Black Anti-Intellectualist Movement (BAIM): these are individuals who have adopted the Jacksonian Era philosophy of anti-intellectualism, married them with 1900s positivism and applied them to an ideology of being “conscious.” BAIM emphasizes the idea that intellectual pursuit and methodologies used in modern disciplines such as science, history, etc. are the sole creations of whites. Blacks therefore should shun these academic methods of understanding and rely instead on what are deemed “African” or “Black” ways of understanding. Some BAIM adherents even adopt a form of Negritude, declaring logical pursuits the domains of whites and artistic (deemed emotional or spiritual) matters the domain of blacks.

Pros: highlight serious culturally inherent flaws with academia and the scholarly world that should be addressed.

Cons: make white people the architects of everything in the modern world; falsely believe that prior to white people blacks and others were not using systems similar to the modern scientific or historic methodologies; falsely believe that non-blacks have not contributed to what is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding in the modern world; falsely believe that somehow white people own”science or the like; take non-understanding of a subject as evidence of a flaw in said subject; are clueless as to the nature of evidence as a method of making a case; will engage in debate not by presenting evidence, but speaking from emotion and critiquing any evidence presented, again from a stance of emotion; all conflicts in their mind boil down to opinion”as to them there are no facts; employ methods and ways of understanding or gaining knowledge that are individualistic rather than collective (in other words, their methods only work for them---you thus can’t verify or deny it; it is un-test-able); will try to make others drop out of school or belittle their academic accomplishments as reliance on the white man’s pedigree.’

Suggestions: Engaging in debate with them is pointless, because you will be the only person presenting evidence while they pull the most improbable opinions out of thin air (without evidence) to present as fact. Best thing to do, avoid them.