On being a Freak

I've been a strange duck for my whole life. My preferred words are 'freak' and 'anomaly', depending on context.I was born unusually intelligent. I could read at 3 years and have found I have a high retention rate. I rarely forget something I've read. I can be absentminded, thinking about things. This seems to be percieved as aloofness.
It's hard to be smart in America, today. Texas, at least. I was dissapointed with higher ed. Where I had expected a Salon-type environment I found the two extremes of 1) balls-to-the-wall partying and 2)narrow, career-track grubbing w/ facile 'net-working'. These two overlapped, somewhat, but overall university was a gigantic disappointment. Some part of this , I think, was due to choice of schools; some due to the times. High-school with ashtrays is how I've characterised my college experience.
Moved to Austin after college, and it's still the only city I would even consider moving to, short of Paris.
Still, I couldn't find the intellectual things I was looking for. Expectations were, perhaps, too high.
The press of humanity grew oppressive and I seized the opportunity to get out , into the Wilderness.
Over all, it has been a positive thing... meeting my wife, having kids, and being so close to Nature. But there is definitely something missing.
I am a lonely, cynical bastard. I am filled with contempt for most folks I know, and that seems like a rational position. My wife says I'm too hard on folks, that I expect too much, that it's unrealistic to expect anyone out here to be intellectual or open-minded.
Perhaps she's right.
But it doesn't help with the isolation.I plunged ,headlong, into the society I found. My honesty and forthrightness were met with either blank, empty looks or, more rarely, outright contempt. I was rumored to be some kind of cult-leader.(!) All for being unorthodox and thinking for myself.
I think that part of this can be attributed to the times, the mood today. But most of it is a long-term trend of anti-intellectualism. From where I stand, folks just don't like to think. The local library, tho it's remarkably comprehensive is it's variety of materials, is used for access to the latest Nora Roberts or Dean Koontz. Nothing wrong with that, that's not my point.It's that noone I know seems interested in understanding the world they live in.And that's what drives me. I've encountered no curiosity , no critical judgement.
It bothers me to no end to have noone to discuss things with, without falling into superstitious certainty or uncritical acceptance of official culture.
I've always been a lurker on the Web. I retain some hope for this and other fora; but so far this looks like just a fancy way of talking to myself. Do I offend? It is not my intention.