Uncommon Knowledge: Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuls and Society – Talking Sense to Obama’s Cabinet Like Telling the Mafia to Go Straight
by Uncommon KnowledgeAs an ongoing feature at Big Government, the Hoover Institution’s Uncommon Knowlege, with Peter Robinson, will continue posting clips from its current interviews, as well as from many of it’s greatest shows from the past:
While the Left continues to push the meme that the Right is “anti-intellectual,” it is worth examining what really troubles so many Americans about the desire of self-styled “experts” to run the world we all live in. Hint: it ain’t about intelligence. There is a species of person in America, in the West, which believes it knows better than the rest of us, and would like us to simply get out of the way so it can take the collective wisdom of its many post-graduate degrees and get on with the business of re-making the world as it sees fit. In these clips from a longer and wonderful piece (available at the Hoover Institution), Peter Robinson interviews one of America’s greatest actual intellects, Dr. Thomas Sowell, who makes some strong criticisms about the vanity and danger of the intellectual class: they do not know everything, but in fact lack at least 99% of the “consequential knowledge” needed to function in the world; they manufacture the need for themselves, with one dubious crisis after another; and they have an often terrible track record when given the reigns of society, as with McNamara’s Whiz Kids, FDR’s Brain Trust, and the disarmament movement following WWI. The “Stimulus” and health care “reform” come to mind as well…
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99 Comments
Publius my good man, check your spelling of "intellectuals" in the headline.
Educated Idiots vs. Common Sense
Elite equals all too frequently those who not only do not know the true purpose of a boot let alone how to pour the accumulated pi$$ out of it. They are also known as Educated Idiots.
Common Sense is born from dealing with life instead of nothing but book learning and continuing to make better decisions based on a moral code and experience
the whole concept of 'intellectualism' is a canard…
If, however, you do not believe in spiritual advancement- that the ONLY things you believe are what you can see, touch, and taste then knowledge is everything.
However, as one lives life they learn that the more experienced you become the less you actually really know.
Meeaning the 'know it all' stuff if a folly of youth. Doesn't stop the secular left, though. They think they know EVERYTHING and wield that arrogance like a club.
They're wrong, of course. Even the top scientists are making mistakes daily. Reminds us of a saying. It might be Confusius or it might be Charlie Chan, but it goes like this:
'One who dines exclusively from the tree of knowledge knows much- but understands little'…
Also, your reference to "reigns of society" should be "reins of society". "Reigns" is what a king does; "reins" are what guide horses and other critters. (No nitpicking intended, but it matters.)
Your post sounds neither educated nor experienced. But if angry right wing venting was what you were going for, then like the decider said, "Mission Accomplished".
lol, I was wondering if perhaps this was done on purpose?
LOL Reign is what the intellectuals are trying do just like a king so it may be more accurate
When we have regular blackouts and food rationing and mass poverty, then we will know the left has done its job.
I did not detect a "negro" dialect and the absence of a brown paper bag on the set keeps me from discerning if Dr. Sowell is "light-skinned". So, I guess I will just have to defer to Harry Reid and Joe Biden on that. Dr. Sowell would be just as brilliant if he was green. And micheal Jackson's singing didn't improve any when he went white… I'm just say'n.
"the absence of a brown paper bag on the set keeps me from discerning if Dr. Sowell is "light-skinned"."
I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at the one! Brilliant!
Give me common sense and life experience any day over this pseudo-intellect any day. I have a relative who has two doctorate degrees and she doesn't know enough to come in out of the rain. Of all the talented African American people who could have been President, we wind up with Barry Sotero. Dr. Sowell or Walter Williams being just two examples.
With your many degrees the left figures they are so smart. It amazes me how they cant even screw in a light bulb. Like big goverment it usually takes more than three.
Thomas Jefferson once said: This country's greatness is due to the wisdom of it's farmers, not of it's intellectuals and scholars; this country's future problems will be solved with the practical wisdom of the farmer, not the scholar and intellecftual (who are the cause of the problem in the first place).
This country was founded by and for the People (the common masses). It is not an oligarchy of a nobility (as it once was, and is the case everywhere else) who see a divine right to exploit the commonn folk as they see fit. Even the President (our highest public officer) is a "servant" to the people.
Thomas Sowell knows this better than anyone.
Why couldn’t Thomas Sowell, this brilliant man be the first black president. Instead we get “Witless Barry Bolshevik the Parasite Herder”…sheesh!
