I rewrote this comment about 7 times before I realised I kept coming to the same conclusion.
No one seems to THINK, therefore no one demands that any solution WORKS.
Lucky for those whos fame and bread rely on the gun control argument, that no one will think about the fact that one armed innocent can prevent a massacre. The fact that this argument has been stifled, seems to concern no one.
No one, it seems can CREATE their own arguments, therefore there is always a market available to those who wish to sell them.
#1 by shari on 07/03/2007 - 11:10 am
This is what is so strange. Intelligence has been derailed. The bright and intelligent have become so often the most conformist. My sister-in-law has several degrees, she’s a careerist with a very high paying university position, and yet she is so oblivious. My neighbor, the same way. She suggested that we listen to WHAT Hillary Clinton says and not how she says it??!!??
A lot of this is explained in Why Johnny can’t Think, but still,it is bazarre.
#2 by Prometheus on 07/03/2007 - 7:22 pm
Intelligence isn’t everything. It can’t make you THINK, only work.
I’ve met quite a few people, who weren’t capable academically, but were able to THINK and critique ideas. There are people I know who barely finished high school, who are far more astute and observant than PhD’s.
I suppose it is some other cognitive function aside from raw brain processing power that does this.
Besides you have to be a conformist to get anywhere these days. Thinking for yourself is not a highly prized attribute anymore.
#3 by Hardric on 07/05/2007 - 2:57 am
I assume that academics in the Social Sciences must have an intellectual problem (Why Johnny Can’t Think), which might come under the classification of DSS, or Disconnected Synapse Syndrome. However, I will not accept this excuse from those in the Hard Sciences, unless they have a claim to being a pure Idiot Savant.
I once wrote a letter to a newspaper in which I panned the American Educational System, saying that the three important foundations were basketball, baseball, and football. A physicist liked it and thought it might be good to post it on a bulletin board. He was dissuaded by mysterious forces. Play ball! 🙂