The Scarcity Of Intelligence

Anyone who legitimately thinks that people with completely different foundational positions can simultaneously be intelligent does not understand what intelligence is--meaning they do not understand what it means to grasp rationality, since intelligence is nothing other than a measure of someone's comprehension of the laws of logic.  That it is considered controversial to draw attention to this highlights the intellectual shallowness of those who object.

Since two contradictory ideas cannot both be true, reason can only establish or favor one side or the other.  It follows necessarily that two people clinging to opposing worldviews cannot both be intelligent.  At least one, if not both, must be thoroughly mistaken in their conclusions, in their methodology, or in both matters.  Thus, when people say that "there are intelligent people on both sides" of some polarizing issue, they overlook the fact that such a thing is impossible.  The rigidness, exclusivity, and necessity of logic not only prohibit this from being true, but also from even being within the spectrum of possibility.

When it comes to certain precise details, people who dispute can both still wield actual intelligence, though one must exercise more intelligence than the other(s), as one is at least more rational than the other.  However, the same it not true of people who represent conflicting, broad frameworks.  They cannot hide behind the extreme precision of the issue; they are making more general claims that will expose their inconsistencies far more easily.  Reason rejects at least one of two frameworks that are not logically connected.  In doing so, reason reveals the unintelligence of those who cling to unintelligent, false, or unverifiable worldviews.

Not everyone can deserve to be praised for their intelligence because not everyone possesses more than minimal intelligence.  There is nothing belittling about admission of this in itself, but even if it was belittling, the injustice of treating fallacious minds as intelligent would not be erased.  If a person holds to an idea that is either irrational or unverifiable, that person cannot deserve to be labeled an intelligent individual--or at least cannot be legitimately regarded as an intellectual equal of the rational.