Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Intellectual Elites: Bad News
Hijacking Common Sense
Elites, like the poor, shall always be with us. As Thomas Sowell asserts in “Intellectuals and Society”, a majority, as I remember it, of the really difficult problems in the nation have been fostered by the intellectual elites. They should, in his opinion, be nowhere near the levers of power and influence. Public intellectuals, he goes on to say, those who come out from their sphere of expertise to deliver their wisdom on subjects far and wide, are especially dangerous and irresponsible, for they usually assume absolutely no responsibility for their ideas when they are taken into practice and then fail, but rather, they move on rapidly to the next hairbrained, cerebral popcorn idea immediately. Does Noam Chomsky ring any bells?
Hijacking Common Sense
Elites, like the poor, shall always be with us. As Thomas Sowell asserts in “Intellectuals and Society”, a majority, as I remember it, of the really difficult problems in the nation have been fostered by the intellectual elites. They should, in his opinion, be nowhere near the levers of power and influence. Public intellectuals, he goes on to say, those who come out from their sphere of expertise to deliver their wisdom on subjects far and wide, are especially dangerous and irresponsible, for they usually assume absolutely no responsibility for their ideas when they are taken into practice and then fail, but rather, they move on rapidly to the next hairbrained, cerebral popcorn idea immediately. Does Noam Chomsky ring any bells?
Labels: Elites, Intellectuals, Liberals
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