02-28-2018, 02:16 AM
I look at the most elitist ideologies of all time, and as a rule I see the promotion of superstition, ignorance, and orthodoxy. People unable or unwilling to think for themselves are the economic equivalents of serfs or even slaves. Such people delegate moral judgment to their supposed betters.
Donald Trump fits. As says the slave-master or the fascist, "Don't think -- just do what I tell you to do. Don't ask any questions except to clarify my orders or to hear or read what I just told you -- or to recall what you forgot". The peon never changes the world except to amass wealth for someone more important than himself, at least as he is told to do with the threat of even worse. For the peon, the horrific is the defense of the awful.
Beginning with Socrates, the wisest of us have typically been more embarrassed by the limits of their knowledge than by they are proud of what they already know. So you just learned how to integrate the cube of the sine -- if you are wise, you want to learn even more. Maybe if my first experience with Anton Bruckner is his Eighth Symphony and I find it delightful I might want to listen to more of his music.
The anti-intellectuals shown in the video by Francesca Fiorentini would have us proud of our ignorance -- so that we can toil without question, accept economic policies that cheat us, and -- worst -- make life empty, stale, and meaningless. Oh, curiosity killed the cat? Wrong -- curiosity made the cat a problem solver, even if its life revolves around killing and eating.
Ignorance denies opportunity and choice. It means that we feel obliged to accept raw deals out of fear that there are no good alternatives. A lack of choice is the antithesis of freedom, is it not?
Here is one of the ultimate ironies: the more that one knows, the less capable one is of snobbery. Yes, there are people who make a living by outsmarting people and taking advantage of them. They are called con artists. But the typical con artist is at most ordinary in knowledge. The con artist is the expert at telling people what they want to hear. "You are special. You are a shrewd dealer. I care about you and want the best for you. But this offer won't last." When I hear such a spiel, I want out. This is so whether someone tries to get me to respond to a 419 scheme or vote for a demagogue. I know that nobody is in business to lose money in dealing with me. I realize that as an economic participant I am as ordinary as anybody else. I might be shrewd in business dealings, but I expect much the same with anyone with whom I deal. If it is too good to be true, then it is neither good nor true.
Good education may enrich one's life, but it also makes one humbler.
Donald Trump fits. As says the slave-master or the fascist, "Don't think -- just do what I tell you to do. Don't ask any questions except to clarify my orders or to hear or read what I just told you -- or to recall what you forgot". The peon never changes the world except to amass wealth for someone more important than himself, at least as he is told to do with the threat of even worse. For the peon, the horrific is the defense of the awful.
Beginning with Socrates, the wisest of us have typically been more embarrassed by the limits of their knowledge than by they are proud of what they already know. So you just learned how to integrate the cube of the sine -- if you are wise, you want to learn even more. Maybe if my first experience with Anton Bruckner is his Eighth Symphony and I find it delightful I might want to listen to more of his music.
The anti-intellectuals shown in the video by Francesca Fiorentini would have us proud of our ignorance -- so that we can toil without question, accept economic policies that cheat us, and -- worst -- make life empty, stale, and meaningless. Oh, curiosity killed the cat? Wrong -- curiosity made the cat a problem solver, even if its life revolves around killing and eating.
Ignorance denies opportunity and choice. It means that we feel obliged to accept raw deals out of fear that there are no good alternatives. A lack of choice is the antithesis of freedom, is it not?
Here is one of the ultimate ironies: the more that one knows, the less capable one is of snobbery. Yes, there are people who make a living by outsmarting people and taking advantage of them. They are called con artists. But the typical con artist is at most ordinary in knowledge. The con artist is the expert at telling people what they want to hear. "You are special. You are a shrewd dealer. I care about you and want the best for you. But this offer won't last." When I hear such a spiel, I want out. This is so whether someone tries to get me to respond to a 419 scheme or vote for a demagogue. I know that nobody is in business to lose money in dealing with me. I realize that as an economic participant I am as ordinary as anybody else. I might be shrewd in business dealings, but I expect much the same with anyone with whom I deal. If it is too good to be true, then it is neither good nor true.
Good education may enrich one's life, but it also makes one humbler.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.