Ask HN: How can intellects protect themselves against backstabbing?
I've been reading the biographies of some of the greatest minds in science. I'm saddened with what I found. While intellects will protect other intellects, intellects have little power to protect themselves against the majority who control society. While those like Oppenheimer got off with a small beating - Tesla and Turner were destroyed by the ruthlessness of the world they lived in and ironically, gave a future to.
To those who say modern society has grown beyond that, I'll point to modern 21st century Massachusetts as just one example of how the iron fist the leaders with the support of the majority has controlled intellectualism there.
(Of course, all these examples are nothing compared to some counties who slaughtered all their intellectuals during a populist revolution. Their biographies, unfortunately, were never written.)
What options are there for an intellect to protect themselves while still allowing them to continue studying what they desire?