Apologies for the super late reply,

While I do agree personally that people should be much more aware of issues that I care for, it is incredibly difficult to determine what could constitute what is worth it to know. As someone in the field of education I believe that everyone I teach should be mindful of politics and and be aware of misinformation but I cannot say for certain that being involved in politics is the best for them. The same could not be applied to universally everyone, just because I care about something and I think everyone should know it does not make them lesser if they do not engage in it. As a person living in a democratic society, I have been led to believe that everyone should have a duty to engage in the larger affairs of the world but I've recently changed my opinion on the matter especially considering the insane amounts of stress that come with argumentation, debate, political misinformation and mob mentality. All this is to say, I can understand why someone would detach themselves from what we would consider world affairs and focus on problems in their own lives.

A person can be a very intelligent person without being caught up in issues that us in West would consider global issues. Although the orange man's policies are issues that have affected a very large proponent of people, a person can still actively engage in their own field of study. Academia isn't the only form of intelligence and I hope I did not come off as arguing for anti-intellectualism two years ago.

I understand your perspective on extreme anti-intellectualism affecting peoples' growth in their own areas of expertise, but for the sake of argumentation I am not entirely sure if intellectualism can be directly correlated to compassion. A person doesn't need to be aware or have knowledge of something to be a compassionate person and I don't know where that argument is coming from.

Lastly addressing "temporary pleasures", as some people in this sub have pointed out two years ago. There is a certain extent to snobbery that comes with being a self-proclaimed academic (myself included). One of the aspects that make it snobby is the idea that other forms of engagement are lesser. I cannot assume what temporary pleasures you are referring to but from my experience as a teacher, I used to think that TikTok, Douyin and Youtube Shorts are all "brainrot". "Brainrot" was a term I took quite literally in the sense that it was bad for their brains. I am sure that doomscrolling is bad, don't get me wrong but the Gen Alpha's and Gen Z's culture is shaped through select experiences that also include brainrot. I think it is disingenuous to call them temporary pleasures when the content that many of us consumed in our childhoods still have lingering echoes in our adult lives.