...and immune from the dictates they impose on others.
Or so they think, in many cases. I have been on about this at conferences, where I finally had to shut up because I didn't want to wear people out about it, with my colleagues, and with my students. I don't know why so many academics believe they exist in their models, rather than in the real world. My line is this: "Whether we're at a public school (funded mostly by the taxpayer) or a private school (funded mostly -- maybe -- by income from the endowment), we all get to do this because somebody sold something."
The problem is not education, since we certainly do not want the Jenny McCarthys of the world making our decisions for us.
_______________
I don't want her making decisions for me, I don't want Obama making decisions for me, I don't want Stephen Hawking making decisions for me.
I never signed up to be ruled. Too many people now take it as a given that the governments job is managing everything. This country was not established so that people could choose their ruler, it was established so people could be left alone to live their own lives.
I did not mean to suggest that anyone should be making our decisions for us. I chose my words poorly.
However, we do want intelligent people in government.
Criticizing people for being educated is counterproductive. We should be criticizing bad education and the blind acceptance of bad education.
We should not want to encourage the Republicans in thinking that ex-Governor Palin (Jenny McCarthy, Alaska edition) is a viable candidate, just because she makes statements that are competitive with those Vice President Biden makes.
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2010/03/quote-of-day-victor-davis-hanson.html (5 comments)
...and immune from the dictates they impose on others.
Or so they think, in many cases. I have been on about this at conferences, where I finally had to shut up because I didn't want to wear people out about it, with my colleagues, and with my students. I don't know why so many academics believe they exist in their models, rather than in the real world. My line is this: "Whether we're at a public school (funded mostly by the taxpayer) or a private school (funded mostly -- maybe -- by income from the endowment), we all get to do this because somebody sold something."
Left unspoken: "If and when that stops...."
Well, some animals are just more equal than others, and those deserve to rule.
The Divine Right of Kings isn't dead, just morphed to the Postmodernist Right to Rule.
This is a bit misleading.
The problem is not education, since we certainly do not want the Jenny McCarthys of the world making our decisions for us.
The problem is not that they have money. Do we really want to start adopting positions that suggest that money is evil.
The problem is the post-modernism. This is based on a good idea, but it takes the concept of uncertainty outside of the realm of rationality.
A desire for rationality is one of the reasons this country exists.
The problem is not education, since we certainly do not want the Jenny McCarthys of the world making our decisions for us.
_______________
I don't want her making decisions for me, I don't want Obama making decisions for me, I don't want Stephen Hawking making decisions for me.
I never signed up to be ruled. Too many people now take it as a given that the governments job is managing everything. This country was not established so that people could choose their ruler, it was established so people could be left alone to live their own lives.
I did not mean to suggest that anyone should be making our decisions for us. I chose my words poorly.
However, we do want intelligent people in government.
Criticizing people for being educated is counterproductive. We should be criticizing bad education and the blind acceptance of bad education.
We should not want to encourage the Republicans in thinking that ex-Governor Palin (Jenny McCarthy, Alaska edition) is a viable candidate, just because she makes statements that are competitive with those Vice President Biden makes.
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>