If you fancy yourself an intellectual and yet believe almost everything believed and advocated by the permanent government and media institutions of your time, then you aren't thinking very creatively, or perhaps even thinking at all. If you spend your mental energy invested in Marxist class consciousness and postmodern social constructs yet fail to see the irony of actively supporting the governing status quo, you might need to examine the mental prisons you've constructed for yourself. Empathy is not only a virtue; it's also a valuable diagnostic tool for understanding social upheaval and change, yet our public intellectuals never seem interested in understanding us.