Anti-Intellekshualsm R Us
Posted on September 30th, 2009 by D. Aristophanes
Above: Have dumb, will travel
Shorter Thomas Sowell, Townhall.com:
The Brainy Bunch
- G’derrrrrrr … derrr-uhhhh … Obama make head hurt! You know who else too smart? Derrrr-Roosevelt, that who! But smart guy bad for ‘Merica! Need good dumb guy in charge! Dumb guy too dumb to mess up ‘Merica! Smart guy always make smartypants stuff that mess up ‘Merica! [drool] [fart] [burp]
‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard. We are aware of all Internet traditions.™
Is that the African American Thomas Sowell criticizing President Barack Obama’s administration? Well, that’s a relief, for a second I was starting to think the right wing was, well, I hate to use the “r” word, but…
Alternate Shorter: You know who else was smart? HITLER!
You know else was smart? HITLER, THAT’S WHO!
Fuck you JD. Grrrr.
Hulk no am smart, but Hulk trust shorter! Hulk smash Sowell!
Shorter Sowell- “Hoopie doopie, Obama, you-um genius!”
Man, I voted for the guy because he’s smart.
Well, that, and I thought that, given his age, his campaign would be the first in a long time that wasn’t a referendum on the Vietnam War era.
Is Howell actually crowing about his own stupidity? This ought to be fun – the batshitcrazy-o-sphere will see a series of increasingly incoherent posts in which each common tater attempts to demonstrate that no, they are dumber than anyone else.
What’s that? Oh. Yes, you’ve got a good point, there.
Amazing how the only example of these “brains trust” type leaders he can come up with are democrats, liberals and fascists.
But, of course, I repeat myself.
Where the hell to start? He’s finally come public with his daily rant about those uppity intellectuals down the hall who won’t joke with him or laugh at his jokes.
“Many crucial things in life are learned from experience, rather than from clever thoughts or clever words.”
Yes, Thomas and the clever words and folks at Sadly No? I love ’em and experience tells me that many are a lot smarter than me, but hey, they make my brain all feel goody and shit cause a lotta times I understand ’em and if I don’t, I try to learn about that stuff.
Take a lesson from experience.
Oh, that takes intelligence. Sorry Tommy.
So Sowell – if you can believe it – is an economist and author, with a PhD in economics from University of Chicago. He’s an academic, he’s been a professor at three universities (not Regent U).
According to Wikipedia these are the five themes in his work cut across specific topics:
The importance of empirical evidence, not only in a narrow technical sense but as reflected in the broad record of history.
The competing basic visions of policy makers, and their role in the interactions of elites versus the ordinary masses.
An importance of trade-offs, constraints and incentives in human decision making.
The significance of human capital—attitudes, skills, and work.
The importance of systemic (orderly, structured) processes for decision-making—from free markets to the rule of law.
But now according to him, bein’ smart is dumb.Did he have a head injury at some point in time?
Did he get in line with a bunch of grade school kids for that school photo day pic?
Trust… the… shorter…
Trust… the… shorter…
Trust… the… shorter…
The temptation to click is strong- so strong…
Let the moment pass…
PeeJ, have you checked out “Accidental Dong” yet? More importantly, are you the proprietor of the blog?
Sweet savior on a stick this man’s a mo-tard.
I remember back during the 2004 election campaign whenever I was confronted with another Moron for Bush who would start haranguing me about “how can you even consider voting for KERRY?”, I would just say, “I’m not in the habit of hiring people to do things that I could do better myself. My only litmus test for a presidential candidate is that he needs to be at least as smart as I am – because if the guy isn’t smart enough to do at least as good a job as I would, he’s got no business running the country. And Bush is nowhere near as smart as I am. Do you think he’s smarter than YOU are?”
Which left them in the uncomfortable position of having to either admit that they were dumber than George W. Bush, or that they didn’t think it was important to have a smart man in charge of the country and the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal.
Good times, good times…
you know who else was smart?
HitlerLENIN!! HAH!! Take that Libtards!Look whos rasist now,stupid liberals,also you are not smart in life and the ways of the world. You do not use facts and logic to argue like i do.