Hey Obama, in the words of Dr. Sowell: GOODBYE!
And yours sounds as though you lack both. I for one have not the time to suffer fools which may be your capacity in life. You have my sympathy.
Best definition of intellectual I've ever heard. I wondered why David Brooks, with a BA in history is an intellectual, and I'm not with a doctorate. Because I actually DO something. Gonna go get Dr. Sowell's newest book today.
One of my favorite quotes re the arrogance of “intellectuals” :
“There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe them.”
~~ George Orwell (1903-1950)
Intellectuals should dust off their berets, go back to the coffee shops, and play with their sitars, and leave the decisions to the adults.
In his defense, Publius writes copious amounts of words and is allowed atleast a few typos…lol. We'll just pretend it never happened.
I don't know if you are a fool or not. All I have to go by are the words you write. So far I'm not impressed.
I appreciate his identification of intellectuals as those who, "have only ideas as their end-product."
Obama and his terrorist connections:
http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/bara...
Liberals are like teenagers…sure of their invincibility, secure in their complete knowledge of the all things important, deluded by super-optimism, and waiting for the rest of their brain to finish developing.
I love my teenagers, but we're better off not letting them vote until they get past this stage. We should consider the same for liberals.
My father, with only a high school diploma, used to tell me that many very intelligent people hadn't an ounce of common sense. At the time, I didn't believe him. I do now because he was right!
If by "spiritual advancement" you mean faith, that is cop out for the weak minded. If you are not willing to do the work it is comforting to have others tell you that you really are smart, so don't worry about all that science stuff. And you don't need proof because god loves you.
Who are all these "top scientists" who keep making daily mistakes. And we are going to need some names.
How does the electorate become so deluded with an empty vessel like Obama? With a man like Dr Sowell, a true intellectual and not a product of the Affirmative Action Gravy Train, the Obama Myth and its inept incompetence becomes even more patently obvious. Hopefully, Americans have learned their lesson concerning smooth talking charismatic Marxist ideologues: may our country be strong enough to withstand three more years of assault from this Socialist in the White House with his desire to destroy the economic might of the United States and his efforts to remake the US into a Third World latrine.
yea.. and these smart people even grade themselves. (ie: solid b+)
eternal acadamia. never to "grow up".
vanity is a good word for it.
no, we mean spiritual advancement, not 'faith'…
Nor organized religion, either. The realization that an immortal spirit resides within and you have the opportunity to advance that spirit to a Higher Realm. The realization that the human existence is flawed, that Higher Ideals exist in a different 'field' of existence, and that this isn't he only reality in the Multiverse.
You do have a duty to advance the human condition in the Universe of Form which we inhabit, but to do it in a positive and humble fashion.
The 'top scientists' making errors? The climatologists at East Anglia University come quiickly to mind…
I recently saw a chart that showed the real world experience, in percentage terms, of the last 10 presidents' cadres of advisers. All of them ranged from 60% to 90% — except one! Obama's was a mere 6%. Obama has surrounded himself with intellectual elitists, who have NO real world experience, and who are perfect examples of the phenomenon Dr. Sowell describes in his book. Intellect often blinds us to our weakness through our own hubris and arrogance. Many intellectuals believe they have a "right" to rule over everyone else because of their intellectual prowess of business acumen. It is this hubris that is their weakness and downfall!
Heaven help us! We will need it!
Another book in a similar vein, also good: "Intellectual Morons" by Daniel Flynn. This book is an excellent documentary on the insane vanity of many intellectuals and their devastating impact on society.
Even us lowly Canadians realize that if its spoken of by Dr. Thomas Sowell, its worth listening to. More intelligent than us all, his most endearing natural quality is in never speaking "down" to anyone. An intellectual who sees that very quality as being a guarantee to nothing at all. Now there's a rare man indeed and one well worth reading.
Intellectuals and Scholars will boast about how they can memorize and recite the entire book of "Alice in Wonderland" by verbatim. A wise person will tell you that it's only a Fairy Tale
I think I've seen intellectuals spelled this way several times around some conservative sites. I think it is intended as a joke, not a mistake.
[...] Howard Fineman: Enough TV, Mr. President. How About Governing? Publius, Big Government: Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society – Talking Sense to Obama’s Cabinet Like Telling… The Black Sphere Blog: Obama Losing Luster? Hot Air: Recovery alert: Durable goods orders, housing [...]
