(08-04-2023, 09:38 AM)Ninurta Wrote:Quote:Are Trump supporters right that the indictments are just a political witch hunt? Of course not. As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison.
I think it's fair to point out that what the author says here is a perfect illustration of what he is ranting about - and he seems not to even realize it. The only reason he still "basically trusts the legal system" is because, as a card carrying member of a privileged class, he has not experienced that legal system being weaponized against HIM... yet.
There is always tomorrow, and the system they are building to protect their privileged asses will, at some point be turned on THEM by the opponents they seek to destroy by building it now. Nothing ever stays the same, the wheel is always turning and the pendulum swinging, and eventually it will roll around to being their turn in the hot-seat. They will then only have themselves to blame for having built that system and having set that precedent.
Their error is in seeing "education" as a merit in their meritocracy. They are aiming for the wrong targets - they aim for indoctrination over ability, and that is NEVER a safe bet. Actual merit always, ALWAYS falls to those with ability, not necessarily those with education or the proper indoctrination.
Allow me an illustration here.
My dad's IQ was measured at 198. He was a very smart man, a man of abilities. But his education was a bit lacking. He quit school in the 7th grade. That did not affect his native intelligence or abilities, however.
Education? I went through a total of 8 years or so of college. Educational achievement? I graduated college summa cum laude. Dear Old Dad had none of those advantages - I think I mentioned that he quit school in the 7th grade.
Now, I'm no slouch in the IQ department, but I can't even hold a candle to his - his was just short of being unmeasurable because it was so high.
For all of that, I will never be as smart as my Dear Old Dad. There is no amount of education - or indoctrination for that matter - that will ever be able to raise my IQ to the level his was measured at. There is "education", and then there is "intelligence". They are not at all the same thing.
I had more education, and he had more intelligence. Of the two, he also had more ability, more "merit" due to his higher intelligence, his ability of sheer thought. Yet in a manufactured "meritocracy" that places more stress on "education", he was at a disadvantage - but he could run rings around me for actual smarts... which is where the merit really resides.
50 years ago, Dear Old Dad once told me that some of the stupidest people he ever met were college-educated. They had the education, but weren't smart enough to know what to do with it. It was true 50 years ago, and it's still true today. maybe even truer, since nowadays what passes for "education" is really nothing more than indoctrination.
Eventually, all those "educated idiots" at the top of their made up, but invalid, "meritocracy" will be taken down by people with far less education, but far more intellect, more ability, more merit than they themselves possess.
You can take that to the bank... and the wheel will keep turning long after you do.
.
Agreed on the "highly educated" sometimes being the dumbest people you'll meet. I'm not knocking ANYBODY who wants to further their education, but some of them go to these big universities, get their sheepish minds stuffed chock full of ideas, then go around repeating and basically enforcing it because they now think they're entitled to do so, due to their "superior" education. And of course it's not all of them, but many.
There are many varieties of "smart." If the shit hits the fan and society collapses, who am I ganging up with? Some survivalists who couldn't name 3 ivy League schools? Or the economist who has 2 doctorates? If society collapses, suddenly the survivalists are the Harvard-educated geniuses.
It seems some of them go these big universities, and have an attitude of "I paid $400k to have my IQ boosted by 20 points, listen to all I say! Bow to your all-knowing lord!"