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Monday, August 8. 2016

Why professors, pundits, and policy wonks misunderstand the world

Intellectuals are Freaks. Lind begins:



I have even been accused of being a “public intellectual,” which sounds too much like “public nuisance” or even “public enemy” for my taste.


My point is that people who specialize in the life of ideas tend to be extremely atypical of their societies. They — we — are freaks in a statistical sense. For generations, populists of various kinds have argued that intellectuals are unworldly individuals out of touch with the experiences and values of most of  their fellow citizens. While anti-intellectual populists have often been wrong about the gold standard or the single tax or other issues, by and large they have been right about intellectuals...


Posted by The Barrister in Politics, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:20 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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It seems that the more the "intellectuals" or should we say "word workers" are isolated from actual things, increasingly today even in their childhoods, the more self-deceived they become

QUOTE:
It is possible for the mind to indulge in false logic, to make the worse appear the better reason, without instant exposure. But for the hand to work falsely is to produce a misshapen thing—tool or machine —which in its construction gives the lie to its maker. Thus the hand that is false to truth, in the very act publishes the verdict of its own guilt, exposes itself to contempt and derision, convicts itself of unskillfulness or of dishonesty.
—Charles H. Ham, Mind and Hand: manual training, the chief factor in education (1900)


These days, even many kids in the middle class never face the real world, the world of things, of objective quality, at least until very late in life. They go from a climate-controlled home to a climate-controlled auto to a climate-controlled school then office. Their athletics are very conditioned and protected as well as solely personal. Seldom do they depend on the quality of their work appealing to others to survive.

More people could benefit from needing to know how to hitch horses, cross a stream, avoid animals to get to school. More could benefit from having produced something for pay to benefit others.
#1 JK Brown on 2016-08-08 21:57 (Reply)
Try flying airplanes for a living. False logic = abrupt end to career and sometimes you.
#1.1 BillH on 2016-08-09 09:48 (Reply)
Seriously, every youth needs a job. It used to be that way and it was not abusive; it was simply necessary to make the family work and excel.

Looking back at my "advantaged" age, I can say that many of the lessons learned than mattered to success started when I found a way to earn pennies by finding something a neighbor would pay for and, then, doing an over-the-top job to insure my rehiring or a future reference. It becomes a way of life and, most often, the rewards far out-weigh any risks.

The last few generations have been sheltered from this pathway to growth, experience and success.
#1.2 jma on 2016-08-09 11:14 (Reply)

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