty of upper class people aren't smart and plenty of middle class or lower class people are), but because your parents influence your childhood, teaching you what is important. For me, for example, intelligence is valued in my family. In other families sports or other things are high priorities. Your parent's/guardian's priorities encourage you in certain areas and so you succeed in those areas.
As far as being an individual, it really depends on whether you are or aren't afraid of too much negative attention. Conformity is, all in all, caused by fear.
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