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The Last Step
This is new: a conservative columnist pens an article defending the “stupid conservative”. Apparently, it’s better to be dumb — that way you’re not duped by charlatans who use “rationality” to defend gay marriage.
Obviously, there is a lot of snark in my initial reaction to this, but honestly there is quite a bit of fear as well. There is a distressing anti-intellectual trend among many conservatives nowadays (read how right-wingers talk about global warming for example — or hell, just watch the entire Huckabee campaign), and I’m not at all pleased to see it reach full bloom to the point where right-wing writers feel comfortable taking pride in being idiots. Come on, people.
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4 Responses to “The Last Step”
Unfortunately many people have the attitude, “I know what I know and I know I’m right so I don’t need to know anything else.” That’s the only argument they use when confronted with any new information that goes against their beliefs.
What’s scary is that the Republican politicians (well at least people like Rove, and not Bush, but Bush is the beneficiary) apply rigorous intellectual principles to the study of being dumb so they (or the people they support) can appeal to that portion of the population who doesn’t look closely at arguments. That is how they stay in power and the people who put (and keep) them in power don’t have the intellectual capability to see what’s happening.
I try to be well informed and it’s a full time task and I don’t even consider myself that well informed. There are lots of people on TMV better informed than I am. I can only imagine that someone (most of America) who doesn’t actively pursue knowledge (reading more than just the local paper or watching the TV) and really making an attempt at getting to the bottom of the issue/story would really be easily persuaded by those with power. Unfortunately the President has the loudest voice so it’s easy for his half-baked statements to carry a lot of weight with all those folks who don’t actively seek out a different viewpoint. They see the President as a leader….
They want stupid people because stupid/ignorant people are easy to control. They can’t think for themselves, they just do what they are told and think what they are told to think.
And, if you consider our current education system (teach kids how to take a test, not how to think, explore, etc.) and MSMedia (show people faux news like Britany, etc. not what is actually going on in the world), this phenomenon will only get worse, not better. I guess the people who make up the right wing WANT us to go back to the dark ages.
No the simple fact is that when someone claims to be intellectually enlightened it is imperative that they are the ones defining what that term implies.
To say that Conservatives are stupid because they do not agree with your definition of intelligence is beyond ignorant and is nothing more then an vain attempt to keep hammering home the concept that if they do not agree with “YOUR DEFINITION” of intellect then they are a moron of the nth degree.
Because they rely on tradition and do not want to run willy nilly into change just because WE CAN CHANGE does not make them ignorant or stupid.
Therefore I reject this entire postulate and until a universal definition of intellect is established the Traditionalist who relies upon centuries of prevailing wisdom is much wiser then cutting edge liberals who trash anyone who does not stand for radical change for changes sake.
Let me give you a really good example.
I had prostate cancer recently. I had 5 options.
Radioactive pellets implanted. Doctor A recommended this proceedure because of x,y and z reasons.
A different kind of Radioactive pellet implanted. Doctor B recommended this because of x,y and z reasons.
Do Nothing. Watch and Wait. Research suggests that it will take 10 to 15 years for the cancer to spread to a serious point. But then again sometimes it only takes months.
A newer technology that freezes the prostate until it shrivels up and dies. Radical new concept. JUST BEING EXPERIMENTED WITH. Doctor C wanted to do this proceedure because She believed it was a good proceedure with minimal side effects. However it was NEW and RADICAL.
Have the prostate removed thru a radical surgery. Traditional but not nearly as exciting as the newer more radical ideas forming in the medical community.
After examining all the options. Studying them. Scouring the internet. Talking to three different doctors I reach my conclusion as to what was the best using established Wisdom of the doctors involved and what I had read and studied.
I went with the wise and traditional time honored method of having the prostate removed because it had a track record of success and the others were hit miss and did not have the history of time behind them.
Tradition is a poweful force. It is wise and it has been established by years, decades or centuries of successes and failures to achieve a status quo.
It is only those who wish to radically alter the status quo who mock tradition. Because Tradition is their enemy. Even though it has proven to work, they must find reasons to mock it to make their new and radical ideas the NORM.
This is nothing more then what the social enlightened far lefties wish to accomplish when they Mock Traditionalists.