--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have so few unaffiliated public…" description: "\"We have so few unaffiliated public intellectuals now - people who are not beholden to a think tank, corporate-owned media, or academic department - and..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fd/pankaj-mishra-2875_academic_we-have-so-few-unaffiliated-public-intel_2193052.jpg" --- # We have so few unaffiliated public intellectuals now… ![“We have so few unaffiliated public intellectuals now - people who are not beholden to a think tank, corporate-owned media, or academic department - and even many literary writers look and behave like young urban professionals and canny careerists.” quote by Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fd/pankaj-mishra-2875_academic_we-have-so-few-unaffiliated-public-intel_2193052.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fd/pankaj-mishra-2875_academic_we-have-so-few-unaffiliated-public-intel_2193052.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fd/pankaj-mishra-2875_academic_we-have-so-few-unaffiliated-public-intel_2193052.jpg) > “We have so few unaffiliated public intellectuals now - people who are not beholden to a think tank, corporate-owned media, or academic department - and even many literary writers look and behave like young urban professionals and canny careerists.” [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. There is a decline in independent public intellectuals, with many now tied to institutions or adopting professional personas, reducing critical diversity. **In simple terms:** Independent thinkers are becoming rare. Key Takeaway Support and amplify independent voices. Themes intellectual independence media criticism careerism Mood critical concerned Type analytical observational When to use this quote - academia - journalism - publishing - public discourse Key Concepts institutional bias professionalism Questions to Reflect On - How can independent thinkers thrive today? - What structures protect intellectual freedom? A Different Perspective Institutional ties can also provide resources and platforms for impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Academic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academic/) [Corporate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporate/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Intellectuals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectuals/) [Media](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/media/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Tanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tanks/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Intellectuals are people who go to study things other people do naturally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-cosby/intellectuals-are-people-who-go-to-study-things-other-people-do/) [Bill Cosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-cosby/) > [Intellectuals are people who believe that ideas are of more importance than values. That is to say, their own ideas and other people's values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-brenan/intellectuals-are-people-who-believe-that-ideas-are-of-more/) [Gerald Brenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-brenan/) > [Intellectuals are people who manage the world in their head. They look at life and try to see some kind of truth, and if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yair-lapid/intellectuals-are-people-who-manage-the-world-in-their-head-they-look/) [Yair Lapid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yair-lapid/) > [I reached the age of 70, because I have cultivated an association of multicultural intellectuals who are informed and alert to whatever "tricknology" that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/i-reached-the-age-of-70-because-i-have-cultivated-an-association-of/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [One of the categories of people I don't like much are intellectuals. 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What is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/one-of-the-categories-of-people-i-don-t-like-much-are-intellectuals/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [These anti-public intellectuals are part of a disimagination machine that solidifies the power of the rich and the structures of the military-industrial-surveillance-academic complex by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/these-anti-public-intellectuals-are-part-of-a-disimagination-machine/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [I think I'll always be a better playwright than a pundit, but I believe that writers should be public intellectuals and that theater, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kushner/i-think-i-ll-always-be-a-better-playwright-than-a-pundit-but-i/) [Tony Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kushner/) > [There's a flip side to having prominent public intellectuals, which is that they start meddling in politics and often with quite disastrous results.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/there-s-a-flip-side-to-having-prominent-public-intellectuals-which-is/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [What the British seem to like are television historians and naturalists, not public intellectuals. 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The older small tribal societies were cracking up and gave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/there-was-great-political-uncertainty-in-south-asia-at-the-time-of/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Buddhism resonated very powerfully with a lot of my preoccupations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/buddhism-resonated-very-powerfully-with-a-lot-of-my-preoccupations/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Our tolerance of the intolerable found a low threshold as early as the late 1950s with the grotesque excesses of McCarthyism, which destroyed so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/our-tolerance-of-the-intolerable-found-a-low-threshold-as-early-as/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee great literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/freedom-of-speech-doesn-t-guarantee-great-literature/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“As Keynes wrote, with devastating understatement, ‘The age of economic internationalism was not particularly successful in avoiding war.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/as-keynes-wrote-with-devastating-understatement-the-age-of-economic/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“Voltaire was soon turned, with Catherine’s encouragement, into a patron saint for the secular Russian aristocracy. 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I have long bouts of cynicism and skepticism. 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It's mostly in your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/most-suffering-is-human-made-and-avoidable-it-s-mostly-in-your-head/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) [Explore all 147 Pankaj Mishra quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) ## More Academic quotes > [When I went to college, as much as my parents emphasized academic achievement, they emphasized marriage even more. 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