Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
I was looking for this thing I said, I asked Google about it…I was expecting to be taken to The Best Quotes of 2009, of which I snagged the #11 spot…but I ended up being led to Yahoo! Answers. To my surprise, I must say.
What do you think of this quote?
‘Intellectualism has become the readiness, willingness and ability to call dangerous things safe, and safe things dangerous.’ — Morgan Freeberg
One of my former co-workers was amused by this reply:
Considering Freeberg is a Zionist, Military Industrial Complex advocate, it would make sense that she would put down those who might question the integrity of the actions of her type.
Boy, those Ron Paul fans. Nobody can ever accuse ’em of hurting themselves jumping to conclusions. Yeah, Mom wanted me to be a girl, but it wasn’t in the cards. Don’t know about the “Zionist, Military Industrial Complex advocate” thing…I do like the smell of scorched gunpowder on a Saturday morning. But I’m supposed to be Jewish or something? Sorry, baptised Presbyterian…couldn’t do the Zionist thing…bacon’s yummy. Although I do appreciate Topol’s performance in Fiddler On The Roof. Then again, who doesn’t?
But my favorite reply was this:
It means that Morgan Freeburg is not smart enough to understand the conversation. Which infers he is also not qualified to determine what is dangerous, and what is safe. Furthermore, he wants to maintain the status quo because he feels safe here or there if he means going back to the time of his imagined youth.
Hah! So the quote calls out the intelligentsia as a bunch of schoolyard-level arguers, who are trying to sell dangerous things as safe and safe things as dangerous, simply by elevating themselves to the level of “intellectualism” and calling anybody who doesn’t agree, stupid. Like a third-grader. And this yokel responds by…well, the first thing he does is prove the point absolutely true, since he knows not one single thing about me but has figured out I’m “not smart enough to understand the conversation.” Misspells my name when it’s right in front of his stupid face. Misuses the word “infers.” And then garbles the last sentence in such a way…well…it’s really not worth my time or effort to figure out what’s missing from that, I’ll leave it to the Microsoft Word grammar checker. Not my job.
But all this before the issues have even been defined. And I have the feeling that the guy who originally asked the question, was looking for something just like this.
I’m also partial to “More fear mongering from the right wingnuts is what I think.” Holy cats, lighten up dude.
For the record: It’s now been two years, plus a couple months since I said it…on the occasion of the Fort Hood shooting. My long-term memory is showing some signs of age, and is no longer infallible assuming it ever was. But as far as what I had in mind, I think the “calling dangerous things safe” had to do with Islamic weird-beards and Jihad bullshit and Saddam Hussein. You’ll notice our “intellectuals” have been pretty consistent in lecturing us that we have nothing to worry about there…and none of them have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, in terms of substantiating such reassurances to us. Just whistlin’ dixie, as they say.
And the “calling safe things dangerous” would be carbon in the atmosphere. Oh, yes, if you have one of those powerful, capable minds, you’re grousing away like Chicken Little about what’s going to happen to Mother Earth…probably driving a huge truck that gets four miles to a gallon, but who cares what you do, listen to what you say. That makes you an intellektshewel.
To borrow a favorite catchphrase from our current President — Let Me Be Perfectly Clear. This is a lamentation. The “has become” is intended to be a sad commentary on where we have taken ourselves. Our intellectuals, almost by the very definition of the word, have become people who are no longer attached to the necessity of living in reality. No, think on this carefully: What does Paul Krugman have to lose, personally, if he is wrong about the effects of stimulus spending? Not one thin fuckin’ dime. Well forgive me for saying so, but that’s why he has the opinions he has — he can afford to. He labors under no necessity of being right, feels no incentive to be right, doesn’t see the point. So he just spouts.
The architect who designs a five-story building, and then walks on the top floor when it’s all built, ready to tumble forty feet if he made a calculation wrong — he lives in a completely different world. Did you see Atlas Shrugged Part 1? Remember the train ride, minute after minute…you were probably wondering what the fuss was about. Well, read the book, there’s like a two or three thousand word essay surrounding nothing but the dumb ol’ train ride. I’ll tell you what that was about: If something wasn’t done right, the people indside the train woulda been dead before they knew what hit ’em. But…they knew it would be okay. Why? Because they had faith? No, because they worked within a web of trust. They knew what worked and what didn’t work. They weren’t “intellectuals.” They lived in a world where things worked or else they didn’t work. So they made their decisions out of logic, reason, and common sense; and their victory ended up being everybody else’s. It has been ever thus.
These “intellectuals” will never see that world, and they don’t want to, because they know they aren’t ready for it.
A man has no use for nature’s reality, when he’s been busily creating his own.
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