“Many crucial things in life are learned from experience, rather than from clever thoughts or clever words.”
Says the lifelong academic.
The fact is, some of you liberals would do well to study economics as Sowell teaches it, not like Krugman. Krugman is a liberal and has no creditability,well Sowell has got facts and logic.
Hello? Liberals? Boy are you dumb, no facts or logic anywhere and all you have is hate! My son in home school knows more than you about reality!
What is the version of Godwin’s law for columnists. Sowell breaks past it:
What is it about these wingnuts and Hitler?
Says the lifelong academic.
You have to admit that he’s a good example for the idea that being in school doesn’t make you not rock-stupid.
some of you liberals would do well to study economics as Sowell teaches it
Yes, as a fellow at the Hoover Institute, an institution named for the president who presided over the biggest economic disaster in the nation’s history. Yeah, that’s who you want to be listening to on matter economic.
What Kate said. I’m fixated on his statements about the Great Depression. He seems to believe the Second World War magically ended the Great Depression by simply happening magically, as opposed to the federal government spending more money than ever on winning the war, “Dr. Win-the-war.” And the fact the Great Depression lasted as long as it did might be because it was the most severe economic slowdown in American history, and all previous economic depressions and panics were mitigated by the American ability to pull up stakes and go West, supported by government programs (Indian Removal, brought to you by the letters U, S, A, R, M and Y, the Homestead Act).
Hello? Liberals? Boy are you dumb, no facts or logic anywhere and all you have is hate! My son in home school knows more than you about reality!
…said the woman who readily admits that yes, George W. Bush is indeed much smarter than she is.
One more thing. World War II is the only thing that ever happened in history. Ever. Now if you’ll excuse me, MASH and Bonanza are on back to back.
I thought that, given his age, his campaign would be the first in a long time that wasn’t a referendum on the Vietnam War era.
The campaign, maybe, but Vietnam is still an issue. Afghanistan is the proxy.
World War II is the only thing that ever happened in history. Ever.
And we woulda won it if it hadn’t been for those damn hippies.
I thought that, given his age, his campaign would be the first in a long time that wasn’t a referendum on the Vietnam War era.
Ummmm, not for a lack of trying on the part of the Republicans. McCain’s whole sales pitch more or less came down to “I spent 5 years as a POW; you motherfuckers owe me!!!” And Bill Ayers as an Obama proxy was nothing more than “hey, remember those dirty fucking hippy radicals from the 60’s?,” to which the unfortunate answer, for the Republicans, was “fuck no; I was in kindergarten/diapers/not even born yet” for the majority of the electorate.
The punchline? They still haven’t figured out why it didn’t work this time, like it did every other time in the past 40 years.
There is
usually onlyan unlimited amount of damage that can be done by dull or stupid people.Fixed!!!!!
Never underestimate the power of stupid people to fuck things up.
There is usually only a limited amount of damage that can be done by dull or stupid people.
For example, writing shitty townhall.com articles.
Fish in a barrel, I know.
The punchline? They still haven’t figured out why it didn’t work this time, like it did every other time in the past 40 years.
So now they turn the damn clock even further back, with appeals to the Jim Crow mentality and the Red Scare.
They’re gunning for maximum butthurt in the next two election cycles, and the bravado they’re showing (hello trolls!) is merely whistling past the graveyard.
Goodnight, sadlynaughts, the liquor store closes at nine, and I really, really have to buy a couple of bottles of vodka.
You know, it’s getting harder and harder to tell the trolls from the real thing these days. I do wish these wingnuts would stop thinking that bringing up Hitler is an I WIN button for any argument though.
Apple pie mom must be running for guvmint along with that bachmann mut job.
Rightwing homeschooling has already brought us such a list of high achievers in the fields of atronomy and chemistry and goverment such as……………. nah who am i trying to kid?
Hoover Institute, an institution named for the president who presided over the biggest economic disaster in the nation’s history
Oh, really? I stand corrected. I thought it was named after the vacuum inventor, because the ideas really suck.
