All the president’s elites…
…quoted in this article by Ace should read Thomas Sowell’s Intellectuals and Society.
But they won’t; they’re too smart for that. “Intellect is not wisdom,” wrote Sowell, and truer words were never spoken.
The particular weakness of intellectual elites is that they don’t know how much they don’t know. People who have a lot of knowledge of a narrow field often imagine that their knowledge is far more generalized that it actually tends to be. Ace calls the political stance of so many of them “self esteem progressivism.” Sowell wrote another book in which he called it “self-congratulation: The Vision of the Anointed.
One of the reasons an Obamacare debacle would be so very very important is that the stakes are even higher than the health insurance system of the US, although that would certainly be high enough. It’s the Conflict of Visions (as Sowell termed it) between progressivism and conservatism. These two have been clashing for centuries. Wouldn’t it be ironic if, in its hour of triumph, progressivism overreached? Hubris, nemesis.
But even if that does end up happening—and it’s not at all certain that it will—remember Reagan’s words, and don’t feel any hubris yourself:
Their (the progressive intellectual elite) self-righteousness is born not of moral superiority — morality being passé – but toxic scrupulosity to the vision of utopia Sowell writes about. If there is anything definitive about progressives it’s that they long ago lost the notion that progress can be made down a slope as well as up it. One can advance on heaven or hell, even temporal ones. It becomes more apparent daily to which they would have us duck walk, march, or even goose step.
“The particular weakness of intellectual elites is that they don’t know how much they don’t know.”
God, how many times have I witnessed that! Especially (with all due respect for what they do know) when representing doctors, professors, and yes, lawyers. Holders of most any post graduate degree, actually.
And then there’s the case of the young and as yet un-humbled wannabe elites, like our own concern troll, miso.
The one thing life eventually teaches all of us is that in the final analysis we don’t know squat….
Reagan’s words were never truer than now. It is truly frustrating to see ideologues such as Frank Pallone with his mantra about lousy plans that are a scam. His contention: The insurance companies are cancelling people’s plans because no one will buy them once they see what great deals are being offered under Obamacare. It’s CAPITALISM, he says. Oh yeah. 🙂
Charlie Martin over at PJ Media has a great post about what insurance really is and explains the math so that even a progressive can understand it. I’m sending the link far and wide. Take a look:
http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-arithmetic-absurdity-of-obamacare/?singlepage=true
VDH’s words come to mind: “Hubris is a sort of fit, a haughtiness steeped in delusions of grandeur and divinity that takes over a weak individual, and soon encourages recklessness and overreaching (atéª), all culminating in ruin and divine retribution (nemesis)”
I have a dream … and a nightmare:
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2010/08/i-have-a-dream-and-a-nightmare.html
N-Neocon: Don’t forget, “Economic Facts and Fallacies”…(2007/2011) too.
Thae man damned near walks on water.
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Thomas Jefferson
The center can not hold, a rough beast slouches, the blood-dimmed tide approaches the shore. My one wish is that when it hits the beaches my eyes and hands are still capable of putting the front sight on the center mass at 400 yard and gently squeezing the trigger.
“The particular weakness of intellectual elites is that they don’t know how much they don’t know.” neo
Nor are they interested in considering how much they don’t know because acumen and discernment are not what they seek, rather it is the outward confirmation of the state’s imprimatur of their worth that they value. Gratification of an immature ego their satisfaction.
Such men never appreciate Socrates dictum; “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
Though doctors and lawyers vie for a close second place, academics, the ‘purest’ of those who hold intellect and knowledge above all else reside at the top of the pyramid of a self-regard that conceals a terrible inadequacy.
“One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits… To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.” R.A. Heinlein
Academics like to pose as scientists, which is why, “Most “scientists” are bottle washers and button sorters.” R.A. Heinlein
Never grasping that, “the truly educated never graduate” (unknown) because “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” Soren Kierkegaard
parker Says:
October 31st, 2013 at 9:47 pm
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, but the thought that leapt to mind when I read Ace’s post was “target rich environment”.
Proposed Obama re-election slogan:
“Slavery, the new cool”.
In contemporary America it would have worked.
“The particular weakness of intellectual elites is that they don’t know how much they don’t know.”
That’s Socrates.
The problem is that “dead white men” like Socrates have been expunged from the system – or introduced almost as period art pieces or else to “deconstruct” and then clear the path for the new enlightened thinking if the elites, intelligentsia, and the newly trained “educated class” of college grads who are extremely uneducated.
The reason the Liberals captured the education system first was for exactly this reason. They won that battle so long ago and no one stopped them.
The price shall be the hell we all pay.
There is no way out of Socrates’ most notable condition except the very kind of humility that is systematically bred out of or never infused into these less than fully human monstroid type hybrid humans.
To paraphrase P.J. O’Rourke, the most perfect form of tyranny is when the recognized experts in any field are given complete control of policy in that field.
God save us from the “experts”!!
“Wouldn’t it be ironic if, in its hour of triumph, progressivism overreached? Hubris, nemesis.”
This same theme figures prominently in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings….and lurks constantly behind all big plans, good or bad.
I would rather die having spoken in my manner, than speak in your manner and live. For neither in war nor yet in law ought any man use every way of escaping death. For often in battle there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death, if a man is willing to say or do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs deeper than death.-Socrates before the Athenian death panel
There were plenty of things he said. Look them up on search engines. He had an entire speech prepared, but the Athenian democracy considered him a clown for not begging for his life.
The reason the Liberals captured the education system first was for exactly this reason. They won that battle so long ago and no one stopped them.
The Left had around 2 waves. One of the first waves, in 1930 was spearheaded by people like Bella Dodd, working with teacher’s unions. Then in 1960s, the teachers were Principles and helped engineer for the collapse of the system and its authority, because the Left had already taken control.
The Khruschev papers brutally destroyed the morale of the 1930s Leftists, so the 1960s radicalized Leftists wanted to take back the Glory Days.
The system didn’t fall in just a few years or generations. It took quite awhile for them to dismantle it and loot it.