[...] London Times on Barack and Michelle Obama: Mr&Mrs show irks voters Publius, Big Government: Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society – Talking Sense to Obama’s Cabinet Like Telling… Noel Sheppard, NewsBusters: Howard Fineman: Enough TV, Mr. President. How About Governing? Hot Air: [...]
[...] reading: Publius, Big Government: Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society – Talking Sense to Obama’s Cabinet Like Telling… Frugal Café Blog Zone: Well Said: Ohio Man’s Letter to the Editor, “Health Care Bill May Well [...]
Never confuse knowledge with intelligence, they are not necessarily interchangeable.
False intellectuals, professional victims, brainwashed youth. This nation will be lucky to survive this trinity of disaster.
Your spiritual beliefs are your own and not up for debate. I try to be a nice guy, but I have no duty to positive or humble.
You should google "climategate" and see when the last time a dated news release was published on the subject. It has been since the middle of December. Even Fox News is silent. It is because the information published in the stolen e-mails was found in peer reviewed literature from 2005 and referenced in the 2007 IPCC Assessment report. So it was old news and not a "daily mistake", to use your words.
my, aren't we the huffy ones…
Stlen e-mails, eh? Yep, THAT makes a difference. You know darn well that they are pretty much clueless about climate change, and how it is affected by solar cycles. THEY are learning every day, and you learn from your mistakes. We didn't debate spiritual beliefs, you did. All we did is mention that- other than you, obviously- a dirt nap needn't be the end of one's existence.
Humility is in a daily approach to life. No one will accuse you of that, nor even of being a 'nice guy'.
You like to personalize and emotionalize an argument.
Oh, yeah that's right. You're a liberal…
In ancient times, deep thinkers got eaten.
Yes they were stolen… by computer hackers who committed a crime to break in to University computer network. That is not my opinion, it is what happened.
Then they cherry-picked 10,000 e-mails until they found some "evidence" to support their preconceived ideas that climate change was some kind of hoax. There was a splash in the media and then it went away as fast as it happened. Not on right wing blogs, but in the mainstream media where the majority of voters get their news.
Climate change is real and happening all around us. Your denial of the theory and the science is just that… denial.
As for your faith, that is between you and you spirit buddy and I have no interest.
Dr. Sowell is my favorite. I am currently reading "The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for
Social Policy (1995)". Dr. Sowell is able to get ideas across using plain, common sense language. Contrast that with liberals who like to use twenty dollar words and verbose prose. Dr. Sowell's words and ideas flow. Whenever I read his work, I feel like someone is finally telling the truth. May Dr. Sowell live for many, many more years.
Here in California affluent private schools and high end public schools subject their students to a leftist brainwashing that intellectuals know what is better for society if only they had the power to tell us all what to do. Model minority students such as chinese and indian americans are particularly succeptable to the leftist intellectual elete. They are taugh from an early age to respect education and to respect authority. Leftist teachers take advantage of this and inculcate contempt for the USA, the society that has done so much for their families. Latinos on the other hand , particularly the boys, particularly the boys who play sports resist the leftist brainwashing.
Game, set, match! You get my "Whack a Troll" award for the day – done with style, smarts, and patience!
Especially when your "knowledge" has been redacted and revised!
I could listen to Thomas Sowell for hours (and have). In one of his videos he told a wonderful story about when he first starting teaching and that as one of the first blacks to have a professorship at a prestigious university, the students treated him with instant respect, knowing that he must know his stuff to get that position. Several years later, after affirmative hiring practices came into place, students treated him with less respect figuring that he had been given his position rather than having earned it even though by that time he had become a renowned, well-published expert in his field.
That is one of my favorite books. I reread it occasionally, because I always learn something new from it, especially after watching the news every day! The book is a guide to understanding why they do the things they do that just don't make sense.
well, to tell you the truth we have little interest in your leftist spin which is just regurgitated DNC talking points. Climate change is real, doofus- it is constantly changing and has since time immemorial. Your scientists are shaking rattles and making potions to no avail; let's just tax the world into a slave state and that should make it all better.
The e-mails were public domain… no crime has been committed, nor has there been any prosecution. As if that would make a difference, fool…
Who is this "we" you refer to…
Those e-mails were not in the public domain they were stolen. And since no one has come forward and claimed responsibility for the theft there is no one to prosecute.
Sounds like I've hit a nerve. Sorry if my opinions have offended.
"As for your faith, that is between you and you spirit buddy and I have no interest."
