Baltasar Gracian: go with the crowd?

No. 133

 "Better a fool with the crowd, than a sage by yourself;  the politicians say, that if all men are fools, no one of them can be counted such; wherefore the wise man who stands apart, must be a fool;  it is important therefore to go with the current:  the greatest knowledge at times, to know nothing, or to affect to know nothing; we have to live with others, and the stupid make up the majority; to live alone one must have within himself, either much of God, or much of the beast: I am strongly urged to turn this aphorism about and say: better wise with the rest of the wise, than a fool by yourself: still some find distinction in making  fools of themselves."


 

"Better a fool with the crowd, than a sage by yourself;  the politicians say, that if all men are fools, no one of them can be counted such; wherefore the wise man who stands apart, must be a fool;  it is important therefore to go with the current:  the greatest knowledge at times, to know nothing, or to affect to know nothing;"

Numerous politicians in a particular party today frequently begin their speeches by saying "While I'm no expert" or some such statement, and then go on to discuss a particular scientific issue and express opinions about something they have said that they know little about.  I have yet to see anyone point out the contradiction here.   But, to be fair, their opinions do demonstrate their ignorance, or supposed ignorance.  It is clear that Gracian's observations still hold true today.

These politicians, according to Gracian, then go on to say that   "we have to live with others, and the stupid make up the majority; to live alone one must have within himself, either much of God, or much of the beast:"

Of course these politicians never come out and say this publicly for they must flatter their followers into believing that they are the intelligent ones, for they are not blinded by study, knowledge, and research on a particular issue.  And, of course, it is hard to say whether these politicians are as ignorant as they seem to be or are pretending such ignorance or imbecility in some cases, as Gracian suggests, to maintain the support of their followers.  



Within the past few days, we have seen a governor show his support of a conspiracy theory that claims that the US Army plans to take over his state.  ISIS troops are stationed just outside El Paso, and when they invade, the US Army will use this as an excuse to take over the state.  Wal-Mart stores that were closed specifically for that purpose will be used to hold political prisoners.  To prevent this, the governor has now called out the State Guard to protect the citizens of this state from this invasion.  He has now gained the support of at least one of his party's presidential hopefuls.  Several others, no doubt, are waiting to see the results of the governor's actions.  If there is considerable support shown, they will join the chorus of fools.  If the overall reaction is ridicule and laughter, they will remain silent or even join in with criticism.

The question, of course, is whether the governor really is a fool who believes this or lacks the courage to stand up and say this is stupid and thereby possibly lose those whom he might consider to be his strongest supporters.   

Those of you who know this governor well can better answer the question than I can.

At the end Gracian here interjects his own opinion: "I am strongly urged to turn this aphorism about and say: better wise with the rest of the wise, than a fool by yourself: still some find distinction in making  fools of themselves."

Overall, I think Gracian presents strong evidence in support of the theory that human nature really hasn't changed that much over the centuries.  The issues may change, but a fool is still a fool and to gain the support of fools, one must act accordingly.

One for the History Books, Pt. 2

It seems as though, regardless of the winner of the Presidential race, a "First" will be made. We shall have either our first black president, or our first woman VP. Moreover, if I remember correctly, this will be the first time the Republicans have nominated anyone but a white male for the presidential ticket.

Sen. McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate will shake up a number of people, in both parties. Moreover, it gives the analysts more to dwell on ad infinitum from now until election. Then, there will be the endless discussions after the election of whether this helped or hindered McCain, regardless of the results.

I wonder how many Republicans will be happy with his choice. The brief account of her record suggests that she might be far more of a Republican maverick than McCain, who, although he claims to be an independent Republican, spent much of the past eight years, and especially during the primaries, attempting to prove what a good, trustworthy, conservative, Christian Republican he really is.

I also wonder what the Democrats are going to make of all this. Will some of Hilary's supporters, now doubly disappointed, desert the Democratic ticket in order to put a woman a "heart beat" away from the presidency?

We do live in interesting times.

One for the History Books

Greetings,

Regardless of what happens in November, the 2008 election in November will be an historic one, one that the experts will be talking about, writing about, and lecturing on for decades. For the first time in our history, a woman and a black man emerged as the two most serious contenders for the right to be the nominee for one of the major political parties. For the first time in our history, one of the two major candidates for president of the US will be a black man. And, it happened in the midst of a war, with worsening relations with much of Arab world and with Russia, and even with Europe, with an economy that is staggering along, with serious climate changes approaching, with housing prices plummeting, and with energy prices fluctuating almost daily.

What was that old saying about living in interesting times?

I doubt that I will live long enough to see it, but I would really like to read a book written some 20 or 30 years from now that discusses the events of this year-- perhaps one written in 2030 or 2040 when we have gotten far enough beyond the turmoil for a clearer glimpse at just what did happen and perhaps why it happened at this time.

I wonder if I will see a black president, or a woman president, or a Jewish or Hispanic or a Chinese or Korean or a Vietnamese or an Iraqi president one day, or the first openly homosexual president or the first Native American president?

We still have some distance to travel, I think.

Any thoughts?

Presidential Campaign--2008

I think the Obama campaign has just pulled off one of the slickest maneuvers of the race so far. This is a dead time in the campaign; little of interest to the press takes place because the two nominees are selected and the reporters and columnists can only do so much speculation about the V-P nomination. So, what can McCain and Obama do to keep the press interested and the headlines coming?

Obama goes on a world tour, that's what he does. He visits the hot spots in the world that Americans are most concerned about--Afghanistan and Iraq. After that, he goes on a tour of Europe and plans on making a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, just as a few other Americans have done, and some of them were even presidents.

Every visit he makes produces headlines, free of charge. Obama visits world leaders and speaks to large enthusiastic crowds. The press loves it. This sells papers.

And McCain? Well, he sits here alone, complains about all the attention that Obama gets, and attacks Obama on nitpicking issues--who said what about the time of the Surge? Did the Surge begin on one specific day or did it slowly come up to speed. And then he points out that Obama is wrong on Afghanistan, and Obama talks about sending more troops to Afghanistan, and wrong to talk about timetables for withdrawing from Iraq for that gives aid and comfort to the enemy. Meanwhile President Bush talks about sending more troops to Afghanistan. Then President Bush and the Iraqis talk about setting up time tables for withdrawing from Iraq.

McCain really can't do much except bite his fingernails and wish he had a plan to do something like Obama. But it's probably too late because convention time is coming. All he really can do is just wait for the conventions to come and go, and then he and Obama can really get down and have at it.