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I've been thinking about a post by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
atpo_onm last night in which he tries to demonstrate that a goodly number of people on the far right are crazy. I tend to look at the same data and come to the conclusion that they are just profoundly stupid. It's not that there is a big shortage of people on the left and in the middle who are also stupid. It just seems these days I have no patience with the stupid among the conservatives. Ah, you say these people can't be stupid. They have all the right degrees from the right places. (Okay, Rush Limbaugh went to S.E. Missouri State, not the greatest institution of higher learning on the planet. But I can tell you that I have cousins who went there, who got their degrees, and who neither show any signs of insanity or nor gross stupidity.) I have to say that I've known folks who've attended some of the great educational institutions of the world who've come out educated, but otherwise more or less brainless. It isn't just American schools that educate without improving wisdom. I've known people with grade school educations who were quite wise, and of course, those with the same level of potential, but minimal education who were an embarrassment to be around. I don't know if it's possible to train someone to both think critically and to actually use that skill in making judgements in their daily life. But for now it certainly seems that you can lead a child to school, but you can't make them grow up smart.
Speaking of education, I was thinking ofatpo_onm's post last night when I was watching Sleepy Hollow. It's not that the episode was particularly anti-historical. No, it was that it was typically anti-historical, that bothered me. Typical for Hollywood norm, I should say. In fact, being anti-historical in a fantasy show like Sleepy Hollow shouldn't bother me so much at all, but it did.
Some how after all the political nonsense of the past few weeks here in the US, my tolerance for spreading ignorance is pretty thin. It's as if artistic license had turned into artistic lice and the plague in the episode was really about the spread of mental typhus from our wonderful entertainment industry. Too bad a dip in a pool of knowledge doesn't instantly wash away all the intellectual dung that gets dumped on us from movies and TV shows all the time. But enough of that.
The episode was, I think, supposed to be about Abbie dealing with issues of faith. But is Abbie devoid faith before this? We have this kind of pseudo-Christianity pervading the show that Abbie accepts pretty quickly after Crane arrives in the first episode. I remember having some Jehovah's witnesses who came to my door that I decided to speak to (without making an ass of myself). There seemed to be a disconnect in everything that we discussed that came from the fact that I don't accept the Bible as proof of anything, let alone the word of God. They were certain, I think, that I didn't mean it, and that there really aren't people in the world who don't accept the Bible on faith and whose faith might lie in a different direction. Abbie, I think, has always fallen within their realm of understanding. She comfortably believes in the Bible as they would see it, just hasn't made the connection to God yet. So this episode is kind of about making that connection. So a very Protestant Christian episode that plays out in kind of a unorthodox setting. ;o)
atpo_onm last night in which he tries to demonstrate that a goodly number of people on the far right are crazy. I tend to look at the same data and come to the conclusion that they are just profoundly stupid. It's not that there is a big shortage of people on the left and in the middle who are also stupid. It just seems these days I have no patience with the stupid among the conservatives. Ah, you say these people can't be stupid. They have all the right degrees from the right places. (Okay, Rush Limbaugh went to S.E. Missouri State, not the greatest institution of higher learning on the planet. But I can tell you that I have cousins who went there, who got their degrees, and who neither show any signs of insanity or nor gross stupidity.) I have to say that I've known folks who've attended some of the great educational institutions of the world who've come out educated, but otherwise more or less brainless. It isn't just American schools that educate without improving wisdom. I've known people with grade school educations who were quite wise, and of course, those with the same level of potential, but minimal education who were an embarrassment to be around. I don't know if it's possible to train someone to both think critically and to actually use that skill in making judgements in their daily life. But for now it certainly seems that you can lead a child to school, but you can't make them grow up smart.Speaking of education, I was thinking of
atpo_onm's post last night when I was watching Sleepy Hollow. It's not that the episode was particularly anti-historical. No, it was that it was typically anti-historical, that bothered me. Typical for Hollywood norm, I should say. In fact, being anti-historical in a fantasy show like Sleepy Hollow shouldn't bother me so much at all, but it did. Some how after all the political nonsense of the past few weeks here in the US, my tolerance for spreading ignorance is pretty thin. It's as if artistic license had turned into artistic lice and the plague in the episode was really about the spread of mental typhus from our wonderful entertainment industry. Too bad a dip in a pool of knowledge doesn't instantly wash away all the intellectual dung that gets dumped on us from movies and TV shows all the time. But enough of that.
The episode was, I think, supposed to be about Abbie dealing with issues of faith. But is Abbie devoid faith before this? We have this kind of pseudo-Christianity pervading the show that Abbie accepts pretty quickly after Crane arrives in the first episode. I remember having some Jehovah's witnesses who came to my door that I decided to speak to (without making an ass of myself). There seemed to be a disconnect in everything that we discussed that came from the fact that I don't accept the Bible as proof of anything, let alone the word of God. They were certain, I think, that I didn't mean it, and that there really aren't people in the world who don't accept the Bible on faith and whose faith might lie in a different direction. Abbie, I think, has always fallen within their realm of understanding. She comfortably believes in the Bible as they would see it, just hasn't made the connection to God yet. So this episode is kind of about making that connection. So a very Protestant Christian episode that plays out in kind of a unorthodox setting. ;o)
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I think that the lack of any historical accuracy doesn't bother me at all because from the pilot on, my brain's way of accepting the premise of Sleepy Hollow is that this isn't our world at all, it's either an alternate universe, or a Matrix-like creation. If I don't do this, then I can't engage, because historical inaccuracy is frankly the least of the issues.
The same is true of any show where "magic" is present, or the weird science of a show like Fringe or even when the elements of actual earthly religions are taken to be literally real-- that is, god, angels, satan, etc. are "real". Once you are in the realm of fiction, I can cut a lot of slack as long as I am entertained in some decent manner.
As to the political sphere, in fact while I used the word "crazy" in describing Rush Limbaugh, what I actually believe is that he is anything but, and many of the other people whose words I quoted may very well be.
It all depends on the way one defines "stupid" or "crazy". The word stupid, to me, means lacking in intelligence or perceptiveness to a fair degree. And the truth is, most of us are stupid in some ways and perhaps quite intelligent or perceptive in others.
But one significant distinguishing characteristic of "stupid" is that one can learn. Even a very mentally limited person can often become wiser by observing and drawing conclusions based on accurate, objective evidence. Where the "crazy" comes in is being presented with such compelling evidence, and yet holding on to a belief or mindset that compels one to ignore or refute said evidence. George Orwell coined the term "doublethink" in his novel 1984, the ability to hold contradictory ideas in mind and simultaneously accept both as being true. While I don't recall any of the characters in the book stating so directly in their narratives, one assumes that Orwell considered this trait to be a form of psychosis.
So, is Rush crazy? I don't think so. Rush is in this for the money or the fame-- it's all about Rush. He's the radio pundit equivalent of an internet troll. Sarah Palin may be the same, or Glenn Beck. Donald Trump definitely is.
The other people? Harder to say, but I'm pretty sure there is at least some degree of psychosis present in many of them. And that they have some measure of real power over the running of this country-- that's pretty damn scary to me.
From:
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I was in bad mood when I watched Sleepy Hollow, and as I said in the post, I wasn't really fair unloading on the show which is a fantasy after all. But I think it is fair to say that the TV and movie industry has generally used artistic license get away with being sloppy and, yes, stupid, in a world where good facts are a few clicks away on the Internet. Why always make things up when usually the facts aren't going to interfere with your story at all?