“But those today who are for big spending like to credit wartime big spending for bringing the Great Depression to an end. “
I’m a little confused by this statement as last I knew, those who were for big spending in the war department were wingnut hawks who couldn’t bring themselves to credit commie FDR with increased sales in cigarette holders or increased interest in radio announcements.
Amazing to me how wingnuts seem to conveniently gloss over the fact that FDR saw people literally starving. That might have moved him to spend a buck or two to keep people fed and also considering there was a big anarchist/communist movement afoot.
Oh but wait a minute? Wasn’t FDR a commie too? Why would’ve he wanted to put down any kind of anarchist/communist movements? What?
Hey, Apple-Pie Lady you got the answer to that?
One of the hallmarks of stupidity is an inability to learn from past experiences.
Truly, it is the dumb-dumb’s conundrum.
World War II is the only thing that ever happened in history.
I was thinking this the other day. One of my professors said that it was very important to nationalists to have a strong sense of the history of their country. I was trying to reconcile this with the fact that American conservatives – nationalists to the rotten core – throw history out the window. I realized that, in their minds, American history pretty much starts at WW2. No pesky slavery or Native American genocides to stain the honor of the Greatest Country in the World. Just heroic images of Brits and French and Russians and Algerians and Americans liberating Europe.
Hey, Apple-Pie Lady you got the answer to that?
Answers are for nasty smart people, good wingnuts like apple pie mom prefer slogans with very short words
Rightwing homeschooling has already brought us such a list of high achievers in the fields of
atronomyassrocketry and chemistrycal imbalance and misgoverment such as…Hinderaker, Beck, and Bush, oh my!
Unless a bunch of dull and stupid people were to put a bunch of dull and stupid people in power and they proceed to fuck up the economy, invade a country because it’s there and eat cake while a major city floods. But that could never happen!
Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institute Senior Fellow since about the time of the linked video, explains how wingnut welfare subsidizes failure.
Why the hell do people think that book learnin’ and “real life experience” are mutually exclusive? Do they think academics and teachers don’t have mortgages, live in neighborhoods, send their kids to school, are the victims of crime, need a plumber sometimes, wait in line at the DMV, lose their jobs, or have to weed the garden? If you read books suddenly you don’t have those problems?
The HITLER needs to be really big and blinking.
Do they think academics and teachers don’t have mortgages, live in neighborhoods, send their kids to school, are the victims of crime, need a plumber sometimes, wait in line at the DMV, lose their jobs, or have to weed the garden?
No…but I think they subconsciously recognize that all of those things may be easier to manage for smart people. For example, I can live better on 1/3 – 1/2 less than a stupid person with similar circumstances and income, because I’m able to think through and manage the little money I have. They won’t admit it and may not be smart enough to consciously recognize it, but deep down, they know that being smart makes day-to-day life easier in a lot of ways. And they hate us for it.
OT, but the first few times I saw the title of Palin’s book I thought it was “Going Rouge” sort of a reference to her pageant days.
Jennifer said “I can live better on 1/3 – 1/2 less than a stupid person with similar circumstances and income,”
Hell, you can save about 10k a year just by not eating supposedly cheap fast food burgers all the time and driving a $40,000 pickup truck that gets 14 mpg. Them NASCAR tickets ain’t cheap either.
Them NASCAR tickets ain’t cheap either.
dont forget the 15% tithe to the church of the utterly irredemable wide stance.
“But those today who are for big spending like to credit wartime big spending for bringing the Great Depression to an end. “
That’s odd.
I thought all wingnuts were taught from an early age to reflexively parrot the line:
“FDR didn’t end the Great Depression, World War II did.”
…you can save about 10k a year just by not eating supposedly cheap fast food burgers…
My point exactly. Living better by eating healthful home-cooked meals that actually cost a lot less than artery-clogging anus burgers.
Living better by eating healthful home-cooked meals that actually cost a lot less than artery-clogging anus burgers.
That sounds intelligent.
Unless…it’s a trap!
That good old University of Chicago.
People loving people, that’s what.
