bkbk
Member
Registered: Jun 2000
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Posts: 594 |
(Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long post.)
quote:
Originally posted by cptncelchu
I hate it when you are surrounded by incompetent people and/or people with no common sense. It really shows what this society has come to.
I hate to break the following to you, but I think the truth is the greatest value we have (even greater than God, which a lot of people seem to miss), so let me lay it out there for everybody:
It's another of my favorite Einstein quotes, but I didn't use it in my sig. (maybe I'll use 'em both) because I don't have the exact one (and I wouldn't be happy w/a sig. that was paraphrased -- eh, maybe I'll just state that, tho).
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"The tyranny of the majority of the stupid is impregnable and guaranteed for all time."
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The saddest thing about the quote, of course, is the source. I could just slough it off if it were my neighborhood milkman (who MIGHT be a genius, but *prob. not*). Not only that, but if prob. the #1 genius of all time 1) took the time & trouble to remark upon this he 2) prob. thought it was important enough to impart to us and 3) had obviously spent the time considering the subject that gave rise to his quote.
As others in this thread have posted, too: it SURE DOES seem like this prob. is getting WORSE and WORSE. (In some of my finer [?] moments, I am tempted to lobby congress that mandatory educ. through High School should instead now go the full distance through COLLEGE! Still, "really old" people (I guess at least 70, now) will tell you that BACK IN THEIR DAY H.S. was SERIOUS biz., w/subjects like Latin, etc. that are now gone. I despise the lawyers using Latin [& other foreign tongues] when the general society does not [most people seem to have forgotten the Tower of Babel story seems to very clearly indicate that "a plethora of tongues" upon the human race was a PUNISHMENT that seems to separate people, not bind them as "The Family of Man"), but if everyone is known to be conversant in Latin [which educ. utility still must be proved, however], then it's not quite the "crime against The People" it presently is.)
I have a saying about self-help books:
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Those who read 'em, don't need 'em; and those who need 'em, don't read 'em.
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They're paradoxes of life. It's just really puzzling how they persist, even after they become pretty well-known. 1) I take it as pretty axiomatic that virtually everyone can amp up their minds (if not "truly" increase IQ) by reading; 2) PGP (Pretty Good Proof) of this is that it's unlikely you'll ever find an intelligent person w/out at least some (and prob. quite a bit -- Einstein was an omnivorous reader, esp. at university) this "background" 3) Libraries are free; 4) Books are cheap.
It's pretty obvious, then, that all we're really talking about is EFFORT. I'm FINE w/NOT everyone "aspiring to become a genius" (in Mellencamp's "Paper in Fire" [off "Lonesome Jubilee," I believe], he notes: "Who's to say how a man should spend his days?"), or whatever. But just KEEP reading, puhhhhhhhleeeeeze? Even if you "never got out of 6th grade" (I'm watching Kelly Bundy on "Married w/Children" right now, can you tell?) if you make the small effort of, say, 2 books/yr. (and, more please, if poss.), you won't be such a burden to the rest of society when you're 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, etc.
I think AN IMPORTANT KEY that is missing when reading is TAUGHT is the instructors fail to say:
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SEE READING LIKE BREATHING: YOU HAVE NO CHOICE.
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My life (though I hate to use psnl. anec. evidence -- and trust there is mega data out there to back this up) improved like a billionfold once I had this insight. You never hear people say:
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"Jeez ... my life would be so cool and perfectly well-laid out if I could just cut out this whole BREATHING effort."
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BTW: (slightly off-topic -- hey; this is a good place for it, no?) The way to KNOW what is "GOOD FOR YOU" (like breathing / reading, etc.) is that IT IS ***ALWAYS*** GOOD FOR YOU. (Unlike, for ex., alcohol, substance abuse, etc.) So says Aristotle, anyway.
There's a phenom. in "time mgmt." that comes to mind, for ex., something like:
"If you want someone to help you do something, ask someone who's ALWAYS BUSY. Because these are people who are used to dispatching tons of tasks all over the place -- and will prob. know a good / fast / better way to get it done, too."
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Sadly, I'm not done yet!
The above actually (and as time goes on more & more, it seems to increase, as noted) rises above a mere "pet peeve," at least for me. But since it was covered, I thought I'd address it.
Still more grave, and more than a pet peeve -- though you encounter it at least as much on a day-to-day basis in what is prob. becoming an ever-more mentall ill society (if mental health is defined as "Ongoing Dedication to Reality at All Costs," and mentall illness is its opposite, it seems fairly axiomatic that as more and more people grow less & less intelligent ... our society is actually becoming ever-more mentall ill, as the less educ. pretty obviously know less about reality), is the seeming steady and consistent march we are making toward THOROUGH CORRUPTION IN EVERYDAY AFFAIRS.
Whether it's the cops, politicians, "unions," "big biz.," "utilities" etc. -- there is just such a pronounced tendency today (which, again, has INCREASED over the years -- feel free to gainsay me, if you have any good references) for for this to go on VIRTUALLY UNCHECKED.
Shakespeare's famous question:
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"Who Will Watch the Watchers" continues to go unanswered, amazingly, even in the age of video.
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Maybe we can properly coin a phrase here called "Pet Grave" -- which is "as perpetual an annoyance" as a "Pet Peeve," but of a much more serious nature (and hence, unlikely seen as "as immature" a concern).
I'm reading Gerry Spence's "Give Me Liberty" (1998) and "With Justice for None," which I'd recommend to all. (He represented Randy Weaver when his family was killed by the gov't. at Ruby Ridge.)
He takes on the thorough corruption of our country and the myriad forces (like the media -- which he notes we MUST circumvent, as they only serve the "New Master," which is his phrase for the kind of "military-industrial complex") that now direct the world to do their bidding in such an accepted manner, it all virtually goes unquestioned.
Indeed, he's written about a half-dozen others (which I possess, but haven't read; though I'm familiar w/their themes, having decided to purchase them), and I'd recommend them all.
Hey "Street Smarts" just came on (2am).
Boy, we The People should sure be proud....
__________________
"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein
Last edited by bkbk on 03-06-2001 at 07:13 AM
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03-03-2001 09:59 PM
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Latin the language that died twice.
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