OgreMkV
Posts: 3668
Joined: Oct. 2009
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| Quote (deadman_932 @ Oct. 27 2009,15:37) | | Quote (OgreMkV @ Oct. 26 2009,21:09) | | I'm really nervous about my kid ending up a smart, but second class citizen, because he is smart. |
THAT is a fascinating topic to me. It seems to me that in many cultures, "smart" is seen as a threat, particularly in the "West." It's seen all over the place, in the stereotypes and memes we use. Husbands in commercials are rock-dumb, women are "clever" but not smart, scientists are portrayed as nutty fuckers commonly. Smart seems to edge on madness in popular culture (and real life -- high-IQ people may well have a higher proportion of psychological issues by population percentages). At any rate, smart certainly appears to be threatening or scary in the popular view.
Contrast that to the "eastern" view of extolling early intelligence (youth) through to aged wisdom. There's something there that I can't quite put my finger on, but I think it may have to do with the peculiar trajectory that Eastern ancestor worship took, along with other factors. Maybe. I dunno, it's hard to get at such things. |
Hmmm... You see, I grew up with a form of ancestor worship. It wasn't really worship, but my grandfather was the man. He was like my own personal John Wayne. A very smart (both practical and book) man, very wise, slow to speak, slow to anger, always with time for explanations.
I have spent my entire adult life trying to not disappoint him (or his memory).
Compare that to the kids I used to teach. Average was 40% of their fathers were in jail. Another 20% did not know who their father was. Most (according to an informal survey) spent less than 30 minutes a day 'with dad'... meaning if they both watched the Simpsons, that counted.
Yet, evolutionarily, those are the people we're breeding for. I waited late for my one child. Some of my female students in high school already had 2, some of the males could point to 4 or 5 children as theirs.
When democracy is full of people like this, then the decisions of democratic leaders will not be optimal... for anyone. The power really is in the people, just in the wrong people.
* Please don't get me wrong. I am generalizing in a very broad way here. This is not meant to be disrespectful to any group, race, creed, or whatever. It applies to all of them.
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