Ignorance is curable; stupidity is permanent and can get you removed from the gene pool (killed).
Education will not save you.
To simply know stuff does not mean you can apply it or use it.
I knew a man who could tell you anything you wanted to know about the bombing and navigational systems on a B-47; except what was wrong when it world not work, or even where to start looking for the problem. If the system would not work, he was completely lost. He had education he could not use.
He had the knowledge, but he did not have any understanding of what it meant.
He was completely lost when it came to applying anything he knew to anything in reality.
Billy, who came from New York, did not know what a hammer was and had never driven a vehicle.
He had very limited experience with anything outside of city life.
He joined the Air Force and was sent to school. He learned practical stuff, stuff that has a purpose and can be used to produce a useful outcome.
He learned to maintain a highly complex missile system with little to no trouble, and he learned to drive
Air Force vehicles, up to and including 5 ton trucks, well enough that I could sleep while he drove.
He could apply what he had learned.
Who was the more intelligent?
I have no idea.
Billy was useful.
The other man was the equal of a book in a library, except he could talk and a book could not.
Many years latter, around forty, I started going to breakfast with friends that were sailors.
The “Old Sailor’s Breakfast” (better known as the “Old Farts Breakfast”) met on Friday mornings.
I quit going in the fall of 2008.
The reason being, if you hang around fools you learn to be one.
Here are the characters.
Bob was self employed, he had a thriving business.
He complained about the economy.
He bought a new truck for his business that he did not really need.
He bought a THIRD camper for his lake property for his friends to use.
He bitched every Friday about the economy and those GD republicans and said he would never vote for a republican.
Imagine my surprise.
Margaret was retired and living on her inheritance.
She wanted me to “fix” her computer because it was running slow.
Fine, I take care of my friends.
I identified several problems, somewhere around one hundred seven.
She would not accept or even try my suggestions.
She thought a 12 pack of beer would compensate me for my time and a thirty mile, one way, drive.
Soon thereafter she sold her house in the country and moved to the city.
She sold a paid for, debt free, multi acre home with barn and pond in the country with no zoning restrictions for a normal house in the city with unbelievable zoning restrictions; she could not even change the trees in her yard.
She too bitched about the economy.
She also bitched about her eggs, no matter how they were cooked.
She was the most negative person I have ever met.
I do not recall her ever saying anything good about anyone.
Ron lived in a part of town that was not considered well off.
Some members of the “OFB” did not think much of Ron.
I like Ron.
He worked for everything he had; he took care of his family.
The others at the “Old Farts Breakfast” looked down their noise at him.
He was a way better person than they were.
Maybe that is why they thought so little of him.
Ron would help you without expecting any return.
He used the things he had learned.
I hope he got away from them.
James, Ron’s brother, worked with Ron.
I do not know what their arrangement was but Ron always bought their breakfast.
When I looked into James’ eyes, someone was home, he was aware of things around him.
I never heard him make a stupid or uninformed statement.
I never learned his story, but he lived alone.
Doc was an enigma, he really was a doctor, a gynecologist, and he had a CCW license.
He listened to NPR, and was a hell of a carpenter. Believed in the second amendment and liked beer.
I do not think he was a liberal. He exposed himself to liberal crap, but I do not think he believed it.
He was the best sailor of the bunch.
I do not know why he associated with them.
Mead is a lawyer; semi retired, and has a 1966 Thunderbird convertible that he will not sell me. I do not know why. I am worthy and would let him go for rides with me.
I do not know why he tolerates this club.
Even though he is a lawyer he knows crap when he sees or hears it.
Believe it or not that statement would make him smile.
(All lawyers can not be compared to catfish.)
There were others; an alcoholic in bad health that I did not know much about.
Two or three that only came sometimes.
Politics was forbidden, by Margaret, but anything Oprah had on her show was OK.
Anything technical or scientific was drowned out by most of them.
They refused to learn. You could say they were “invincibly ignorant”.
I think now that there were once many that stopped coming because of the ones I named.
Side note: these are inland sailors with sailboats of 28 foot or less.
Not important, just information.
The point being, no matter what you have learned; if you can not apply it or even use it then your education is completely meaningless.
You may as well stay ignorant.
If you have not been taught to think, or learned to think on your own, you will be forever at the mercy of someone else.
I go to breakfast at Cattlemen’s steak house in Oklahoma City seven days a week now instead of six days and one at OFB..
I find ignorance here too.
Let me state now that ignorance is not any kind of put-down. It is simply the lack of learning.
Truth is out there.
You can find it, but you have to look.
Do not trust anyone who has a vested interest in what you believe.
That means that if they can gain by what you believe, what they say may not be the truth.
Back to Cattlemen’s.
Recently a young waitress said about the dead birds that were found in various places was that they ran into things because they could not see at night.
She heard that on radio or TV news and just accepted it.
I asked her about owls who hunt at night.
I pointed out that even I could read by moonlight.
Birds see much better than we do.
Makes me think about an old commercial where an Indian cries when he sees litter.
