[mouzogu]

I always saw intelligence as a willingness to acknowledge what you don't know and withdrawing from comment or discussion about things you don't understand well enough to have an informed opinion on.

Unfortunately, this kind of humility/modesty is not rewarded. As we see in the world around us.

[exporectomy]

I think you're using the word "intelligence" to mean "respectable" or something else that isn't intelligence at all. Perhaps similar to how people use "stupid" to mean something that hurts them - "The stupid fly won't let me kill it!".