~
Sowell scales the lofty peaks of Hitler-lovin’. I’m guessing this is his response to Buchanan’s “Hitler was a great man of peace until Poland got all uppity.”
It’s a war and Sowell’s winning.
So the soft bigotry of low expectations for dolts like Sowell has been replaced by, well, real bigotry. I suppose it’s an improvement that African Americans can be seen as smart even though they’re still gonna fuck things up, if sowell is to be believed.
It would be clearly racist if a left winger like me were to point out that Thomas Sowell is the rightwings’ favorite token African-American.
-G
The muse of the shorter is the most exacting of the muses.
My Arms Too Shorter To Box With The SadlyNaughts
Wow, SM, number 3 on that search: Obama doesn’t think he’s Hitler … Barack Obama is no Adolf Hitler; he just thinks he is. I, um, whah?
That one’s actually a commenter, so Sowell gets a pass.
Yeah, I clicked it eventually. So, *don’t* trust Google’s shorters…
PeeJ, have you checked out “Accidental Dong” yet?
What the hell do you think I’ve been doing all afternoon?
More importantly, are you the proprietor of the blog?
I am not the proprietor or even the amarietor. I did just send in several contributions.
Mind you, it’s all about how subsidies are dumb, from a Hoover Institute fellow…
I did just send in several contributions.
Dare I ask in what container?
Wasn’t the whole “wise Latina with that life experience” sort of a recognition of the value of life experience as opposed the clever thoughts and words of traditional “slick” jurists? I don’t remember Sowell lauding Sotomayor for this insight.
Alternate Shorter Thomas Sowell:
President Not Hussein Sure tried taking water from toilets, but it is President Not Hussein Sure who finds himself in the toilet now. And as history pulls down its pants and prepares to lower its ass on Not Hussein Sure’s head, it will be daddy justice crapping on him this time.
“Hell, you can save about 10k a year just by not eating supposedly cheap fast food burgers all the time and driving a $40,000 pickup truck that gets 14 mpg. Them NASCAR tickets ain’t cheap either.”
Don’t forget other wingnut essentials:
– cable teevee
– a few ATV’s
– a few snowmobiles
– a trailer for ATV’s
– a trailer for snowmobiles
– financing for ATV
– financing for snowmobiles
– giant John Deere rider mower to groom their 3 acres of completely unused suburban territory into lawned submission and emptiness
– a conversion van
– an SUV for mom
– a fishing boat with a motor – a ‘bow rider’ ?
– financing for said boat
– the ‘home improvement loan’ payments on top of the mortgage to facilitate dad having his spare room over the garage
– the Harley
– the financing for the Harley
– the new kitchen for wife
– financing for said kitchen
– NRA membership
– Reader’s Digest subscription
– AOL account
– repair insurance on 15 year old conversion van (sold by a NASCAR dude)
– diabetes meds not covered by Cadillac health insurance plan from employer
– stomach tuck/lapband surgery
– financing for above
– VISA payments
– Mastercard payments
– Mall card payments
– Discover card payments
– Eighteen burner gas grill
– Payments to fill brand new oil tank for heating
The immeasurable cost of fearing everyday that one false statement, one false move could force a firing thus causing the above said delicately balanced facade to breakdown and thus rob one of the only identity they’ve ever had – that of the consumer.
Thus the unspoken threat that every wingnut hears through the propaganda is, “Liberals will cause us to spend on public needs which will cause YOU to lose your job and everything you hold dear! Fight!.”
And so the army of stupid and gullible lines up.
– AOL account
Now that’s just mean.
Kate, you forgot the Bobble. The Holy Bobble.
Dare I ask in what container?
The hat Sowell’s wearing is the right general shape.
The hat Sowell’s wearing is the right general shape.
Too bad he’s not a dickhead. Oh, wait…
Isn’t it obvious? With the publication of this thesis, Thomas Sowell is commencing the groundwork for his own run at the GOP nomination in 2012.
Yeah, well j, I didn’t count that cause they can get that for free.. when they take their pick-up date to the local motel. A lot of ’em still leave the Gideon’s bible. Makes good wingnut-foolaround wife excuse too.
