In my continued Avoiding real work/progress today, I had to weigh
in one more time...I lean more towards the "Forrest Gump" philosophy on this issue: "Stupid is as stupid does."I prefer Thomas Freidman's Dumb as we Wanna Be . Many of my "redneck" friends (as many with brown or red skin as pink like mine, if it matters) have a limited perspective which when I can shoehorn my head into, makes pretty good sense to me (if I ignore the pain in my head from the force-fit into said limited perspective). Similarly, many of my "educated elite" friends have an equally (but different) limited perspective (never really worked with their hands, or been hungry, or lost a loved one to lack of something or ...). This shoe horn is more of a silver spoon, but works pretty much the same as the utilitarian steel one I use with the former crowd. What do these folks have in common? I can't say they are unintelligent (though the latter categorically assume that of the former) but I do often think of both camps as "Dumb as they wanna be". They have a bunch of self-serving, limited perspective, ideas that they cling to despite everything, including the facts. If they were in a true survival situation, I would hope they would stand back and assess a little larger, zoom in and deduce a little more carefully. But maybe not, maybe the unction for a simple, actionable answer to everything is deep human (primate/mammalian/vertebrate/animal?) nature and trumps any attempt at higher processing when confronted with significant amounts of greed or fear. I suspect myself of the same (too often) and find myself suspecting myself anytime I feel too smug or sure about anything, especially "public policy". It is "easy" to assume that "anyone voting for Dubya (or McCain by extension)" is an idiot. Or that "most people" are idiots, but as Owen's original question suggests, it probably isn't that easy. That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to "regime change" in a few days (or months, depending on how you demarcate). Carry on, - Steve |
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