Too Many People Speak Out Of Their Ignorance

IBD Editorials ^ | January 23, 2012 | THOMAS SOWELL

[Kaslin]

This may be the golden age of presumptuous ignorance. The most recent demonstrations of that are the Occupy Wall Street mobs. It is doubtful how many of these semiliterate sloganizers could tell the difference between a stock and a bond.

Yet there they are, mouthing off about Wall Street on television, cheered on by politicians and the media. If this is not a golden age of presumptuous ignorance, perhaps it should be called a brass age.

No one has more brass than the president of the United States, though his brass may be more polished than that of the Occupy Wall Street mobs. When Barack Obama speaks loftily about "investing in the industries of the future," does anyone ask: What in the world would qualify him to know what are the industries of the future?

Why would people who have spent their careers in politics know more about investing than people who have spent their careers as investors?

Presumptuous ignorance is not confined to politicians or rowdy political activists, by any means. From time to time, I get a huffy letter or email from a reader who begins, "You obviously don't know what you are talking about."

The particular subject may be one on which my research assistants and I have amassed piles of research material and official statistics. It may even be a subject on which I have written a few books, but somehow the presumptuously ignorant just know that I didn't really study that issue, because my conclusions don't agree with theirs or with what they have heard.

[Kaslin]

Ping

[gogogodzilla]

PING!

Good article!

[dynachrome]

“semiliterate sloganizers”

Dead on!

[Kaslin]

Thomas Sowell wrote it. So naturally

[The Shrew]

"You obviously don't know what you are talking about."

I can't imagine saying that to Dr. Thomas Sowell much less writing it to him where it is there forever. However, I have five years active duty in the Marine Corps that says I get a vote, and with a vote an opinion. You can persuade me Dr. But, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining and that is by far what the secular elite and mainstream media want to do.

Regards,

TS

[jazusamo]

Link to Postal Service column mentioned by Dr. Sowell: Kodak and the Post Office.

Thanks for the post and ping, Kas!

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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An Ignored ‘Disparity’: Part IV
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[relictele]

Didnt know about USPS deal with Treasury but it makes perfect sense in the cowardly DC tradition. My guess is that even some self-righteous USPS types aren’t aware or the sweetheart deal and some of them are the ones writing letters to the editor defending their failing agency.

[Colofornian]

From the article: If this is not a golden age of presumptuous ignorance...

Ignorance isn't new.

And, in fact, about all of us are ignorant on most subjects of the world...(None of us is an all-contained Internet in-and-of-ourselves)

I think what this author hits upon is the presumptuousneer of people...that just because we live in an Internet world and may keep relatively up-to-date on a whole host of topics...we assume we are somehow well-versed on all or most upon which we comment on.

It's fine that people have and even express opinions...

But they should at least...
...(a) be a bit more humble about what they are trying to export -- tone/context wise...and certainly some of us more than others need all the humility we can muster...
...and (b) come across as making it clear that what's being said belongs in the editorial section...
...vs. trying to come across as purely factual news reporting...

(I guess this is all part of the damage of the MSM...which, for so long, "reported" "news" as if they were in the editorial biz!...and now in an digital age we are stuck with emulators galore!)

[Colofornian]

presumptuousneer

Typo: presumptuousness

[Traveler59]

"presumptuous ignorance"

I like that, I think I'll use it next arguement with my lefty sister.

[Kaslin]

You’re very welcome. My husband had a BIL who used to work for Kodak in Rochester, NY

[dsc]

I’ve thought for a long time that, in the contest between informed, uninformed, and misinformed, the ratio of misinformed people is higher than ever before.

Perhaps Dr. Sowell thinks so, too.

Probably thought of it before I did.

[rockinqsranch]

Another excellent article by Dr Sowell. Thanks for the ping jaz.

[PA Engineer]

At one time I was foolish enough to try to reason with such people. But one of the best New Year's resolutions I ever made, some years ago, was to stop trying to reason with unreasonable people. It has been good for my blood pressure and probably for my health in general.

I have finally come to that realization. How many "prevailing wisdom" government industries are there? Electric cars? Green energy? Heart healthy diet? Public education? Global warming? Medicare? Medicaid? Food stamps? The list goes on. All of these exist only in the land of belief and not rigorous investigation. One common trend is the loyal "true believers."

I ran into one of them a couple years ago on vacation. This was one of the true believer storm troopers. A "Green Energy" advocate and a walking, talking cliche of every liberal cause. She was pleasant enough as long as you did not puncture her dream bubble. I had mentioned that previous work involved hundreds of remote desert solar powered installations. Just chitchat for me, but to her a fellow traveler.

Out came every "evil" of fossil fuel. We're talking the killing of gaia to depletion of our children's resources. I didn't have the heart to tell her the solar installations were installed on oil wells in Saudi Arabia. I did mention that they were very expensive and high maintenance. That didn't seem to deter her from her dreamworld.

I finally turned the conversation to where electricity comes from. Oh no there was that deer in the headlights look. Watts? Amperes? Voltage? Transformers? Power factor? Spinning reserve? The deer eyes were completely glazed over at this point. There was just nothing there there. I was reminded at this point of a scene from the Matrix. The question of how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go. Right then and there I came to the realization that this was no rabbit hole, but a black hole. There was absolutely nothing there.

Here was a young women employed as a green energy activist. I marveled that her brain could produce enough energy to keep her breathing and her heart beating. I smiled and finished my second double jack and water. We never got far beyond the light switch and breaker panel in our joint search for where electricity comes from. I was surprised that we got all the way to the breakers! Nevertheless I was becoming bored, contemptuous and was having one of those epiphanies in life.

The epiphany was a simple realization. I was in my early 50s and would have normally argued with a person of this type. Not this time and rarely ever again in the future. Tilting at windmills became the equivalent of urinating into a fan. The person was just hopeless and too far gone. I assume she was in her mid to late 20's. I thought back to myself at that age.

I was a Project Engineer in Saudi Arabia, responsible for multi-million dollar projects. I knew what I was doing from pre-bid meetings to commissioning. I knew every nut and bolt of materials in the projects. This was before computers. I was her age. What happened to her? I realized she was a true ideological believer with nothing behind her pseudo-intellectual facade. A completely vacuous human being.

I got up to leave and yet I could not help myself. I told her that Unicorns were providing the energy to her breaker box.

Dr Sowell is spot on as usual.

[Ron C.]

To "presumptuous ignorance" add fatuous.

Presumptuous assumes some knowledge, with added rudeness - but fatuous ignorance presumptuously uttered is the oafish drivel of the truly brain-dead - i.e., the perfect description of leftist discourse.

[MrB]

somehow the presumptuously ignorant just know that I didn't really study that issue, because my conclusions don't agree with theirs or with what they have heard

Describes every lib I've ever talked to. Describes their prevailing attitude that anyone who doesn't agree with them is stupid. Describes their charge of "anti-science" when they haven't studied the opposition's analysis of the evidence (evolutionists, this is you).

Another perfect example, the other night, my libinlaw was talking about Gingrich - "I don't care how brilliant he is, he's a buffoon."