Wingnut Wife: “Where were you at lunch honey-bunny? I was gonna bring you a plate of some Hamburger Helper I cooked up.”
Wingnut Husband: “Well uh…” [burp] “I uh.. I was checking out a new church and I in fact, got this here bible to replace that old worn out one.”
Wingnut Wife: “That’s nice honey….but you never read…”
Wingnut Husband: [schlurp] “Did you say you got this Pabst on sale? Git me another one and shut up, the Story of General Patton is comin’ on the History Channel.”
Wingnut Wife: “Uh…[thinks about that bible group that young Pastor Wankor wants to start and wonders off]
My comment was eaten, which is ok, I need to go to work. I have to paint walls because I don’t live on a trust fund or have tenure.
We don’t want smart leaders. Hitler was smart. We need dumb leaders, like Hugo Chavez. No, wait, we don’t want those. We need smart leaders, like Hitler. No wait, dumb leaders like …
KIRK: He lied. Everything Harry tells you is a lie. Remember that. Everything Harry tells you is a lie.
MUDD: Listen to this carefully, Norman. I am lying.
NORMAN: You say you are lying, but if everything you say is a lie then you are telling the truth, but you cannot tell the truth because everything you say is a lie. You lie. You tell the truth. But you cannot for. Illogical! Illogical! Please explain.
(Smoke comes out of Norman’s head.)
Oooh, you’re such a tease!
Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell BAD.
You know who’s stupid? Thomas Sowell. I know many of you like to trust the shorter, so you may have missed this bit: “The Great Depression ended only when the Second World War put an end to many New Deal policies.”.
Allow me to put this into simpler language:
That commie pinko faggot John Maynard Keynes and his commie pinko sidekick Roosevelt said that depressions end if you spend a lot of borrowed money. Well, the Great Depression didn’t end while Roosevelt spent a little borrowed money digging ditches. Actually, it didn’t end until America stopped spending a little borrowed money digging ditches and instead spent a whole shitload of borrowed money smashing Germany to rubble. So obviously, Roosevelt was wrong.
I am not an economist. I understand that there are intelligent people who honestly believe Roosevelt prolonged the depression. I think those people are wrong, but I am really not able to challenge their claims because I don’t have the tools. But Sowell’s argument, as paraphrased above, is such obvious bullshit that he actually refutes himself.
And Hitler was a moron. ALSO.
Logic?
Save me Landrew!
Very vaguely related: type “i like to” into Google and see the suggestions it gives.
Oh, and I don’t remember where it’s from, but “Foolproof measures rarely account for the ingenuity of fools.”
I take exception to these items being on that list. Though I have lived in Missouri 36 of my 38 years, so … um … yeah.
Also. I really, really need to remember to Always. ALWAYS.Trust. The. Shorter.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go bang my head on the wall in order to get the stupid out because that thing was just … dear fucking love of all that is good and goddamn holy … wowza.
Bonus anti-intellectual populist econ Perfesser Sowell:
Will no one enforce the vagrancy laws?
I realize the joy of this place is mocking the stupid, but, honest question:
What the hell has to happen to a person to have a view like this?
Dude didn’t serve in war, so that can’t be it.
I’d suggest never having to earn anything in one’s life, or always being bailed out when things go wrong, but there are plenty of folks born with golden spoons who have compassion. Stupid folks do, too.
He could be a straight sociopath, but I’m not sure that’s all of it. There’s some undercurrent with folks like him.
There has just got to be something with these people. I just can’t figure out what the hell it is.
There has just got to be something with these people. I just can’t figure out what the hell it is.
Five Y chromosomes and no Xs?
WordPress is hungry.
“are plenty of folks born with golden spoons who have compassion. Stupid folks do, too.”
Yeah, cause their mama did something right in raising them up, or summers of forced bible school really did pay off.
And Mark, I’m from St. Louis, so I understand your taking exception to some items on the list. Ribs are damn good, cable internet is the best some of us can get, including me. But we’re not shameless Mark, that’s the difference, we know our sin.
