June 19, 2005
Scary, Scary Stuff
The blogosphere is full of writing. Some of it is quite good, mine for instance. Some is very bad, Daily Kos and Democratic Underground for example (very large grin inserted here...ed.).
Some of it is puzzling, some perplexing, some is thought provoking, some is nauseating, some is repugnant and some is just downright nasty.
But, dear and beloved friends, almost none of it matches this for sheer obtuseness:
"...now we're counting chickens before the eggs have even been laid... And when the chickens that didn't hatch come home to roost, we will rue the days when, misled by sloppy accounting and rosy scenarios, we gave away the national nest egg."
Did you get that? If you did, than you are either addled in the brain, or, you are Paul Krugman who wrote this amazing piece of garbage.
A tip of the GM Chapeaux to Donald Luskin of The Conspiracy To Keep You Poor And Stupid and to his reader Joe Lombardi who nominated Krugman for Luskin's Jason Awards
Posted by GM Roper at June 19, 2005 01:08 PM | TrackBackGM,
I don't know about Mr. Krugman, but I loudly tout FREE PUBLIC LENDING LIBRARIES. If someone wants the public to be poor and stupid, they sure are doing a lousy job. I metaphorically have to wade through information...on a daily basis.
You want to buy a better, safer car and do so cheaper? There is information - FREE - to tell you how. You want to buy a house, take a trip, go to college, make more money, discover the Great Masters, get a better doctor, compare the qualities of one dog over another, learn to speak Norwegian, French, German, Spanish, Cantonese, and the list goes on and on. Sure, very much of the information out there is false, or half-right, but since there is so much, one can compare.
When I speak to students, I often tell them NOT to believe what I say, but rather to go and check and re-check the facts for themselves. They should be "the captains of their own brains", so to speak.
If you are an idiot, you are probably slothful and unwilling to take a look at new information.
When asked about Asian-American (and I DO hate the hypen deal in our country) students, my students always state that they are really smart and study all the time. Hmmmm. Is there a lesson there?
My advice, though unsolicated, for Mr. Krugman is to print another book. The title? GET OFF THAT COUCH AND LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. IF YOU DO, YOU'LL NO LONGER BE POOR AND STUPID.
How about this, do you ever see violent criminals carrying around books? Sure, you can give me some exceptions, but I would argue that mostly people in the library are not going to be the ones you have to worry about, unless it is that they might take your job as they are becoming smarter than you....and I.
GM, Good work at throwing more common sense into the wind in hopes some will stick to those who seem to be lacking in same.
Posted by tad at June 19, 2005 01:48 PM
It's true what Tad says. In my view, a lot of people develop an aversion to reading in early schooling. They quite simply see reading as work. What a shame.
To not avail oneself of books seems to denote a real lack of curiosity of the world around them, and robs one of the ability to see that world through others eyes.
I couldn't imagine not taking a book along to while away the time while standing in ine at the bank, or sitting in the dentist's or barber's chair. Okay, it makes me seem a little weird. But, hey, I'm never bored.
Posted by jim hitchcock at June 19, 2005 03:40 PM
Count me in both Tad's and Jim's corner. Reading has been a stable pleasure since I was 5 or 6 and my parent's struggled with me to be able to read "The Wind In The Willows." If my parent's gave me nothing else, I'm so glad they gave me a love of reading and of fine literature (the escapist literature is my selection... ;-)
Posted by GM Roper at June 19, 2005 06:45 PM
G.M., for a while when I was a kid, "The Wind In the Willows" was my favorite book. Of course, today my favorite reading is "GM's Corner."
_____________________
What a nice guy. No wonder I like you.
Posted by Woody at June 19, 2005 11:37 PM
