Posted on 09/16/2009 9:36:26 PM PDT by stolinsky
It would be foolhardy to attempt to describe all of human stupidity. So I will try to describe only two examples that are relevant today: (1) I can’t manage my own affairs, but I want to manage yours. (2) If I imagine it, it must be true. Einstein was correct. There is no limit to human stupidity. But even he could not predict how much damage would be done by self-anointed elitists living in their own fantasy world.
(Excerpt) Read more at stolinsky.com ...
“It would be foolhardy to attempt to describe all of human stupidity.”
It’s done everyday in a single word. “Liberalism”.
As my Grampa always said...Figures don’t lie, liars figure
AMEN!
bump for later.
Paraphrasing Einstein : The definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting a different result.
Infinite Stupidity - Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 00:24
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Infinite Stupidity David C. Stolinsky, MD Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe. It would be foolhardy to attempt to describe all of human stupidity, which Einstein declared to be infinite. In fact, it would be stupid. So I will try to describe only two examples that are relevant today. I can’t manage my own affairs, but I want to manage yours. This bit of stupidity might be filed under “E” for elitism or “H” for hubris. The fallacy is that individual human beings are too incompetent and too immature to decide questions of life-and-death for themselves, but somehow they can become capable of making these decisions for others − perhaps millions of others. For this to work, a magical transformation must take place, changing bumbling incompetents into the “elite.” Usually this transformation takes place during four years in a major university, preferably an Ivy League university. But when one examines the actual content of the courses, one is baffled as to how this schoolwork could produce such a transformation. Of course, it is not the content of the material the individual studied, much less absorbed and understood. No, it is the diploma itself that produces the transformation. Thus President Obama, who to our knowledge never took a course in business or economics, was transformed by his Harvard degree into someone capable of directing the incredibly complex economy of 307 million Americans. Similarly, Obama’s Harvard law degree somehow imbues him with the knowledge required to regulate the health care of 307 million human beings, who are incapable of making health-related decisions for themselves. That he never studied medicine is somehow irrelevant. And if Obama should need assistance with these daunting tasks, he can look to the senators and representatives of his party, most of whom also have no education or experience in business or health care. But what if, by chance, some of these members of Congress lack degrees from prestigious universities? Not to worry. The mere fact that they were elected to office magically enhances their intelligence, their insight and their judgment to the point that they can understand what we ordinary citizens cannot. One pictures the Wizard of Oz presenting a huge diploma to the Scarecrow. True, the Scarecrow still has no brain, but now he has a certificate that testifies to his intellectual prowess. We see this scene as a humorous commentary on the self-importance of “intellectuals.” But the “intellectuals” see it as a useful lesson on how to increase their prestige. They take it seriously. These are the people who ran General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy. These are the people who ran some of our biggest banks into insolvency. Now they want to run the health care of 307 million people. They have the diplomas, but despite the wizards of academia, they still have no brains. To the “elite,” it’s not what they actually know; it’s what diplomas adorn their walls. It’s not what they actually can do; it’s what they can fantasize themselves doing. If I imagine it, it must be true. Most of us live in the real world. If we run out of money before we run out of month, we have to figure out how to live within our means. But some people spend much of their lives in a fantasy world. They compare people and things not to other actual people and things, but to some imaginary ideal. So they are dissatisfied with their economic system, their health care, their nation and their religion. In their pursuit of the perfect, they overlook the good − and often wind up worse off than before. At the university, they were taught leftist theories that never worked by leftist professors who probably never worked either. Unless they studied the hard sciences, they spent much of their student years dwelling in what some call the world of the mind, but which could as well be called the world of leftist baloney. Baloney is unhealthful for the body, and for the mind as well. If these people went on to graduate school, things got even worse. At law school they were taught not what the Constitution actually says, and not what its authors wrote about their intentions. No, they were taught court cases about the Constitution. They were taught that the Constitution has no fixed meaning, but means whatever a judge says it means today. Tomorrow it may mean something different. And they were taught that reality exists not in the outside world, but in a stack of papers. As a result, they developed the notion that whatever an authority figure imagines will somehow come true. This is not a good lesson for a citizen of a republic. And if they achieve public office and take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, they are merely promising to uphold their own ideas. This is an even worse lesson. If they studied history or political science, they were probably exposed to an even more slanted view of the world. They were probably taught that capitalism is evil, though it is the source of most of the wealth and innovation in the world. They never learned that the majority of new drugs and treatments are developed in America, and that the profit motive is an important source of that innovation. Even drugs developed in nations with socialized health care are developed with the American market in mind. They imagine a world in which altruism motivates innovation, in health care and in other fields. But they ignore the real world, where profit is a powerful incentive. They imagine a world without pesticides. But they ignore the fact that since DDT was banned, over a million Africans − mainly children − die of mosquito-borne malaria every year. They protest that DDT killed birds. But without it, millions of birds − and some humans − die of mosquito-borne West Nile disease. They imagine a world in which their policies never have harmful effects, because they mean well. To them, good motives are all-important, while actual results are irrelevant and boring. They imagine a world of conservation. As a result, they pass laws dictating what kind of light bulbs we can buy, and what kind of toilets we can use. They pass laws dictating fuel economy for cars, thereby requiring smaller cars. But in a crash, occupants of smaller cars are more likely to be killed or injured than occupants of larger vehicles. They forget that freedom is the most scarce and precious of all resources, and the one most worth conserving. They imagine a world without poverty. But as a result, they pursue socialist policies that stifle the creation of wealth. An increasing number of children in America, and even more in some socialist nations, are growing up in homes where nobody works. What kind of lesson does that teach young people? Can such a system survive? Does it deserve to survive? They imagine a world without war. But as a result, they want to weaken our armed forces, and to have judges make crucial national-security decisions. And they saddle us and our children with a debt so huge that we will have difficulty funding an adequate military. Then who will defend our freedom and our values from those who hold quite different values, and who imagine a quite different world? Einstein was correct. There is no limit to human stupidity. But even he could not predict how much damage would be done by self-anointed elitists living in their own fantasy world. Dr. Stolinsky writes on political and social issues. He can be contacted at dstol@prodigy.net. www.stolinsky.com |
Maybe I missed the point but nothing about the unfolding events ever struck me as the work of stupid people.
Evil, yes. And very, very calculating. But not stupid.
I agree that the people at the top are evil and calculating, but it is the millions of adherents to their ideology on the bottom of their philosophical pyramid of idiocy, who actually believe everything their elite leftist masters say, who are truly infinitely stupid.
Yielding on that point. Infinitely stupid stands as the banner of the Leftist minions.
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