"Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of facts." -- Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918), American historian, writer Focus on Education
Commentary
Excerpt from a letter to a friend:
A person is not define by age or what he or she
does or the position that one holds in society. Such is the prerogative of
the ego.
We fall into the identity trap when we place labels
on people. This tendency can lead to major problems of perceptual distortions
and misinformation as we often witnessed throughout the history of the
race. For example, because the experts of the day attested that the world was
flat, people buy into this false notion for thousands of years. Similarly, the
great carpenter from Galilee was only an uneducated peasant among the
scribes and Pharisees of the day. Because he was not a so-called trained expert
on religion, his words carried less weight among the learned men and women of
his time.
History is full of mad men and women who ruled with
impunity and massive authorities, not necessarily because they were intelligent
but because they were born into families that aspired to leadership, merely
by the incidents of birth into particular bloodlines.
The same thing is true in areas of the art,
science, industry and every facet of living:a musician who never
studied music is perceived to know more about the subject than his or her
audience. Similarly for sport commentators:we assume that commentators who
were once athletes in a particular field of sports are suppose to know or know
more than the people who never played and so we rely on them for expert
opinions.
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At the other end of the spectrum are the university
trained experts in any field of endeavor:lawyers, doctors, scientist,
engineers, psychologists, sociologists, economist, philosopher, linguists etc.
We group these people according to their titles, void of personalities or levels
of competence:a doctor is suppose to be this and a lawyer is suppose to be
that and so on. We assume that they are all experts and knowledgeable in their
fields of endeavor without provision for the truly gifted or genius vs. those
who merely crammed for their exams without consideration for critical analysis
and lateral thinking or even the capacity for appropriate and intelligent
recall.
We cannot pick up a book or newspaper today without
a quotation from a so-called expert rendering expert opinion on a particular
subject were no true expertise exist. We come to rely on the university trained
individuals in various fields of endeavors for our stock of knowledge and
guidance, not necessarily because they are knowledgeable about a particular
subject in the current evolving sense but because they have titles that suggest
that they are experts in the area of interest. This is one of the most dangerous
of the identity traps, one that is often responsible for:
- the errors of
war
- the jailing and killing of the innocent based on
expert opinions
- faulty information presented as facts or believed
to be factual leading to major calamities or public waste
- faulty equipment leading to calamities with
designs based on foolproof expert theories
- waste of the human potential because some expert
say something can't be done
- etc.etc, etc he list is endless.
Please read me well, I too often label others
but I place little significance in the exercise other than to bring clarity to a
particular situation or as a matter of linguistic convenience. And
I'm not knocking the real experts of our times or of any age. All I'm saying is
that the true champions of our race are not only known by what they do or say but
also by what they are and have become. Futhermore, while it is good to establish them, credibility, titles, experience and even personal integrity are not enough; one must also be able to discern truth, persuade and make pragmatic sense.
Getting back to the romantic readings:the third
writing is definitely my embrace. Ageless, timeless, birthless and deathless are
the only labeled that truly define who we really are on this
planet.
Guidance
Danny
Quotes on Humorous Social Commentary
"With Congress, every time they make a joke it's a law, and every time they make a law it's a joke."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"We are all here for a spell, get all the good laughs you can."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"I traveled a good deal all over the world, and I got along pretty good in all these foreign countries, for I have a theory that it's their country and they got a right to run it like they want to."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"I don't make jokes--I just watch the government and report the facts."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"There is good news from Washington today. Congress is deadlocked and can't act."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Everything is funny as long as it is happening to some one else."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"The fellow that can only see a week ahead is always the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope but he can't make anybody believe that he has it."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"The best doctor in the world is a veterinarian. He can't ask his patients what is the matter - he's got to just know."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"We have the best Congress money can buy."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Every man is ignorant - just on different subjects."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
"So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Never let yesterday use up too much of today."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"The man with the best job in the country is the Vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, 'How's the President?'"
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"It's not what you pay a man, but what he costs you that counts."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"I can remember way back when a liberal was one who was generous with his money."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Live your life so that whenever you lose, you are ahead."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
More about the author
"Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
"If any of us had a child that we thought was as bad as we know we are, we would have cause to start to worry."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
"The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation. I never yet talked to the man who wanted to save time who could tell me what he was going to do with the time he saved."
-- William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (1879-1935), American humorist noted for commentary on American society and politics
"God's people have no assurances that the dark experiences of life will be held at bay, much less that God will provide some sort of running commentary on the meaning of each day's allotment of confusion, boredom, pain, or achievement."
-- David Wells
Source:Http://www.quoteworld.org
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