Last Thoughts on John Kerry
Bookworm at Bookworm Room on Nov 01 2006 at 5:03 pm | Filed under: Feature Article, Politicians at Work
Today is turning into a ridiculously busy day, which precludes any deeply thoughtful blogging. (And anyone who is thinking snarkily that this fact makes today like any other day at my blog can just keep that thought to him- or herself.) I do want to take a minute to add one more thought to Kerry’s statement, and it’s a thought equally applicable whether he meant what he actually said, or he botched an anti-Bush joke.
Let me quote Kerry’s statement again:
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
What that remark does is conflate education and intelligence, something that should never be a given. Thus, Kerry’s statement shows a reflexive belief on the Left that academic achievement is the same as smartness. Or, at least, the same as useful smarts. In fact, we’ve all known brilliant people who don’t have a good education, and we’ve known plenty of damn fools who have achieved prominent positions in education (right now, Ward Churchill springs to mind, but I bet you can add to that list).
I’d rather have a brilliant plumber in my life, than someone who is a maven in UC Berkeley’s women’s studies department. The latter may have the high IQ; the former is an infinitely more useful person to know.
Others Bloggin on This Subject:
Michelle Malkin
Sister Toldjah
Un-Common Sense
RightWinged.Com
Kerry, anti-Bush, education, Iraq, Ward Churchill, Berkeley, IQ
