Does society really value intelligence?

I read a book a few years ago, titled Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter, a well known historian.  He talked about how intellectuals have always been shafted in society, because people's religious and spiritual views have been attacked by the work of intellectuals.  Think about this.  The religious population took deep offense to evolution because it contradicted creationism.  Evolution is clearly an intellectual product, for it is backed up by solid data, unlike creationism.

Think about the image of the "nerd" who knows nothing about being human.  This person is often caricatured by glasses, pocket protectors, and a belt and suspenders.  Usually, these people use big words, and demonstrate merit in their thoughts, yet they are still frowned upon.

Now consider the predictability of historical disasters.  Scholars predicted Hitler and the Nazi party as a threat to the free world, yet people continued to support the Nazi party, and look what happened.  Intellectuals make wise predictions about world events, are usually correct, yet we continue to ignore them.  Why?  The only possible solution is that we don't truly value the merits of the scholar.