And being from St. Louis and knowing sin, I know that if Thomas grew up in any decent African-American home he woulda gone to church every Sunday and learned something about Jesus healing the sick, making the blind see and telling the stone throwers to just fuck off.
Oh wait that assumes a capacity to discern a meaning from a story. Oh well, sorry Tommy.
Seriously, FYWP.
That’s always been a pet peeve of mine – we’re not the “public”, we’re “consumers”. We’re defined only by what we buy/eat/drink/wear/rub into our bellies.
It’s like asking someone “what do you do?”, and they reply that they are a office worker/cab driver/bank teller/nurse/etc. I like to reply, “no, that’s how you make money to survive. What do you DO? What ARE you?”
Often they don’t have an answer. But it makes them think.
It all started when we stopped being citizens and became consumers.
There has just got to be something with these people. I just can’t figure out what the hell it is.
I’m hardly the Chicken Little type but lately I’ve been haunted by an old John Dewey quote that goes something to the effect of “movements that begin by stirring up hostility against a group of people end by denying to them all human qualities.”
Adjusting for Amrchair Toughguy™ bravado, listen– really listen– to the way so-called movement conservatives talk about Liberals, Blacks, gays, the poor, etc. With each iteration, their “out-groups” have become less and less humans to be dealt with and more and more “problems” to be eliminated.
kate–
Excellent, excellent point. (And glad the Chiefs have a partner in suck right across the state. 🙂 )
While the extra chromosomes and reading comprehension could be part of the issue, I’m thinking their had to be something in their lives that make them lose their shit.
Spurned lover (K-Lo), head wound (Jonah), shriveled junk (Coulter) … something.
This is as close as many wingnuts get to laying out exactly where the logic of their positions leads to.
They say “illegal Messicans” shouldn’t get any health care of any kind in the US. Which would inexorably lead to their corpses piling up in the streets. And this would be a good thing because it would be a natural deterrent to undocumented workers crossing the border! Same with the homeless: if they were just left to die in the streets, these “vagrants” would work harder to not be vagrants, now wouldn’t they? Dumping them in mass paupers’ graves is cheaper than giving them “welfare”, right?
Damned if any of them will ever come right out and say it. I could almost respect that, even if it’s inhumanly fucked up.
“Then they should die, and reduce the surplus population!”
Nothing like a guy with a doctorate telling you intellectuals are worthless, its kind of like a woman lecturing you on the evils of feminism, or a Black guy denouncing the civil rights movement or a Republican Senator fighting against gay rights.
OMG SO DID RONALD REAGAN.
“Damned if any of them will ever come right out and say it.”
Because they know damn well that in mixed company they might be seen as cruel and draw breaths of incredulity directed back at them and polite company won’t want to talk to them.
You know the only way you can argue that against intelligent leaders as a rule (rather than against certain intelligent people) is if you yourself are in the practice of backing morons- hey, for all their faults the Nixon-Kissigner bunch weren’t idiots, I guess we know Sowell’s verdict on the Bushies (seriously how sad is it that when examining things as a whole Nixon of all people seems like the best Republican President of the last 40 years- the only real debate is Bush’s father and its hard to really judge 1 termers).
Substance-
“In an age when facts seem to carry less weight than the visions of brilliant and charismatic leaders, it is more important than ever to look at the actual track records of those brilliant and charismatic leaders. After all, Hitler led Germany into military catastrophe and left much of the country in ruins. ”
Let’s be fair that’s a far better description of Bush than it ever was of Reagan.
Reagan’s the saint though, and it’s much nicer to push over the big statues than the little ones.
Bush gets routinely disowned for not being a real conservative, etc.
Thomas Sowell admires Hitler. Good to know.
‘do we want to become the world’s largest banana republic? ”
i don’t know it sure as hell didn’t bother you when were modeling interrogation tactics on there’s – but I realize actual human rights are far less of an indicator of third world status than fiscal policy (hey, you know what tin pot dictators also do- they spend an irresponsible share of their nations GDP on defense- is Sowell arguing that we should slash the DOD’s budget?).
