Why don't we have intellect-star?

I spent this weekend at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism and had a great time. In that crowd, astronomers, psychologist, neurologists and mathematicians are super stars. It felt good cheering for Phil Plait and Steven Novella instead of some stupid pop star.

Got me to wondering why we don’t embrace intellect in this society. There’s no rule that says we have to honor our actors, musicians (or lip-synchers… whatever) and athletes. Other cultures embrace intelligence far more than Americans.

So my question is why? Why can’t Neil Degrasse Tyson sell out a stadium? Why can’t Eugenie Scott do a 70 city sold-out tour? Why don’t kids have a favorite anthropologist? Why is it that most of the people reading this have no idea who these people are?