Someone told me that was phony because Indians can not cry.
The things people believe because of the MSM/Hollywood are incredible.
What our democrat/liberal “leaders” say and do tells me they have no clue about anything real.
(I would say “propaganda”, but I am not sure they are that bright). But on second thought…
For grins and giggles, search for “Strawberry Surprise” by Mark Twain.
If you do not find it, let me know, I will give you better searches.
There are new things to be learned; but if you read history you will be surprised how much that you hear today is not new.
Searching for “strawberry surprise” gets me a bunch of recipes.
Here is a web site where you can read online.
The link goes to chapter 60 in “Life on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain.
http://www.readprint.com/chapter-9737/Life-on-the-Mississippi-Mark-Twain
Yep, plenty of well-educated morons out there. It is not worth it to hang out with such folk just to hang out with someone. They need to have their brain engaged at least part of the time.
Ignorant people claimed we went to Iraq to get their oil. These ignorant people failed to understand that oil is sold on a world market. The world market determines the price. The US and US companies did not benefit any more than any other country in the World by going into Iraq. Yet, even when confronted with how oil is priced and sold in the World today, they continue to believe the US went into Iraq to get their oil. These people are no longer ignorant; they have passed the threshold into stupidity.
The more people I know intimately, the more I find myself preferring the company of machines.
You may call this Asperger’s Syndrome.
I call it Bliss.
But you can’t fix stupid.
There is a reason I meet with my friends on a weekly or monthly basis.
As the saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss”. I believe many self-identified liberals willfully choose not to learn the truth about things. That way, their whole world isn’t turned upside down, and the assumptions they’ve made about various issues in relation to conservatives can continue on, treated as “fact”.
I don’t discuss politics with many people outside of this board. Most of them couldn’t tell you who the VP is, or what the 10th or 14th Amendments to our Constitution say. Sure, they know the 2nd Amendment, but invariably they tend to apply it wrong. They let emotions rule their thoughts, and if pressed, argue the indefensible.
The ignorance of the U.S. population as a whole is quite staggering at times, and unsurprising at others. The ignorance is perpetuated by a media institution that chooses to slant news and info based not on truth, but willful disinformation. Our country will never return to it’s conservative roots until the “press” becomes the watchful guardians at the gate of government, like they were at one point in our history.
Here’s what I learned from liberals:
George Bush never talked to me (forget the weekly radio show) but Obama does.
Calcium causes cancer.
Lipstick dries out your lips.
Bubonic plague in Afghanistan is caused by George Bush sending CIA agents with vials of the plague into the mountains.
Officers in the Navy dress up like Santa Claus at Christmas, knock on doors of any enlisted (late in paying their bills) and repossess toys of the children of the enlisted (This was supposedly in the NYT and must be right).
The micron size of a fuel filter does not matter. Just pick one with small holes, you don’t need to follow the OEM requirements. Small is small.
Because you went to Princeton, you can take a large boat across the ocean. (Just follow the pointy end.)
I am a Kennedy liberal (but when questioned… about knowing blacks), but I don’t have any black friends.
(Heard on NPR, while driving during the first Gulf War.) I am a nun during the week and on the weekend I kill people because I am in the National Reserve. Honest, I heard this.
(Also heard on NPR, while driving.) Transgender (males) have a horrible time because they can’t change their voice and they scare people. Relayed during a NPR interview by a blond transgender bus driver from California.
I don’t listen to NPR while driving anymore. Too dangerous.
I need to get in better shape, so I’m buying an architect’s table to replace my desk. That way I can stand instead of sit, when I’m on line. (This told me by a man who got stuck in a chair at a concert and could not stand for the encore applause. )
Do we really have homeless in our town? I never met any, but there are odd looking people under the bridges. Relayed by a liberal lawyer.
I’ve never been to Walmart, but I know it’s bad for the environment because that’s what I read in the NYT.
I now run in the opposite directions when I come across liberals.
Feel free to add to this list. Each statement above was REALLY, REALLY told me.
On a similar note. I am starting to see that people whom are not influenced by main stream media are probably under 5% of the population. Far as I’ve seen; even people who don’t watch/read msm are effected immensely just by association. I sold my TV a while back in hopes of buying a better one, then realized I get along fine without it, the internet is a much better source for info anyway.
I have learned to walk away mid sentence if I feel a conversation goes against my values, even if its with someone i like, many people find that rude but that’s there issue. Honestly I would rather be around someone who has a good work ethic, good values and a clear head whom I don’t get along with. In fact; for almost all of my friends; I hate to love em.
People have to realize they are ignorant before they can change, and that’s a tough process for all but the toughest of us. I am learning too! In fact I know now their are certain threads on FA which I will refuse to post on, because it just turns into s*** throwing at each other, yes that proves their is no excuse for ignorance in this day and age with the internet.
Great job Al Cooper!
I cried when I saw Indians mindlessly kill as many Caribou as they could without any intent of using them. Other than that I believe you have your feces coagulated.