It's not just scholars. In the unhealthy environment of our Western societies, with so many perverse incentives, almost every single worthwhile endeavour has been parasitised by freeloading con artists. Medicine leaps to mind; science; politics; show business; scholarship; and even administration.
Degrees in baloney and "real" degrees based on garbage data are the norm. Critical thinkers are not promoted - they are removed in favor of groupthinkers and yesmen. We're living in the exact opposite of a meritocracy - the worst of the worst, the most incompetent, imbecile, worthless dregs are the most successful. Of course, according to THEMSELVES this is the best meritocracy ever. Only, their notion of merit has nothing to do at all with everyone else's.
(The other day Larry Johnson published an excellent critique of an astoundingly silly article, so hellbent on proving the impossible and out of touch with reality it got me wondering if the author was mentally sane and took his meds in the morning; Larry pointed out, with a certain surprise, that the author had serious credentials as in degrees from Oxford and Harvard. As it that would give credibility to a huge mass of manure. Me, I'd think Oxford and Harvard just proved their degrees are worth less than spit and they've become little more than overpriced diploma mills)
It's obvious to all rational people the political class in the West have no grasp at all of the real world. They're so detached from reality I actually they believe the bullshit they come out with. Is what we the citizens want to hear. Western journalism isn't journalism at all. It's copying & pasting the delusional powers that he's narratives. In the West today it's became a societies full of citizens who see their rulers gaining huge wealth from being completely idiotic. The results are the vast majority of people just think they just have to pretend they're working & that means they're entitled to a decent wage for just being there. They've got nothing to look up to or respect. People are saying it's the start of the collapse of the Western world. The Start? It's been going on for years now, it's accelerating at an unbelievable rate now that's the difference. The Chinese, the Russians, Indians are way ahead of the West on so many levels today. Through much better leadership, their quality of life and standards of living haven't just caught up in many cases. They far out strip the West. Where the middle classes are shrinking.
You familiar with the 5 stages of collapse by Dmitry Orlov? At this point in time, the West is pretty much in the middle of all five, except maybe financial... for the moment. Culturally, it has already collapsed years ago; there's no Western culture anymore at all, just rehashed crap designed by committee, nothing worthwhile ever being created, and let's not insist on the education as it is not even worthy of being called a joke. Socially, it's collapsed as well, devolved into dumb tribalism and exaltation of criminal lifestyles. Commercially speaking, well, we've already been seeing the signs: utility bills going through the roof, eggs priced as gold, high prices for housing paired with record foreclosures. Economically, the manufacturing sector essentially dead, high unemployment, major banks and companies surviving exclusively on government grants and bailouts. To put it bluntly, the West is thoroughly and utterly fucked, and the imbeciles in charge can and will only make everything worse.
Julian, check out this recent segment from 60 Minutes. This guy is a cold-blooded sociopath and the reporter does a terrible job (How about asking, "Weapons like this make senseless wars more likely. How do feel about that? Do you have any sense of moral responsibility?").
It's not just scholars. In the unhealthy environment of our Western societies, with so many perverse incentives, almost every single worthwhile endeavour has been parasitised by freeloading con artists. Medicine leaps to mind; science; politics; show business; scholarship; and even administration.
Degrees in baloney and "real" degrees based on garbage data are the norm. Critical thinkers are not promoted - they are removed in favor of groupthinkers and yesmen. We're living in the exact opposite of a meritocracy - the worst of the worst, the most incompetent, imbecile, worthless dregs are the most successful. Of course, according to THEMSELVES this is the best meritocracy ever. Only, their notion of merit has nothing to do at all with everyone else's.
(The other day Larry Johnson published an excellent critique of an astoundingly silly article, so hellbent on proving the impossible and out of touch with reality it got me wondering if the author was mentally sane and took his meds in the morning; Larry pointed out, with a certain surprise, that the author had serious credentials as in degrees from Oxford and Harvard. As it that would give credibility to a huge mass of manure. Me, I'd think Oxford and Harvard just proved their degrees are worth less than spit and they've become little more than overpriced diploma mills)
It's obvious to all rational people the political class in the West have no grasp at all of the real world. They're so detached from reality I actually they believe the bullshit they come out with. Is what we the citizens want to hear. Western journalism isn't journalism at all. It's copying & pasting the delusional powers that he's narratives. In the West today it's became a societies full of citizens who see their rulers gaining huge wealth from being completely idiotic. The results are the vast majority of people just think they just have to pretend they're working & that means they're entitled to a decent wage for just being there. They've got nothing to look up to or respect. People are saying it's the start of the collapse of the Western world. The Start? It's been going on for years now, it's accelerating at an unbelievable rate now that's the difference. The Chinese, the Russians, Indians are way ahead of the West on so many levels today. Through much better leadership, their quality of life and standards of living haven't just caught up in many cases. They far out strip the West. Where the middle classes are shrinking.
e start?
You familiar with the 5 stages of collapse by Dmitry Orlov? At this point in time, the West is pretty much in the middle of all five, except maybe financial... for the moment. Culturally, it has already collapsed years ago; there's no Western culture anymore at all, just rehashed crap designed by committee, nothing worthwhile ever being created, and let's not insist on the education as it is not even worthy of being called a joke. Socially, it's collapsed as well, devolved into dumb tribalism and exaltation of criminal lifestyles. Commercially speaking, well, we've already been seeing the signs: utility bills going through the roof, eggs priced as gold, high prices for housing paired with record foreclosures. Economically, the manufacturing sector essentially dead, high unemployment, major banks and companies surviving exclusively on government grants and bailouts. To put it bluntly, the West is thoroughly and utterly fucked, and the imbeciles in charge can and will only make everything worse.
Some of my friends would like to concur.
"There is no opinion so absurd that some philosopher will not express it".
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, "Ad familiares"
"One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool".
- George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism” (1945)
"This is one of those views which are so absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them".
- Bertrand Russell, “My Philosophical Development” (1959)
"The literate man is a sucker for propaganda... You cannot propagandize a native. You can sell him rum and trinkets, but you cannot sell him ideas".
- Marshall McLuhan, “The Education of Mike McManus”, TVOntario, December 28 1977
I'd like to add that it is impossible to make someone understand something, if his paycheck depends on NOT understanding.
Julian, check out this recent segment from 60 Minutes. This guy is a cold-blooded sociopath and the reporter does a terrible job (How about asking, "Weapons like this make senseless wars more likely. How do feel about that? Do you have any sense of moral responsibility?").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWEXnph1ElI