You are illustrating Dr. Sowell's point so well! Sadly, you don't have the intellect to see it.
I could listen to him for hours too.
Sowell, who's pushing 80 years of age, grew up in Harlem. His father died before he was born. Yet, despite having to drop out of high school because of financial problems, he managed to go to college, first at Howard University then Harvard (BA), Columbia (Masters) and finally the University of Chicago (PhD). He was born with nothing and managed to become one of the few people on earth that can explain economics in terms that anyone can understand.
By comparison, Barack Obama was born with everything and managed to learn how to read a teleprompter.
Sowell is an intellectual because he uses his brain. Obama could never be an intellectual because the only things he uses are other people.
'we' are not important- it is the what, where, how and why that is…
You hit no nerve. The e-mails were on publicly funded computers with open access.
Your continued assertions that they were 'stolen' hits YOUR nerve.
Not ours…
Well then you are obviously NOT a "lowly Canadian".
Love the post.
Good one.
It is so easy to be an intellectual elitist. You just build your own throne and sit on it. Then the uneducated masses will gather at you feet. What is a college education worth these days, minimum wage?
Insults can be fun. Sadly I've have lost my perspective a time or two and indulged myself. But they never add to a conversation and in the end you are the one who has to live with the guilt.
Never once have I lost my temper and felt good about it later.
for someone who like to dish it out with dripping sarcasm, our friend here as a fairly thin skin.
Don't you think?
"Ours…"? Is there more than one of you there? Are you like a trinity… multiple spirits inhabiting a single container?
We can disagree whether it makes any difference if the e-mails were stolen or not as far as what is was said in them. The information is out there now and in that sense it doesn't make any difference. But to make outrageous claims that the University e-mail servers are somehow public domain is absurd. They are no more open to the public than yours or mine.
And it has never been disputed that computer hackers got the information without the permission of the University and tried to upload thousands of e-mails to the server at realclimate.org.
"Don't you think?"
Yes!
this really frosts your cookies, doesn't it?…
yes, there is more than one of 'us'. Not that it matters. The details over how this was accessed seems much like Dan Ellsberg and the Pentagon papers. How something incriminating came to be isn't as important as the evidence contained within.
And the evidence was damning, and you know it- that's why the HOW seems to really mean a lot to you. They were accessed without permission, yes. But illegally? Again, not so fast. The computers had multiple access. So there was no real domain to speak of.
It's why there will never be a prosecution…
Just finished that book. I won't spoil it for you by telling you about the last paragraph, but it brilliantly sums up the damage that "intellectuals" have done to this nation.
Thomas Sowell is a personal hero of mine. I always say that if I ever met the man, I'd either 1) giggle with glee like a teenage girl or 2) freeze and not be able to say a word.
The proper pronunciation is "innerlekshuls".
Leaked and stolen are two different things. And I agreed with you that the information is now out there and must be dealt with.
The "evidence" had no affect on the legitimacy of the science. It does however present a public relations problem because it gives people like you an opportunity to cloud the issue. (the political issue, not the science).
The political issue is how do we deal with climate change in terms of public policy. And that is what is at stake here. Will deniers be able to use this as a public relations tool to prevent the government from developing responsible public policy. They are certainly going to try, so it is up to those of us who support science to debunk them.
NOT FOR NOTHING, BUT IT IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY THAT THE "MOB" HAS ALWAYS CONTROLLED!
Dr. Sowell exudes leadership and common sense, which does not exist in DC. Why?
Oh, you have him completely wrong. He is such a nice guy, always trying to be sensitive to the inadequacies of his inherent inferiors. See how tolerant he is? Not treating us with the distain we so obviously deserve?
(barf)
Bleh. They have two end products, and ideas are both less valuable and stink more.
I have never understood the need to denigrate someone's belief in God. If you don't believe, fine, but why is it necessary to use terms like "spirit buddy" or "sky fairy?" It truly is the mark of a small mind.
I can't possibly add anything to Thomas Sowell's wisdom … I can only say, he is a Genius!
DC is populated by lawyers as is most of our higher governmental positions and that accounts for the positions we are forced into….
Well said! And, thanks for info on Sowell's background too.
The epitome of the unassuming intellectual and common sense personified.
The current state of the nation and the world in general are the byproducts of the 'experts' and 'academics' wisdom. The results so far in following these idiots are abysmal. We need less intellect and more common sense. Giving these folks more power will only make things much worse as their track record to date is a joke.
