Thomas Sowell on Drudge and Geraldo

[SassyLady]

Thomas Sowell always has the ability to say something powerful and rational with such simplicity and eloquence.

Some have said that we are living in a post-industrial era, while others have said that we are living in a post-racial era. But growing evidence suggests that we are living in a post-thinking era.

Many people in Europe and the Western Hemisphere are staging angry protests against Israel’s military action in Gaza. One of the talking points against Israel is that far more Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli military attacks than the number of Israeli civilians killed by the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel that started this latest military conflict.

Are these protesters aware that vastly more German civilians were killed by American bombers attacking Nazi Germany during World War II than American civilians killed in the United States by Hitler’s forces?

Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera says that there is no way Israel is winning the battle for world opinion. But Israel is trying to win the battle for survival, while surrounded by enemies. Might that not be more important?

Has any other country, in any other war, been expected to keep the enemy’s civilian casualties no higher than its own civilian casualties? The idea that Israel should do so did not originate among the masses but among the educated intelligentsia.

In an age when scientists are creating artificial intelligence, too many of our educational institutions seem to be creating artificial stupidity.

It is much the same story in our domestic controversies. We have gotten so intimidated by political correctness that our major media outlets dare not call people who immigrate to this country illegally “illegal immigrants.”

Geraldo Rivera has denounced the Drudge Report for carrying news stories that show some of the negative consequences and dangers from allowing vast numbers of youngsters to enter the country illegally and be spread across the country by the Obama administration.

Some of these youngsters are already known to be carrying lice and suffering from disease. Since there have been no thorough medical examinations of most of them, we have no way of knowing whether, or how many, are carrying deadly diseases that will spread to American children when these unexamined young immigrants enter schools across the country.

The attack against Matt Drudge has been in the classic tradition of demagogues. It turns questions of fact into questions of motive. Geraldo accuses Drudge of trying to start a “civil war.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/is-thinki...FAhkBiTcfFB.99

[Drummond]

Thomas Sowell always has the ability to say something powerful and rational with such simplicity and eloquence.

Excellent post, great points made !

That Israel isn't getting far more international support is an outrage, in my opinion. BUT, the Left in various countries, including my own, has been going into overdrive to push the 'Gazans are victims of Israeli brutality' line for all they're worth. Here, the Labour leader (Socialist), Ed Miliband, has publicly attacked our Prime Minister for not speaking out far more in favour of Gaza .. with the effect that Cameron has been stung into starting to make 'We abhor what Gazans are suffering' noises.

As I type, BBC Radio 4 is announcing a Government resignation, Baroness Warsi, who's resigned in protest at the Conservative Party's lack of overt support for the Gaza side. I've just found this ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28656874

Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi has resigned from the government, saying she can "no longer support" its policy on Gaza.

She wrote on her Twitter feed that she was leaving with "deep regret".

Lady Warsi, who was previously chairman of the Conservative Party, became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when David Cameron took office in 2010.

She grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a solicitor before entering politics.

Lady Warsi was demoted from the cabinet to a middle-ranking Foreign Office post in 2012. She was made minister for faith and communities at the same time.

She wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza."

London Mayor Boris Johnson, a fellow Conservative, told LBC Radio he had "great respect" for Lady Warsi, adding: "She has done a great job for us and I hope she will be back as soon as possible."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it was no "secret" that there were different opinions over Gaza within the government and that Lady Warsi had "strong views" on the subject.

'No justification'

One of five daughters of Pakistani immigrants, Lady Warsi studied at Leeds University, later working for the Crown Prosecution Service before setting up her own legal practice.

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July with the stated aim of ending rocket attacks and destroying tunnels used by Palestinian militants.

Gaza officials say the four-week conflict has killed 1,800 Palestinians. Some 67 Israelis have also died.

Lady Warsi has called on Twitter for more international action to end the crisis.

On 21 July, she wrote: "The killing of innocent civilians must stop. Need immediate ceasefire in #Gaza. Leadership required on both sides to stop this suffering."

Three days later she added: "Can people stop trying to justify the killing of children. Whatever our politics there can never be justification, surely only regret #Gaza."

Backbench Conservative MPs have been calling on David Cameron to take a more robust line with Israel amid concerns its actions are disproportionate.

Presumably she requires Israel to stop its actions until Hamas has managed to kill an equal number of Israelis ... 'because it's only fair' ....

What say you, Jafar ? Do you require the death tolls to be equalised ?

[tailfins]

Some have said that we are living in a post-industrial era, while others have said that we are living in a post-racial era. But growing evidence suggests that we are living in a post-thinking era.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/is-thinki...XwwCixhcLcd.99

http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/is-thinking-now-obsolete/

[Little-Acorn]

People who act without thinking, form the backbone off the U.S. Democrat paty. For that reason, the Democrats work to promote that tendency as hard as they can.

It's the most destructive trend that has ever been unleashed in the United States. Worse even than slavery, worse than taxation without representation.

