I figure that someone will ping me to this anyway, and I'm adding the keyword, but not pinging.
Posted on 10/07/2024 6:17:04 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Modern society's focus on credentials has created a two-tiered system, where multi-talented individuals are criticized, and elites oversee a dependent underclass.
The songwriter, actor, country/western singer, musician, U.S. Army veteran, helicopter pilot, accomplished rugby player and boxer, Rhodes scholar, Pomona College and University of Oxford degreed, and summa cum laude literature graduate, Kris Kristofferson, recently died at 88.
Americans may have known him best for writing smash hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “For the Good Times,” his wide-ranging, star-acting roles in A Star is Born and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, his numerous solo albums, especially with then-spouse and singer Rita Coolidge, and the country group super-quartet he formed with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.
In other words, Kristofferson was a rare Renaissance man who could do it all in an age of increasingly narrow specialization and expertise.
At certain times throughout history at particular locales, we have seen such singular people from all walks of life.
Classical Athens produced polymaths like Aristotle—tutor to Alexander the Great, logician, student of music, art, and literature, educator, think-tank founder, biologist, philosopher, and scientist. Later Greeks like Archimedes and Ptolemy, as men of action, mastered six or seven disciplines and applied their abstract knowledge in ways that made life easier for those around them.
The late Roman Republic was another cauldron of multitalented geniuses. It produced the brilliant stylist, historian, politician, and consummate general Julius Caesar, as well as his republican archrival Cicero—politician, philosopher, orator, master stylist, lawyer, and provincial governor.
Turn-of-the-century Victorian Great Britain produced giants like Winston Churchill—prime minister, statesman, essayist, historian, orator, strategist, and wartime veteran. As Britain’s war leader, between May 10, 1940, and June 22, 1941, he, almost alone, resisted the Axis powers and prevented Adolf Hitler from winning the war.
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
Today the left will go to lengths to tear down anyone who is exceptional.
VDH ping
We in trouble, then.
I’ve been halfway convinced the world was going to fall apart since I was a kid. Too much post apocalyptic science fiction I suppose. Or I am right.
Collected skills my whole life: soldier, medic, hunter, fisher, trapper, mechanical engineer and petroleum engineer, certified diesel mechanic, mediocre pilot, farmer, rancher, and dang good with electrical systems and tools in a ranch.
Wife is similar, but she’s a doctor and had been a doctor in third world hell holes.
Kids are a mix of both.
Figure we’d be useful somewhere.
This hangs over my bar:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
Robert Heinlein
They have a problem with cognitive supremacy. In their minds, they perish the mere thought of it, however unwittingly.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert A. Heinlein
I figure that someone will ping me to this anyway, and I'm adding the keyword, but not pinging.
:^)
One thing I have noticed is that most of these credentialed “experts” are simply regurgitating all the things that have been put in their heads.
There is an inverse relationship between specialization and creativity/inventiveness in my opinion.
VDH isn't wrong. It's just that he and his ilk -- i.e., those who have only these mundane platitudes to offer -- are simply irrelevant at this point. The barbarians are at Western civilization's gate, most of the West is past the point of no return, and what it needed now are suggestions on how to fight effectively. Pausing to "reflect" on the value of "Renaissance people" ain't it. Yeah, we need 'em. At this point, how are we gonna get 'em? Any ideas, Vic?
Sadly, for all his grasp of history, I'm afraid that all that VDH has left, to fill up his column-inch quota, is pointless Boomercon circle jerkery.
Elon Musk was brilliant at the Trump Rally in Butler.
You may be right. Or I might be right that we're in another civilizational cycle. We seem to be repeating Romans 1:16-32 of society denying the existence of God, getting into sexual perversion, and doing even more harm to others.
It's easy to think that the path we're on is new (late 1950's - 1960's push for Darwinism, then sexual devolution, then murders including abortion going rampant). But the Apostle Paul dealt with an equally depraved Roman culture by him and other early church fathers helping God's new Church get on the ground and running. Over 1,000 years later our English speaking church predecessors dealt with the First Sexual Revolution by issuing forth the Great Awakenings.
Perhaps the best way to keep the world from falling apart is not just voting Republican and speaking against the left, though I do plenty of that. We should probably focus mainly on ushering in the next great Christian awakening.
Which, at this point, is all that VDH is doing too.
A number of times others have said I am a Renaissance man. I vigorously say no, I don’t come close to meeting the standard.
Renaissance men (and women) are exceptionally rare. God makes them few and far between. And real ones are humble, not arrogant.
Yes we need more - but they will always be few and far between. Almost by definition. They don’t make themselves. God makes them. Rarely.
So, we should occasionally pause and reflect on the Kristoffersons and Musks in our midst.
Prof Hanson links Kris Kristofferson to Elon Musk? Yes, with stops along the way at Aristotle and Da Vinci. An exceptional article.
FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR
Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall
American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness
His website: Victor Davis Hanson
Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.
As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.
Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience.
I thought Elon did a great job too. The Anti-Zuck.
Victor Davis Hanson: “We Are in Need of Renaissance People
American Greatness ^ Oct7,2024 |
Posted on 10/7/2024, 6:17:04 AM by MtnClimber
Modern society’s focus on credentials has created a two-tiered system, where multi-talented individuals are criticized, and elites oversee a dependent underclass.
Collapse of national security elites’ cyber firm leaves bitter wake
Associated Press ^ | 03 Oct 2024 | By ALAN SUDERMAN
Posted on 10/6/2024, 2:59:45 AM by blueplum
WASHINGTON (AP) — The future was once dazzling for IronNet.
Founded by a former director of the National Security Agency and stacked with elite members of the U.S. intelligence establishment, IronNet promised it was going to revolutionize the way governments and corporations combat cyberattacks.
Its pitch — combining the prowess of ex-government hackers with cutting-edge software – was initially a hit. Shortly after going public in 2021, the company’s value shot past $3 billion.,,,
IronNet’s rise and fall also raises questions about the judgment of its well-credentialed leaders, a who’s who of the national security establishment. National security experts, former employees and analysts told The Associated Press that the firm collapsed, in part, because it engaged in questionable business practices, produced subpar products and services, and entered into associations that could have left the firm vulnerable to meddling by the Kremlin..
“I’m honestly ashamed that I was ever an executive at that company,” said Mark Berly, a former IronNet vice president. He said the company’s top leaders cultivated a culture of deceit “just like Theranos,”....
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com …
I’m about the same. I have lots of varied skills and am master at few. Many look up to me for my outdoor and camping knowledge, which I occasionally teach. I can do carpentry and construction, plumbing, electrical etc. It’s ugly but I can weld. I’m fairly well read. I can hold my own in conversations about a wide variety of topics, except sports that involve a ball. That completely bores me and I’m relatively ignorant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
