September 22, 2006
ARE ANY OF GOD'S CREATURES LESS SELF-AWARE THAN THE INTELLECTUAL?
Even for Shoe Bombers, Education and Success Are Linked (AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, 14 Sep 2006, NY Times)
The fifth anniversary of 9/11 passed with a great deal of hand-wringing over all the people who want to kill Americans. Especially worrisome is the apparent rise of terrorists whose origins seem far from fanatical.
These terrorists are not desperately poor uneducated people from the Middle East. A surprisingly large share of them have college and even graduate degrees. Increasingly, they seem to be from Britain, like the shoe bomber Richard C. Reid and most of the suspects in the London Underground bombings and the liquid explosives plot.
This has left the public wondering, Why are some educated people from Western countries so prone to fanaticism?...
And sadly, it seems that educated and intelligent terrorists are better at doing that than uneducated, fundamentalist lunatics. Oh, that it weren’t so. Like the old advertisement said, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.He doesn't even know how right he is. Imagine the last 200 years without intellectuals. Posted by Pepys at September 22, 2006 3:32 PM
Heavenly.
Posted by: erp at September 22, 2006 4:43 PMOur German and Japanese enemies of old were not our enemies because they were unintelligent or uneducated.
Posted by: Lou Gots at September 23, 2006 5:45 AM
Lou, IMO intellectuals in today's world, no matter how intelligent and well educated, must be able to twist and contort their thinking to fit the leftist world view that truth is relative and feelings trump facts.
It follows then that nothing they say or do can be taken seriously. I believe that's why so much academic writing is incomprehensible and deliberately so.
Posted by: erp at September 23, 2006 10:04 AMAn 'intellectual' is not going to help anyone in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Iran, Myanmar, Russia, or North Korea (or New Orleans, for that matter). A Marine (or any other US serviceman or woman) is much better suited.
An 'intellectual' is not going to feed, protect, transport, salve, or even just sit with the suffering peoples of the world. But regular citizens will. The military will. Religious people will.
Posted by: jim hamlen at September 23, 2006 10:28 AM