tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post1144122649909761429..comments2024-03-28T04:52:18.318-04:00Comments on Borepatch: The Bonfire of the VanitiesBorepatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05029434172945099693noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-74283702870855604852012-06-28T05:49:50.794-04:002012-06-28T05:49:50.794-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-45809953386068446822012-06-26T18:30:59.884-04:002012-06-26T18:30:59.884-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-23611210371857071102010-08-10T05:27:21.383-04:002010-08-10T05:27:21.383-04:00You can give a simpler answer to this: Intellectua...<i>You can give a simpler answer to this: Intellectuals fall for the flattery because it makes them feel important. Never underestimate that. The need to feel needed is at least the second-most-powerful drive in the human psyche. </i><br /><br />And it makes them feel VIRTUOUS as well as important. Don't forget that part!<br /><br />BANG-UP post, Borepatch!Lissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17970856329586708087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-75514471961019455232010-08-10T00:25:03.368-04:002010-08-10T00:25:03.368-04:00Hello.I followed a link from Americandigest. I am ...Hello.I followed a link from Americandigest. I am so glad I did!<br /><br />I may de-lurk here and there,but for now I am off tothe older posts and archives to enjoy more.<br /><br />Thanks!<br />rsjrsjnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-3567813109172476582010-08-09T21:51:55.021-04:002010-08-09T21:51:55.021-04:00A thoughtful and well thought out post, and so tim...A thoughtful and well thought out post, and so timely.<br /><br />I am linking you to my zero traffic blog. Your essay here is the flip side to a coin toss I experienced the first half of over the weekend.<br /><br />Have a fine week.TmjUtahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07479506083401061662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-29475244079287711232010-08-09T18:51:04.196-04:002010-08-09T18:51:04.196-04:00Nice BP.
Seeing this unfold is akin to watching a ...Nice BP.<br />Seeing this unfold is akin to watching a motorcycle rider enter an off camber, decreasing radius, crowned turn at high speed. Both rider and observer are aware that something bad is about to happen. The observer notes that the rider is wearing shorts, no shirt, flip flops and a baseball cap in lieu of a helmet. The resulting crash and it's outcome surprise only the rider (briefly)who was certain that the world could not possibly go on without him and thus had a duty to protect him from the consequences of his actions. After all, that's only fair.Sixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05572583408046642437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-359430487876766212010-08-09T13:00:03.284-04:002010-08-09T13:00:03.284-04:00They are smart, but only by their own definition. ...They are smart, but only by their own definition. Relate this to the coming higher education bubble. The intellectual elites are proficient in studying and mastering subject that only they think are important. It's part of the vanity, none of them would lower themselves to studying say chemical engineering, or computer science. <br /><br />Coming out of school with no real marketable skills, they decide to create a market and thus end up being "community organizers" and "advocates". Where they generally excel at sucking at the teat of the taxpayer, but not really producing. <br /><br />Recently one of our back office flunkies left to seek greener pastures. After two years of "saving money" by making the purchasing process incomprehensiively byzantine, he decided to go to work for a "non profit". <br /><br />My comment to him was, "I have a feeling that any organization you went to work for would become a non profit." was met with lot's of laughter. But not from him. <br /><br />The reason that Stalin and other dictators send them off to be shot is that they it's less trouble and expense than keeping them alive. <br /><br />Oh, it also shuts them up.TOTWTYTRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17221321904364051792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-49256104236848958732010-08-09T10:28:17.499-04:002010-08-09T10:28:17.499-04:00Sorry that I need to be anonymous 'in public&#...Sorry that I need to be anonymous 'in public' here. But Borepatch, your post was inspirational. It made me remember the dinner parties.<br /><br />Like the one where we were all sitting around of a waning summer's evening somewhere in Massachusetts, with the kids laughing and playing on the lawn around us. RomneyCare was not a done deal then, not a sure thing. Somebody asked a prominent, long-time theorist for 'health care reform' present whether RomneyCare had a chance of passing, and what it would do. His answer was essentially that it was not nearly enough, but 'the best we will probably do', given the 'politics'. And all nodded wisely, ruefully; which is to say, even if, by some miracle, it passed, it would only be a half-measure towards the dream.<br /><br />That night, it was beyond imagining that this quest for 'justice', if 'successful', would have negative consequences -- except where the necessary ugly political wrangling would require the actual legislation to not fit the dream perfectly.<br /><br />It was beyond conception that anyone there would experience fear, negative personal consequences, loss of a job, or even shame, for conceiving, and advocating for, this wonderful dream for all of us. The predominant mood was that of warriors who had worked so hard, and now, there was a chance in hell that a tiny sliver of the dream would come to fruition, though probably not. The forces of injustice and lethargy were probably just too strong. RomneyCare, that tiny half-way station on the way to true justice in healthcare for all, would probably never see the light of day. You could almost feel the collective sigh. Ah well. The Red Sox had won a Series after 86 years, but health care reform would always, always, break our hearts, always ruin our summers.<br /><br />And so we sat in the darkening twilight, the children starting to quiet as it grew darker, drinking our drinks, wondering how long we had before the mosquitoes came out in earnest, Don Quixotes all, united quietly, circumspectly, against The Man. And soon we'd pile the kids in the car, collect the dishes from the potluck, and drive home in our aging Volvos, and get up the next morning and go back to our tiny offices and our tiny grants that would run out in another six months unless that new proposal hit, and do our little bit for justice.<br /><br />That's how it was.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-72698131614903537802010-08-09T09:28:08.187-04:002010-08-09T09:28:08.187-04:00Excellent post! Do you think that one other reaso...Excellent post! Do you think that one other reason the Intellectuals ended up in gulags and such was because they were so darned irritating that they just had to be removed from society??Midwest Chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17296327673871169304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-60378677000242489842010-08-09T09:12:36.627-04:002010-08-09T09:12:36.627-04:00"The Dinosaurs sniff a change on the wind, an..."The Dinosaurs sniff a change on the wind, and roar their defiance."<br /><br />I love that line- it pretty much describes the big picture. <br /><br />Well said.doubletroublehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04378163493817522427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322916946732811685.post-91069451712799129852010-08-09T07:39:30.450-04:002010-08-09T07:39:30.450-04:00Nice post, Borepatch. I see nothing to disagree w...Nice post, Borepatch. I see nothing to disagree with, and only a couple of things I would add.<br /><br /><i>So the answer to Reason's question is quite simple: it's a cheap appeal to vanity. The more interesting question is why do Intellectuals fall for this so often?</i><br /><br />You can give a simpler answer to this: Intellectuals fall for the flattery because it makes them feel important. Never underestimate that. The need to feel needed is at least the second-most-powerful drive in the human psyche. <br /><br /><i>But apply Sowell's maxim - they are not held accountable for their failures - and you start to see the inevitability of the direction:</i><br /><br />First rule of human behavior: <i>When you reward a behavior, you get more of it. When you punish a behavior, you get less of it.</i> <br /><br />Second rule of human behavior: <i>Absence of an expected punishment is itself a reward; absence of an expected reward is itself a punishment.</i><br /><br />For entirely too long, we have not punished Intellectuals who screwed the pooch. It's no wonder that they can't even tell when they've screwed up anymore.wolfwalkernoreply@blogger.com