Why Smart People Don't Fit In

I think everyone considers themselves intelligent. I mean, how could you not and live with yourself, inferiority devouring any sense of self respect? To respect oneself, one would, by requirement, consider themselves to have at least some redeeming intellectual quality, a natural right to belong in society as a member. They are obviously wrong.
The truth is that most of society is dumb. I'm talking in generalities here, so lets not get our panties in a bunch. Why would anyone want to be a member of a community of people that vote for the next superstar in a prime time reality show? Why want to mingle in a crowd obsessed with which celebrity went to rehab this week? I'm sorry, but why settle for that? If this type of thing makes you content, then this article is not for you. Stop reading, flip your hat backwards and go to the bar with your buddies. You can blend right in. You can erase your personality in a pool of similar personalities. Get a tattoo to show that you rebel against society. Unfortunately, tattoos, once a sign of societal rebellion, are now the opposite. You are now a sheep. Glad you joined the herd, now fall in. The Chinese letters on your shoulder right above the barbed wire band wrapped around your bicep surely shows that you don't care what others think. You are an individual. But no, no it doesn't. Quite the opposite, in fact. How sad and ironic that you missed it.
Intellect...what is it? I wonder. How many division problems can you correctly complete in ten minutes? Is this intellect? Who could say for sure? I can say, though, with at least a little certainty, that smart people are individuals. They are typically introverts. They cannot relate to most of society because most of society cares what others think of them and tailor themselves accordingly. Smart people don't care what others think of them. There is more on their mind than that.
Being smart is a lonely state of being. Smart people don't typically get along with other smart people. It really doesn't matter though because they don't care to. As an outsider looking in, you might think they are miserable. They have no friends, no sense of style, no desire to interact amicably. They just don't. They seem oblivious to it all. And they are. They are simply beyond that seemingly human goal of fitting in. I mean, literally beyond it. It just doesn't exist to them. This may be a hard concept to grasp for many of us who are wound up tightly into the social scene. They have no perception of fitting in or why one would want to. They don't do things to show that they don't conform. They have their own minds. They do things differently because they just truly don't conform. It's not for display, it just is. This is the difference. If you ever notice a hermit who is not conforming, you may then see that a hermit, by his very nature is not trying to impress someone. He didn't do whatever it is you witnessed him doing because he's trying to prove that he can fit in but look like he doesn't care if he fits in. It's legit.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is this. Have your own mind. Think for yourself. Do things you like, not because you think other people will like you for it. This is the crux of intellect, the pinnacle of humanity and individualism. Be you. Others will like you for it. But by then, you wont care if they do or not. That is freedom.