Thursday, May 01, 2008
Seek your Joy Bliss
Why I don't want to spend my precious time reading Cass Sunstein's book when I have a three-foot high pile of books to read - Maggie's Farm
while I respect Sunstein as a smart guy, I do not generally regard him as wise. In this case, the premise that government or government-acquired or politically-processed "expertise" is something that "we the people" want or need - or wish to pay for with our tax money - is absurd. Are we retarded? Everyone in the world these days gets advice from other people, and can get it from anywhere. From Oprah to my doctor to my pastor to the politicians to the internet, everybody seems to be sure that they know how I ought to live.
We are swamped by the Advice du Jour, which usually turns out to be wrong - whether from the government or from anyone else. For one example, if I followed our government's dietary recommendations, I would weigh 300 lbs and resemble the revolting American happily-overfed blimps at Disney World.
What people want, I believe, is a government that has the humility to stay out of our personal lives. That's the way to grow strong, self-sufficient people who do not turn to the government in a dependent, whining, or entitled manner. God, the internet, the library, and our brains are all that we need to take charge of our own lives. Plus we need to know the laws, so we don't break them, because breaking laws is a bad idea.
The arrogance of the Government-Academic Complex never ceases to amuse and to exasperate.
7 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu May 01, 01:46:00 PM:
America has changed so much, that these self-evidently true ideas sound like new thoughts today. Hillary and Obama would barf.
By , at
Thu May 01, 02:58:00 PM:
In 1980 I was discussing health care with a friend when she blurted out that "our Government knows nothing about vitamins". What our government should do about the vitamin gap was something she couldn't answer, not surprisingly.
By , at
Thu May 01, 03:33:00 PM:
I'm a rare conservative academic in the "Government Academic Complex."
Whenever people ask "Why does everyone stereotype my group as X?" I always want to ask "have you ever considered not being X?"
So when conservatives ask "Why do academics consider conservatives stupid?" I ask "Could it be that a lot of them actually are stupid?"
Case #1: Global warming. As a scientist, I know the complexities of the issue. What do I read on the blogs? Well, take the most arrogant and uninformed leftist opinion on, say, oil profits, dumb it down into the basement somewhere below pre-K level, and you have the intellectual level of the typical conservative blog on the subject. I cringe when I read this crap, because any chance of advancing legitimate conservative concerns just goes out the window.
Case #2: Peak oil. Simple exercise. Reach into your wallet and take out all the money. Now reach in and take out a thousand bucks more. It's that simple. There's a finite amount, and when it's gone, it's gone. Rummaging around won't find more. Why do people who stand for fiscal responsibility think they can treat resources differently? Oh, yeah, subprime mortgages and credit card debt. Maybe nobody believes in fiscal responsibility any more, either. And yes, I know all about the recent finds in Brazil and the Williston Basin. Billions of barrels. The U.S. uses a billion barrels in two months.
Case #3. Evolution. Evolution is true, anti-evolution is a man-made pseudo-Christian cult. If that torpedoes your entire theology, it deserves to sink anyway. Get over it. Conservatives will never have a ghost of a chance of gaining respectability in academia as long as they have this albatross around their neck. I've read more anti-evolution literature than Ben Stein even knows exists, and it's garbage from beginning to end.
On most environmental issues, and on evolution, conservatives are just plain wrong. Until you deal with that, you will lose on the issues every time.
So you still want to pooh-pooh global warming, think the answer to oil shortages is simply to find more, and burn incense before your statue of Ben Stein? Cool. College professors make up about 1% of the population but teach maybe half of the population at some point or other. 85% of kids raised in conservative churches leave when they become adults. Stay marginalized. It's up to you. Nancy Pelosi thanks you.
By 
Andrew Hofer, at
Thu May 01, 03:44:00 PM:
Maybe people think (self-described) conservatives are stupid because their comments on blogs seem irrelevant to the post? Or because they construct strawmen to beat up relentlessly? Or they are just hasty generalizers.
So much to choose from.
By , at
Thu May 01, 05:48:00 PM:
Looks like government-academics aren't going to consider not being arrogant any time soon.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu May 01, 06:58:00 PM:
Well, when your entire career (lifestyle, even) revolves around reminding other people how smart and educated you are, whether by teaching, writing, or criticizing, it's probably inevitable that you turn arrogant.
If you weren't already, of course. I've learned that some people go into academics not out of love for their discipline, but to try to prove to the world that they're smart, in some sort of sad ego-fueled pissing contest with society.
"Stay marginalized. It's up to you. Nancy Pelosi thanks you."
You don't pay much attention to politics, do you? There hasn't been a real liberal President in decades *because they can't win elections!* When Clinton won (solely because Perot split the Republican vote so badly, an epic accident that no one seems to remember anymore) and started to act liberal, the so-called 'Republican Revolution' took place in 1994 in response. Bush ran the first time on stock conservative social issues. In 2004, the Republicans gained in both houses of Congress, *and* state governorships. And now, in the *Democratic* primary race, both candidates are falling over themselves to appeal to conservative Democrats. Conservatives are not 'marginalized.'
"Conservatives" have some idiotic ideas. Especially the idealogues. But so do "liberals" (whom I noticed you didn't mention at all) who, as the wing with almost all of the academics, shouldn't have an excuse, right? Since academics are so smart and educated and everything.
By , at
Fri May 02, 01:56:00 PM:
When I was a medical resident (wait, this is on topic, I swear) the academic powers-that-be suggested my specialty wouldn't have any jobs in the future because everyone would be a family practice physician. Programs closed, medical students opted not to enter our programs, and the numbers stayed the same(or shrank a bit?) in my specialty.
Ooopsie. The powers-that-be were wrong. Now we are swamped with work and need to ramp up training resident physicians in my specialty. I've always been suspicious of the academic powers-that-be from that moment on. Oh, the stories I could tell from my years in the academic medical-industrial complex.....the bitter, bitter, bitter sad-sack stories :(
