The first lesson of economics is scarcity. The first rule of politics is ignoring the first rule of economics. Thomas Sowell (quote approximate).
He also said that when people demand the impossible, only liars can satisfy them. The logical corrolary of course is that stupid and decadent people more or less demand to be lied to. The irony …
The first lesson of economics is scarcity. The first rule of politics is ignoring the first rule of economics. Thomas Sowell (quote approximate).
He also said that when people demand the impossible, only liars can satisfy them. The logical corrolary of course is that stupid and decadent people more or less demand to be lied to. The irony in our own time is that most of the time the lies are obvious but most people in this country STILL can't figure them out. Figuring THAT fact out is a preoccupation of my own.
Today we call the people who seem to have lost their minds and believe any lie they’re told, “Stupid”, for want of a better word. It always seemed to me to be an inadequate word for the insanity. But I’ve changed my mind. Here’s why it is so apt, in Bonhoeffer’s own words from prison.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer vehemently opposed Hitler, Nazism and Eugenics even though it cost him his life. The Nazis executed him just before WWII ended. He was a man of great intellect, they couldn’t bear that.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.
I watched a documentary on Bonhoefer. He was heroic. He didn't need to be in Germany. He had a post in New York from which he easily could have sat out the war. But his conscience would not allow him.
And agreed. Being stupid is being without reason, and as one of the Founding Fathers once wrote, trying to reason with someone who has renounced it is like giving medicine to someone already dead.
Bonhoeffer was a true hero in the fact that he spoke up loudly and clearly when he knew it would cost him his life. Today, our moronic politicians support a terrorist group and more than likely fundraise off those efforts and get reelected.
At this point, it would be a game changer to find one politician who is actually intelligent and can fix actual problems. Smarts in the US, especially at the very top, are in short supply,
In my view Trump proved you dont need to be that smart or really even try that hard to make things better. You just need to TRY. To make an honest effort. To not call tearing things that work apart progress.
Trump proved this country is not that hard to run: we have just had crooks in charge for many decades. And it has mainly been those crooks who hate him.
The first lesson of economics is scarcity. The first rule of politics is ignoring the first rule of economics. Thomas Sowell (quote approximate).
He also said that when people demand the impossible, only liars can satisfy them. The logical corrolary of course is that stupid and decadent people more or less demand to be lied to. The irony in our own time is that most of the time the lies are obvious but most people in this country STILL can't figure them out. Figuring THAT fact out is a preoccupation of my own.
Today we call the people who seem to have lost their minds and believe any lie they’re told, “Stupid”, for want of a better word. It always seemed to me to be an inadequate word for the insanity. But I’ve changed my mind. Here’s why it is so apt, in Bonhoeffer’s own words from prison.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer vehemently opposed Hitler, Nazism and Eugenics even though it cost him his life. The Nazis executed him just before WWII ended. He was a man of great intellect, they couldn’t bear that.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/760019.Letters_and_Papers_from_Prison)
I watched a documentary on Bonhoefer. He was heroic. He didn't need to be in Germany. He had a post in New York from which he easily could have sat out the war. But his conscience would not allow him.
And agreed. Being stupid is being without reason, and as one of the Founding Fathers once wrote, trying to reason with someone who has renounced it is like giving medicine to someone already dead.
Bonhoeffer was a true hero in the fact that he spoke up loudly and clearly when he knew it would cost him his life. Today, our moronic politicians support a terrorist group and more than likely fundraise off those efforts and get reelected.
At this point, it would be a game changer to find one politician who is actually intelligent and can fix actual problems. Smarts in the US, especially at the very top, are in short supply,
In my view Trump proved you dont need to be that smart or really even try that hard to make things better. You just need to TRY. To make an honest effort. To not call tearing things that work apart progress.
Trump proved this country is not that hard to run: we have just had crooks in charge for many decades. And it has mainly been those crooks who hate him.