Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Only the dumb people are on their side
Well, Rick Santorum finally said something I can agree with, that they'll never have the smart people on their side.
He's speaking here at the "Values Voter Summit" (as if the rest of us didn't have "values"), and he's right. They've only got the ignorant, the gullible, the dumb on their side. But he doesn't go far enough. He doesn't wonder why that is.
Of course, the Rick Santorums of this world will never consider the possibility that they could be wrong. Only smart people do that. The ignorant, the gullible, the dumb just follow along like sheep, convinced that their own beliefs must be correct.
I do object to his claiming "the family" for himself. But as he uses it, that's just code for superstition and bigotry, anyway. He's welcome to "the church" (but ask them which church and see the fighting begin.) And when he claims they'll never have the media on their side, he's just lying. One look at Fox 'News' will tell you that.
But he's right about the smart people. The smart people, the knowledgeable people, the rational people will never be on his side. That's because he's wrong.
You know, when you admit that you've only got dumb people on your side, you've got to be really dumb not to see a problem with that!
3 comments:
Jeff
said...
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
Rick has another problem. He assumes the church and family are the same for all people in all places. There are liberal families and even liberal churches.
What he's really saying is families like his and churches like his, should have the right to speak for all people and congregations.
It's really hard to speak for America because we really are quite diverse. Beyond anything any single person or group can imagine.
You're right, Jim. But for Rick Santorum and his supporters, theirs is the only real religion, the only real family, the only real America.
Right-wingers seem to lack empathy, almost completely. It's not a lack of compassion - at least, not exactly. They're just unable to put themselves in someone else's shoes.
They think that everyone else is a moocher, but they demand unemployment insurance when they lose their job. Hey, they've got a family to support! Well, so does everyone else.
And they're rightly upset when they get cancer and their health insurance company dumps them,... but everyone else just hates corporations.
They're angry when Christians face discrimination elsewhere in the world, but there's nothing wrong with discriminating against non-Christians here, because... well, Christianity is obviously the only right religion.
They end up being complete hypocrites, as well as astonishingly clueless about other people. I really can't understand it, myself.
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
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The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
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The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
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The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. ... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. - President Thomas Jefferson
To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
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3 comments:
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
― George Carlin
Rick has another problem. He assumes the church and family are the same for all people in all places. There are liberal families and even liberal churches.
What he's really saying is families like his and churches like his, should have the right to speak for all people and congregations.
It's really hard to speak for America because we really are quite diverse. Beyond anything any single person or group can imagine.
You're right, Jim. But for Rick Santorum and his supporters, theirs is the only real religion, the only real family, the only real America.
Right-wingers seem to lack empathy, almost completely. It's not a lack of compassion - at least, not exactly. They're just unable to put themselves in someone else's shoes.
They think that everyone else is a moocher, but they demand unemployment insurance when they lose their job. Hey, they've got a family to support! Well, so does everyone else.
And they're rightly upset when they get cancer and their health insurance company dumps them,... but everyone else just hates corporations.
They're angry when Christians face discrimination elsewhere in the world, but there's nothing wrong with discriminating against non-Christians here, because... well, Christianity is obviously the only right religion.
They end up being complete hypocrites, as well as astonishingly clueless about other people. I really can't understand it, myself.
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