Ron Paul For President in 2008

[N-Syte]

@ Entroper

It’s a testament to your fortitude that you lasted as long as you did. Truthfully, I lost all hope that this thread would reach any constructive end days ago. So why have I hung with this futile pursuit? Maybe some of it is just morbid curiosity. But a greater motivation is my distaste for people who make flippant claims as if they are speaking under some aura of infallibility. Perhaps a little humility may be in order?

Maybe you would bear with me as I share an anecdote I came upon a while back?

A college professor who taught a course in writing would start the first class with each new group of students with the same assignment. He would write a quotation, Marx’s “religion is the opiate of the masses”, and then ask the students to write anything they wished about it. It was a simple assignment meant to sample the thought processes of each student through their response to a provocative statement. Before the students would start writing he would first ask the class who they thought the author was. Often times the deafening silence that followed was a tragic indictment of the educational system. But one year a young black woman guessed it was Martin Luther. After she answered, to his surprise, the class erupted in laughter. At first he didn’t quite understand why. Sure, she was wrong, but it was not such an outrageous guess. Martin Luther, after all, was a historical figure known for his statements regarding religious matters. He wondered what made her answer so laughable. But then it hit him when the student behind her reached his hand to her shoulder and said, “doncha know he’s on one your brothas?” The entire class ridiculed her because they thought she was referring to the civil rights activist. Both the woman’s answer and the conclusion arrived by the rest of the class were wrong, but there was one striking difference. The woman knew she was guessing and could possibly be wrong. The rest of the class, on the other hand, was so confident in their flawed assumption they would mock someone who gave an otherwise respectable guess. One was aware of her own ignorance, while the others were completely ignorant of their own ignorance.

It is that latter category that I have little appreciation for. The one who acknowledges the limits of their knowledge, you can have a conversation with. Bounce ideas back and forth and maybe both will be better for it. But that’s a rarity for people who will not even acknowledge what it is they do not know (Why, we have google! Nothing is beyond our ken! All those sites to reinforce our own preconceived notions. We’ll simply draw from each one like an arrow from a quiver and pray one of them shoots straight.) Trust me, it may sound nice, but staying “above the fray” while someone whips out whatever they can to make their point is not something I aspire to.

So you are correct. It’s really no longer a matter of defending a position, although I will do so along the way. My chief quarrel is with the lack of intellectual honesty brought to these discussions. It’s no longer a matter of learning from another. Is it unfortunate? Sure. But how else to deal with someone who’s only real goal is to “win”?

They are posers, and I don’t mind calling them on it. Ad hominem attacks? You betcha.

So I don’t blame you for losing interest. You’re smarter than I for doing so.