The chef has the answers!
http://www.google.com/dirhp?hl=xx-bork&tab=gd
@M. Bouffant,
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
And let it not be forgotten that when it was noted that some people would die before subjecting themselves to the workhouse, Scrooge made a wise observation about reducing the surplus population.
Durn it, Joe Max, am I gonna have to get on the blog sooner? Or read through before commenting?
I see that in making these comparisons, we are sort of assuming that even as great a shithead as Sowell could be redeemable.
In likening Sowell to him, we are nothing if not magnanimous.
–alias Anonymous
Go to Google, and type in “i like to”, but don’t press Enter. Read the first suggestion. Apparently, it’s quite popular.
You like to WHAT???
It didn’t come up “move it move it” so I am at a loss.
Okay… well, for some reason (Australian Google?) I get “i like to tape my thumbs to my hands to see what it would be like to be a dinosaur”.
wow helping the homeless is encouraging sin, how f*king nice is that. Has the right truly lost ANY touch with the real world ANY compassion, ANY sense? Dont answer that it’s totally rhetorical I just want to turn them all into soylent green for the poor.
Quite a few options show up in the scroll down.
“I like to think of Jesus as a mischievous badger…”
Here I was thinking you were referencing I Like To Watch, which is what I was hoping Obama would tax real Americans to fund more of.
If Hitler was so damn smart, how come he lost?
“R.D. said,
September 30, 2009 at 11:33
If Hitler was so damn smart, how come he lost?”
He though god was on his side, so he couldn’t lose, he believed that few wünderwaffe woudl beat superior numbers of normal weapons, he ignored the advisors who actually knew what they were talking about, and did things the way he wanted, and in the end he blamed his country his internal enemies and everyone he didn’t like for betraying him, and claiming he would have won if it wasn’t for them.
Now that you mention is, it almost sounds like he was a wingnut.
Hitler a right wing loonie?!?! Nah, can’t be….
It’s like asking someone “what do you do?”, and they reply that they are a office worker/cab driver/bank teller/nurse/etc. I like to reply, “no, that’s how you make money to survive. What do you DO? What ARE you?”
I hope I never run into you at a party. What if my interpretive dance answer doesn’t pass muster?
I am a very foolish man, I guess. I still hold on to what now appears to be the very quaint and out-of-date notion that you judge a society by how it cares for its weakest, most vulnerable, its disenfranchised, its most downtrodden and miserable. Thank goodness for Thomas Sowell.
What if my interpretive dance answer doesn’t pass muster?
I couldn’t sleep and spent the entire night practicing the mime version of my life.
Thank goodness for Thomas Sowell! He has disabused me of the notion that you judge a society by how it cares for its most weakest, most disenfranchised, its most vulnerable and miserable. I can see the light!
And one wonders if Thomas Sowell is aware that there is a very good chance some of his ancestors were, in fact, slaves, to be tortured, raped or killed simply because their owners could do so? Odds are, such wondering is a waste of time.
i like to tape my thumbs to my hands to see what it would be like to be a dinosaur”.
the extra whipped funny cream on top was that it was the first one.
I also liked “i like to singa about the moona and the juna and the springa”.
on topic:
I think it would be edifying for Mr. Sowell to be a vagrant for awhile.
God damn, it’s that fucking line that Roosevelt was to blame for the Great Depression and the New Deal made it worse. That needs to be shat on every time it appears lest it actually make it into the history books.
“If Hitler was so damn smart, how come he lost?”
Because he was smarter than FDR, that’s why, and smart people fuck everything up and dumb-asses rule.
Milosevic was like Einstein, just into genocide rather than physics, he even figured that genocide could only work if it was targeted at smarter people than himself obviously. Saddam – dumber than the Kuwaitis but smarter than Bush. And his son. Ahmedinejad, unbelievably st00pid, which is why he keeps on outwitting the West. Bin Laden has to have gone full-retard to still be on the run.
Yes! I’ve never understood why so many on the Wrong seem so threatened by smart folks. On the rare occasion I feel l’m in the company of someone smarter than I, I revel in it, because I know that if someone’s wiser or has more education I may actually–GASP!—learn something from him or her. But these folks don’t seem to value intellectual curiosity. I don’t expect everyone to graduate with honors from some Ivy League school. I didn’t even finish college. But, come on, people… smarts are to be revered, not feared.
