The Audacity of Conceit

The American Thinker ^ | July 10, 2009 | Victor Volsky

[Scanian]

Intelligent idiots, smart fools, multi-degreed morons - lots of monikers could describe a category of individuals dismayingly prominent in the ruling elites of the West. They are the people so divorced from reality, so engrossed in bookish pursuits that - for all their undoubted intellectual accomplishments and often as a direct consequence thereof - they invariably end up with egg on their faces whenever they try to engage in practical activities.

Worse yet, they idolize each other, sticking up for one another out of class solidarity. Case in point: a few days ago I watched a gathering of noted media intellectuals on C-SPAN. David Brooks of the New York Times was supposed to counterbalance the four leftist pundits who vigorously extolled Barack Obama's genius. But even the token conservative's criticism was perfunctory. Having poked a couple of holes in the administration's economic agenda, Brooks waxed lyrical about Obama's personnel policy. He was struck by the "sheer intellectual brilliance" of the economic team Obama has assembled, people "like Larry Summers" who dazzle any gathering and dominate any discussion.

Apparently, the NYT columnist was unable to see the inherent contradiction in his effusive praises: if the people who formulate the administration's economic policy are so smart, why is it so disastrous? Last January, these wizards of smart predicted that if Obama's stimulus package were passed, the unemployment rate would not go beyond 8 percent by the end of the year. At this point, it is nearing 10 percent and shows no sign of slowing down. How could they be so wrong with their vaunted brilliance?

It is a common mistake of intellectuals to confuse IQ with common sense and verbal fluency with leadership qualities. They are simply unable to comprehend that academic success does not necessarily translate into a firm grasp

[The Duke]

If the administration is so gosh darn smart, why are they hiding Obama's school records?

After all, there *are* plenty of those who are both ambitious and quite obviously dumb as a brick (but let's not talk about "Global Warming" Gore here).

Or maybe "the powers that be" have decided to transpose the meanings of the words "smart" and "dumb" the way they've already transposed the meanings of other words, such as "hero" and "victim"?

[rlmorel]

I have a saying: “We are all idiots.”

Everyone is an idiot at some time. We all do things that make us appear to others to be complete idiots. Whether it is pulling out into traffic and misjudging the speed and distance of an oncoming car, or misplacing something you were expressly told not to misplace, we all do things on occasion.

Because there are millions of people, the odds are that someone is being an idiot at any given time, more likely, thousands!

But there are two things worse than the “Sometime Idiot”:

The idiot who is arrogant and conceited.

The idiot who has a lust for power and control.

Or government is top heavy with both, with the most arrogant, conceited and power-hungry are in the executive branch at this time.

[Darkwolf377]

Intelligent idiots, smart fools, multi-degreed morons

But enough about Peggy Noonan (and David Brooks)...

[SupplySider]

All these brilliant academics have been brought on board for the sole purpose of lending an intellectual veneer to Obama's political schemes and validate his power grab.

Amen to that.

[all the best]

In liberal intellectual circles intelligence is measured as how far one can depart from reality and make it look as though you got there through reason. Any dummy can see reality. It takes one of these genii to concoct their fantasies.

[Spok]

“It is a common mistake of intellectuals to confuse IQ with common sense”

Likewise to confuse competence with benevolence. The criticism of the ‘Bama is always premised on the assumption that his objective is economic recovery. If one begins with the assumption that his objective is the centralization of economic power in the government, and in him personally in the short term, his team has done a pretty good job.

[Rummyfan]

Apparently, the NYT columnist was unable to see the inherent contradiction in his effusive praises: if the people who formulate the administration's economic policy are so smart, why is it so disastrous? Last January, these wizards of smart predicted that if Obama's stimulus package were passed, the unemployment rate would not go beyond 8 percent by the end of the year. At this point, it is nearing 10 percent and shows no sign of slowing down. How could they be so wrong with their vaunted brilliance?

To quote Debbie Harry, they're not living in the real world. Show me a single one of them that has run a successful business in the private sector.

[shezza]

Show me a single one of them that has run a successful business in the private sector.

Shoot, show me a single one of them that has had a real JOB in the private sector. These clowns are entirely the product of their own make-work projects. It's an Alinsky echo-chamber through and through.