[Drummond]

This is the second thread I've seen on this article. Also see, courtesy of SassyLady ....

http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthre...633#post697633

[DLT]

http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/is-thinking-now-obsolete/

At the risk of sounding like a hyper-partisan rightie hack (lol)......

thinking has always been over-rated, under-utilized and obsolete to lefties and especially to leftist Democrats....hehe. (yeah, I said it)

[Gaffer]

At the risk of sounding like a hyper-partisan rightie hack (lol)......

thinking has always been over-rated, under-utilized and obsolete to lefties and especially to leftist Democrats....hehe. (yeah, I said it)

Your going to get along very well here.

[SassyLady]

Thomas Sowell is probably the most rational person I've come across. Everything he writes is spot on.

[Drummond]

At the risk of sounding like a hyper-partisan rightie hack (lol)......

thinking has always been over-rated, under-utilized and obsolete to lefties and especially to leftist Democrats....hehe. (yeah, I said it)

How very true !!

In my experience, they substitute for intelligent thinking by enslaving themselves to a preferred propagandist stance, which they then don't stray from, as if their lives depended on it. If challenged on it, they either ignore the challenge or start 'rubbishing' the challenger .. not the challenge itself.

Anything rather than face realities they'd rather not face, which they remain willfully blind to.

Another is that they rely on the extent of support they can cite for their propaganda (if it exists) as 'proof' that it must be valid. It's the sort of approach that could lead to people believing that the Moon is made of cheese, for example, or that (.. this is REALLY stretching it, admittedly ..) Socialism is reputable !!!

Yet another is to wrap nonsensical arguments in semi-baffling terminology. This is to make the listener believe that said Leftie is hyper-intelligent and therefore 'must' know what s/he is talking about. [I recall a party I attended once where a Leftie tried that on me ... a stream of total gobbledegook .. I just walked away from the individual in the middle of it ..].

Lefties have their entertainment value. But other than that, I don't see the point of the nonsense they buy into. Any political philosophy HAS to be in tune with human nature, and able to serve it, in order to work and to do good. Socialism defies it, in spades ....

[fj1200]

In my experience, they substitute for intelligent thinking by enslaving themselves to a preferred propagandist stance, which they then don't stray from, as if their lives depended on it. If challenged on it, they either ignore the challenge or start 'rubbishing' the challenger .. not the challenge itself.

Irony: Clearly not obsolete.

[Drummond]

Irony: Clearly not obsolete.

Hah ! See something in the description that you recognise, FJ ?

But I fail to see what you're driving at. My point was, and is, that such tactics and behaviour takes the place of actual THOUGHT. Lefties have to rely on tactics and forms of games-playing as substitutes for real, bona fide THINKING, because otherwise, actual THOUGHT would expose them to truths and realities that would clash with their preferred beliefs and propaganda initiatives.

[fj1200]

Hah ! See something in the description that you recognise, FJ ?

But I fail to see what you're driving at. My point was, and is, that such tactics and behaviour takes the place of actual THOUGHT. Lefties have to rely on tactics and forms of games-playing as substitutes for real, bona fide THINKING, because otherwise, actual THOUGHT would expose them to truths and realities that would clash with their preferred beliefs and propaganda initiatives.

Yes, I recognize practically every post you make. My point was your insistence that what you present is the result of actual thought when it's nothing more than rote posting.

[Drummond]

Yes, I recognize practically every post you make. My point was your insistence that what you present is the result of actual thought when it's nothing more than rote posting.

???????????????????

You're accusing me of being a Leftie, then ? If so ... you're being patently absurd. It's very clear to the forum as a whole that I'm no such thing.

As for 'rote' posting ... again, you're being unclear. You object to my ever repeating what I post ?

To the extent that's even true .. well, a good point IS a good point, well worth repeating when circumstances call for it. For example: when arguing with a Leftie, one sometimes has to repeat oneself several times to even get said Leftie to acknowledge what they'd much rather NOT acknowledge.

... Since Lefties habitually don't think ... one has to compensate, you see ...

Then again, perhaps part (or all) of what you object to, is my repetition of others' thoughts ? Such as, for example, those recorded of Margaret Thatcher's ? Well ... you may hope I'd 'apologise' for doing that. BUT, I'm afraid I'll do no such thing. All too often, Lady Thatcher's thinking and principles outclass anything else out there .. and that includes myself.

[Lemongrass Gogulope]

I am a liberal and I don't recognize myself in any of these generalizations. But, on the upside, I don't like the people you described either.

Oh and I think though that someone needs to come up with an expression similar to "The Godwin Card" for when someone claims something is "worse than slavery." Stating that is really self-marginalization of the point you're trying to make.

[tailfins]

Yes, I recognize practically every post you make. My point was your insistence that what you present is the result of actual thought when it's nothing more than rote posting.

One telltale sign of thoughtless posts is a lack of action items and unwillingness to conduct experiments. Any idiot can sit there and complain.