Me Grimlock say always trust shorter.
It was, after all, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s brilliant “brains trust” advisers whose policies are now increasingly recognized as having prolonged the Great Depression of the 1930s, while claiming credit for ending it. The Great Depression ended only when the Second World War put an end to many New Deal policies.
That would be the same brain trust that, I dunno….WON THE FUCKING WAR?????
Always. Trust. The. Shorter.™
I hope I never run into you at a party. What if my interpretive dance answer doesn’t pass muster?
We can always stuff dollar bills in your bra.
What if my interpretive dance answer doesn’t pass muster?
Add a trumpet and the troops will be sure to respond.
Gotta feel some pity for Sowell. With all the years he’s put into the conservative movement, Robert Stacy McCain still makes him use the servants’ entrance.
I take umbrage at some of the comments about NASCAR and Harleys. I have a graduate degree and still enjoy going to a race every year for a weekend in the RV with my buds and eat/drink/see some of the races. I don’t own a Harley, but I know lots of folks that do, and most are a hell of a lot more intelligent that the average wingnut. Some of you paint with an awfully big brush.
Jennifer said “I can live better on 1/3 – 1/2 less than a stupid person with similar circumstances and income,”
Me, too. And still have enough for a drug budget!
Nascar is for people too smart for drag racing, but not quite smart enough to get their head around real circuit racing.
Harleys are for people with no imagination and little taste. Other motorcycles do exist. The best big cruisers are not American either. Not that you could ever get a wingnut or a redneck to admit to that.
Harleys are for people with no imagination and little taste.
Harleys are like belly buttons. Everybody’s got one.
most are a hell of a lot more intelligent than the average wingnut
My cat is more intelligent than the average wingnut and I’ve got a couple houseplants that might be willing to give it a shot.
My cat is more intelligent than the average wingnut
And yet, mine likes watching NASCAR…
It’s like asking someone “what do you do?”, and they reply that they are a office worker/cab driver/bank teller/nurse/etc. I like to reply, “no, that’s how you make money to survive. What do you DO? What ARE you?”
Often they don’t have an answer. But it makes them think.
It all started when we stopped being citizens and became consumers.
It’s like Joe Max is writing exactly what I’ve been thinking for years!
I love how any answer which doesn’t involve one’s job stymies them for a spell.
It’s true…always trust the “Shorter”. Unfortunately, our local rag, the Springfield (MA) Republican, runs Sowell’s tripe at least twice a week, so we got treated to it without having to click. I remember when mentioning Bush and Hitler in the same breath got you labeled as suffering from “Bush Derangement Syndrome”. Now it’s considered the most brilliant thing anyone has ever said.
Ok end of thread again but oh shit I’ve read way too much Sowell–my Uncle Anthony is like obsessed with him and his particular brand of Clarence Uncle Thomas-ing bullshit that he puts out, and he once sent me when I was 13 a digest of his columns to show how hateful the bitch truly is. I mean he always seems to be arguing that powerless people should somehow magically empower themselves like there aren’t economic forces that just naturally keep those people down. Also, too, wouldn’t it be sweet if smart, rational peops like Obama–who is so truly moderate and desiring of compromise–got some cooperation from smart people on the right? But shit does type exist anymore–truly people, who are the smart, engaged Repubs anymore???
Yeah, end of thread sux.
Just for kicks, I just pulled up Thomas Sowell’s curriculum vita (http://www.tsowell.com/cv.html). Since finishing his undergrad work at Harvard over 50 years ago, it appears he has spent just over two years in jobs other than universities (faculty, not actually managing anything) or think tanks.
These were being a Labor Economist for the Labor Dept (1961 – 62 – this guy worked for Kennedy?) and being an economic analyst for AT&T (1964-65). Even those jobs are pretty removed from the ‘real world’.
And this is the guy who is talking about how real-world experience trumps fancy schmancy smartness stuff? Okey dokey.