Allow me to clarify: how I talk on the internet is not how I talk in daily life. I used this particular style of writing to elicit a humorous response in my readers. That's it. No motives of "superior intellect" or whatsoever: yes, there are people I dislike and I think myself better than them, but allow me to be very clear: I never do this with people I don't know.

Apart from that, I don't think it's fully justified to think of the academic environment as some sort of "ivory tower". While it might have been true in some cases, it generally doesn't work like that anymore, certainly not in the Netherlands, where students are generally housed within the cities rather than on campus. I personally pride myself on the fact that I know (and get along with) people from many different social and economical backgrounds.

To illustrate this with an example: about a year ago I was riding the train while reading an excerpt in Arabic, which came to the attention of three thuggish-looking Moroccans of about my age (golden teeth, baseball caps, the whole shabang). I spent the entire trip talking with them in an amicable tone about very different subjects, during which I tried to convince them (in vain, I might add) of the fact that Jews generally don't want to eat babies and control the world. They disagreed with me, I disagreed with them, but we parted on friendly terms and I felt that I might have done something that would enable to think more compassionately about their fellow monotheists. Or not, I don't really care. Either way, I think this demonstrates that I am fully capable of handling people with whom I would generally not start a conversation or keep as friends.