Intellectual Dichotomy in Australia

We've all heard it said that Australia is unique. In fact uniqueness is central to all discussions of what is Australiana. "Australian's aren't like other people because..." go the tales, and amongst the most common of the descriptions of the Australian is of a larrikin, a jester, a simple man. The larrikin speaks like a real Aussie, without pronouns and only in sentences of less than 10 syllables. This begs a question of all Australians seeking to find an identity that suits Australia in the 21st century: what of the Australian intellect? The question arose in my mind when Sam de Brito, who normally writes a pretty plain column for the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote his column based around the writings of a prominent Australian academic, Clive Hamilton. Hamilton is not just a prominent Australian academic hes a prominent academic period. His theories of 21st century reinvention of society are both revolutionary and creative. What surprised me was not Sam de Brito's treatment of Hamilton's theories on human sexuality, but the comments section that followed the blog. "What a wank" "Overthink much? Sex is just sex" yelled the voices from the peanut gallery. Could it be that we as Australians reject intellectual critique as a matter of national culture? We endlessly criticise Americans for their ignorance but we refuse to see merit in Australia's own brilliant minds. Are we the idiot population we see in others? So here's to doing something smart today!(or at least not wearing blue singlets anymore, its not the 90's)