Friday, November 22, 2013

Smartness protip

Hang out with people smarter than you.  Shut your pie hole.  Listen.  Stifle the urge to be sarcastic, and listen.


Repeat until you think you're smart.*

Fortunately, there's an easy way to do this.  Go to Youtube.  Type "Christopher Hitchens gun control"** into the search bar.  Watch what comes up.

Repeat until you think you're smart.*

I don't by any stretch of the imagination think that Hitch was right about everything, and I expect that if you confronted him with this idea (over Martinis, 'natch) he would have laughed.  The point isn't about being right or wrong.  The point is thinking. Few people have made me think so much as Hitch did.  Maybe Tam and Sabra.

But if you want to challenge yourself intellectually, he's not a bad start.  His discussion about Thomas Paine is maybe the best intro to the American Revolution that I've heard.  Newt Gingrich is maybe the secondHitch and Newt together is not to be missed.  Repeat until you're smart.*

* When you think you're smart, contemplate Socrates' reply when told that he was the wisest man in Greece.

** The mention is brief, at about 25 minutes into the discussion.  It's actually good advice he gives, which I would translate as "don't scare the white people".

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