Comments on: Washington became the greatest foundation of all

By: Kirk

Kirk — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 23:04:00 +0000

Much of the problem with all this is the unholy manner in which most of society has conflated what we might best term “tested intelligence” (via IQ testing) with another nebulous concept, that of “virtue”.

Smart isn’t automatically “good”. Just like any other tool, it’s a neutral thing, and best judged not by its mere existence, but by the uses it’s put to, along with, most importantly, the actual effects it generates.

You can be really, really smart and be a force for destruction and mayhem. Likewise, you can be really, really dumb, and be a force for good.

What’s gone wrong is that we’ve somehow managed to ignore this fact in appraising the performances of our elites; you can get away with creating chaos and really shitty results for everyone, so long as you can keep the patter going and baffle everyone with your reasoned bullshit. Nobody is gonna call you on it, ‘cos you got that there smarty-pants set of test scores, along with all the fancy vellum graduation certificates up on your wall. You be the expert, since you got the paperwork…

This is going to be what they put on our civilization’s tombstone, when the time comes. Drowned in a sea of highly-credentialed incompetence and bureaucratic malfeasance.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:39:48 +0000

David: I’ve seen people of high intelligence mouth the shibboleths of a pre-packaged belief system, but that’s just words and signalling. When it comes to actual deeds, they’re as individualistic as can be.

By: david foster

david foster — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 18:37:49 +0000

“Mental conformism is a habit of those of middling intelligence. Those of low intelligence don’t know how to conform, and those of high intelligence are disinclined to conform.” I don’t think that’s always true. People who are highly intelligent, but lacking in creativity, are often those who latch on to an intellectual system created by someone else, and hold on to it tightly.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 14:31:46 +0000

Mental conformism is a habit of those of middling intelligence. Those of low intelligence don’t know how to conform, and those of high intelligence are disinclined to conform. That leaves everyone in between.

It’s easy for them because society evolves to be acceptable to the majority, and there’s a big bulge in the middle of the bell curve.