Hey, stop insulting the Mafia by comparing then to the goons, idiots in the White House.
support what 'science'? That we are warming, or cooling? That one belch from a volcano puts more C02 in the air than all the cars of the world combined? No one is 'denying' anything. THAT's your talking point term. Climate change is extremely complex and there are thousands of scientists who disagree with the left wing 'consensus' that seems to always point to A) more government control, and B) more taxes.
Like health care this is an issue that has been politicized beyond all recognition and is not to be trusted by any thinking American…
"Well, he says he's a commodities broker. They create nothing. Makes sense… "
You win!
+1 for dcase…………….
You have presented me with lots of opinions that I obviously disagree with, so let me just correct one factual error.
"That one belch from a volcano puts more C02 in the air than all the cars of the world combined?"
On an average year, all the volcanoes in the world contribute roughly 200 million tonnes (0.2 Gt/yr) of CO2 into the atmosphere. That is according to the U.S. Geological Society (USGS). Humans contribute far more CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels. A couple of years ago the number was estimated at 27 billion tonnes. Or roughly a little more than 100 times as much as the volcanoes. And the amount is growing each year.
Mt Pinatubo was what came to mind, not the garden variety volcanos. And with the Pacific Rim 'ring of fire' active any of a number of supervolcanos could blow their stack. So, while on a technicality you are correct the overarching point is that the climate- and it's consequences- are most likely outside man's purview to control. Doesn't mean we can't live cleaner lives, but that's another issue…
Dr. Sowell has written another fine book. He may be the most sensible economist in the world.
Democrats want to keep black kids dumb:
http://www.corson.org/other_issues/other_issues.h...
Democrats want to keep black kids dumb:
http://www.corson.org/other_issues/other_issues.h...
Although a misspelling in the headline of an article criticizing the role of intellectuals in crafting public policy is probably a typo that should quickly be corrected…and I agree with the article and with Dr. Sowell…
No one gets it, it's not what you know or what you think you know, it's how you execute, analyze and perfect things that make you an achiever. Risk takers and entrepreneurs are the ones who rise to the top of being intellectual.
[...] Sowell Written on January 13, 2010 – 7:21 PM by Jenny Hatch Natural Family Blog “Peter Robinson interviews one of America’s greatest actual intellects, Dr. Thomas Sowell, who makes some strong criticisms about the vanity and danger of the intellectual class: they do [...]
yeah, he is kind of a hit and run sort. Likes to share the DNC/Huffpo points of the day, gets prickly when challenged, treats others with condescension and, as you say disdain- then acts hurt when called out. Well, he says he's a commodities broker. They create nothing. Makes sense…
Not to mention, using the possessive form "it's," when "its" would be correct. This is within the first couple of sentences.
I shouldn't even mention the interview, which looks like a late-night infomercial, based on the white guy's body movements, vocal emphases, etc.
I love Dr. Sowell. He's not the one causing the problems in this interview (or article).
Dr. Sowell is a gift to America. Thank you for featuring his views.
Would that this brilliant, plain-talking, clear-thinking gentleman run instead of BHO, to become the first African-American to lead us. We would be sooooo much better off, sigh.
Yes, please correct that. Such minor typos give the uberlibs all they need to ridicule what is otherwise a great video.
Brilliant man…
You've got to love Dr. Sowell. I bet he doesn't get too many dinner invitations from Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. I bet the NAACP isn't knocking down his door with speaking offers, either.
OBAMA, MSM, and his intellectual elitist appointees, should stop their criticisms of SARA PALINS, commonsense approachfor AMERICA future.
They should read DR SOWELL books instead of books on socialism,markist, and MAO theory. (RULES FOR RADICALS).
They think of theirselves as intellectual elitist, and would never bow down to common sense thinking.
History has proven , this kind of leadership will not prevail, and it willnot last the test of time.
The problem with leftist intellectuls
is the narcissism that accompanies their so called intellect. These people believe they are so smart that their ideas trump reality and when reality thwarts their ideas its always somebody else fault and of course not their own. The teenager analogy aptly applies.
So the "intellectual" view of mikeatollah is that the emails were stolen by a hacker and not divulged by a whistle blower? On what evidence do you base this opinion of yours?
Seems to me the whistle blower knew exactly what they were doing whereas a hacker probably wouldn't know where to start.
A talking encyclopedia cannot think outside of its programming either.
Improve your vision naturally!…
Thanks. Left you a trackback to help your readers improve eye vision naturally….
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