That's another category IMO. I know lots of "intellectuals", some even with much education, who are idiots. Mistaking an ability to navigate and endure the rituals of academic institutions for intelligence. True idiots. I also know some "intellectuals" who know well that what they are lying, but because their arrogance makes them bel…
That's another category IMO. I know lots of "intellectuals", some even with much education, who are idiots. Mistaking an ability to navigate and endure the rituals of academic institutions for intelligence. True idiots. I also know some "intellectuals" who know well that what they are lying, but because their arrogance makes them believe "it's for their own good the sorry lot". Not idiots so much as arrogant bastids. Then there are those who who know full well what they are doing is wrong, and do it anyway for profit and power. Not idiots, but sociopaths.
The folks I was talking about are different. Take them out of a political context, and they are capable, rational, and reasonable. They can see the obvious, make connections, spot inconsistencies and even admit when they're mistaken. Good folks you'd like to hang out with, work with, and enjoy having around. Yet inexplicably all that capability is suspended to follow The Party doctrine. No matter how absurd, no matter how extreme and irrational.
I believe that conformity and adherence to the party line is possibly a quality people are learning in school — we need to spend more time teaching critical thinking skills ala Peter Bogosian (sp).
I think you hit it. It has always been challenging for the non-conforming, but intolerance has hit new heights. Especially when wrapped in false labels like 'inclusiveness' and 'liberal' it seems the persecution of non-conforming continues to escalate.
You can teach your kids to think. You have to teach them to question authority. As pointed out to me by a good friend, a few years ahead in the child rearing, the problem for us is that the first authority in our kids' lives are their parents. Another example of when doing the right thing may not be fun or easy, but it is the right thing. And it works - and raising a kid to be a good thinker, hard working productive person with a full life and shot at happiness is one heck of a reward.
That's another category IMO. I know lots of "intellectuals", some even with much education, who are idiots. Mistaking an ability to navigate and endure the rituals of academic institutions for intelligence. True idiots. I also know some "intellectuals" who know well that what they are lying, but because their arrogance makes them believe "it's for their own good the sorry lot". Not idiots so much as arrogant bastids. Then there are those who who know full well what they are doing is wrong, and do it anyway for profit and power. Not idiots, but sociopaths.
The folks I was talking about are different. Take them out of a political context, and they are capable, rational, and reasonable. They can see the obvious, make connections, spot inconsistencies and even admit when they're mistaken. Good folks you'd like to hang out with, work with, and enjoy having around. Yet inexplicably all that capability is suspended to follow The Party doctrine. No matter how absurd, no matter how extreme and irrational.
I believe that conformity and adherence to the party line is possibly a quality people are learning in school — we need to spend more time teaching critical thinking skills ala Peter Bogosian (sp).
I think you hit it. It has always been challenging for the non-conforming, but intolerance has hit new heights. Especially when wrapped in false labels like 'inclusiveness' and 'liberal' it seems the persecution of non-conforming continues to escalate.
You can teach your kids to think. You have to teach them to question authority. As pointed out to me by a good friend, a few years ahead in the child rearing, the problem for us is that the first authority in our kids' lives are their parents. Another example of when doing the right thing may not be fun or easy, but it is the right thing. And it works - and raising a kid to be a good thinker, hard working productive person with a full life and shot at happiness is one heck of a reward.