Mr. Carl Pham

I stole this off of Jonah Goldberg’s site from the comments section.  Mr. Pham was replying to a great article Jonah wrote regarding Confirmation Bias.  I thought this Individuals reply was clear and concise… easy to understand. And it goes a long way in explaining what has puzzled me for years, how can otherwise intelligent people subscribe to the Demonstrably worst Governing Theory the Planet has ever known?

I introduce you to Mr. Pham:

Carl Pham • 2 days ago (041214)

“Well, the problem with the leftist ideology is that even experts are likely to be more right than amateurs in very narrow circumstances. Id est, your car mechanic is more likely than you to know what that funny noise in the axle might be. But he is not more likely to know the best car for the money, or how to drive safely, or even whether this or that style of driving will make the engine last longer. (The engineer who built it will know that, but, conversely, probably not be tip-tip at diagnosing faults from signs and symptoms.)

Similarly, your English teacher can tell you whether your sentences are grammatically correct, but she probably has no clue whether your writing will sell. The mechanical engineer who designed a bridge can tell you whether it will stand up to X cars per day — but won’t be any smarter than you about whether there’ll be more or fewer cars following a three-day holiday.

And so on. The fact is, there’s no substance to the leftist prescription, because it’s only in very narrow circumstances that an expert’s opinion can be relied upon to be much better than a random concerned person, and you can’t stitch together all those narrow circumstances to come up with general guidance — it’d be like the old joke of five blind men who each touched a part of the elephant trying to describe the whole animal.

Of course, experts, like ordinary people, are very inclined to think they know more than they really do, so it is certainly possible to stitch together the advice of experts to get general guidance. That is the basis of the lefty religion.

It’s also what gave us global cooling in the 70s and warming in the 90s, the advice that butter was bad for you and margarine good, now reversed, and all the many other examples where expert consensus has been upended. It’s not that expert opinion isn’t reliable, it’s that the outer boundaries of its area of reliability are considerably smaller, as a rule, than the expert thinks.”

I have little to add here but Thanks to Mr. Carl Pham for his explanation.

Jonah’s full Article can be found here.  And, for full disclosure Jonah is one of my favorite authors… whether he is posting at National Review or Writing Incredibly insightful books.

Cheers.

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Obama meets the Omnipotent Paradox?

Such seems the Destiny of those who seek The Power of Control over Others.

There has been much talk lately that Progressive Liberals in both parties will take serious hits this Election cycle.  I, as you, have learned to not believe anything until it’s over… and it’s never over.  I will proudly remain a Cynic.  So I’ll reserve any hopeful prognostication as it has been 50/50 for me in the past.  But there is an interesting phenomena occurring before our eyes.

It appears that the Socialists in the U.S. have found themselves face-to-face with the Omnipotent Paradox.

By Creating and then placing Socialized Medicine before all other concerns they may be facing a Stone they cannot lift.

But let’s look at it from their point of view.

Single Payer, Government Run, Medicine is the Crown Jewel of Socialism.  And, considering they have achieved All of the other goals lined out by Marx, Lenin and their Fellow Travelers it makes sense everything else should be set aside in favor of installing and then protecting this Enormous Victory.  One must also weigh the level of success Leftists have enjoyed over the last 100-years to fully understand the confidence they exhibit.  Not only have they been able to reach every goal they set their sights on, but the “loyal opposition” has become the Concession Party… Opposition in Name Only.  Their supposed enemies are differentiated not by Ideology, but by the color of their Tie.

So… Why shouldn’t they believe they are Omnipotent?

Given this History, who wouldn’t “take the shot” to close the deal on a Socialist United States?  If I were a Marxist, I would…

The result, however, seems to have been the creating of something larger than the Progressives can control.  And they may be rethinking their Omnipotence and wondering if Hubris hasn’t raised its ugly head.

Obama Care, AKA the Affordable Care Act, is finding no quarter, in any Quarter.  In fact, it is fomenting the closest thing to a Pitchfork Rebellion the U.S. has seen.

Is The Forgotten Man learning, or re-learning, what this Country was Founded Upon and Why?

If so, it could be the beginning of the end for the Red Menace.  It could signal the unwinding of over 100 years of Progressive thought and code.

It might be the thread sticking out of the Ugly Sweater… waiting to be pulled.

The only question is Who is going to pull it?

It Certainly will not be the Democrats.

It Certainly will not be The Establishment Republicans.

So Who?

Let’s pretend Someone is Brave enough to pull it, will those pulling fall victim to Hubris resulting from a perception of Omnipotence?

They surely will if we grow complacent again…

Because we are All Human.

And I’m a Proud Cynic.

Drunk, but Proud.

Obamawood

No… I’m not talking about what a Liberal male gets when looking at a scantily clad Barack emerging from the surf.

What I’m referring to here is the merging of Hollywood Elitists and the Current Administration.

Since the 30’s there has been a close tie between the theater and politics.  Without going into too much detail it is safe to say that the relationship has continued to blossom over the last 80 years.  I personally believe the close ties to the Left in today’s acting community has more to do with accelerated wealth and the guilt that accompanies it than any real deep consideration of governing theory, but that should be left for another post.

What I want to talk about here is Hubris.  There is a mindset in Hollywood that they are the smart folks… the ones who tell you, the masses, what the world is really like.  In their minds, without them you wouldn’t know the evils in the world nor would you realize how racist, homophobic, self-centered and ignorant you are.

The above combined with a kind of ZEN they subscribe too from being in control of all of their stories.  After some time they begin to believe they are infallible.  It is no wonder they subscribe to Socialism.  As Hayek put it; it’s a fatal conceit.

Think about it for a moment… when you control the story your hero is always prescient.  He knows the right answer and makes it, if he doesn’t then “the universe” steps in and magically makes it for him in order that the movie can get to the 220 minutes required of a full length film.

This is the world they live in… there is not a single item, occurrence or result that is not planned… successfully.

Here’s the interesting part; they continuously attempt to project this super-planning power onto reality through politics.  They live in the same fantasy that other Socialist do in regard to “planning”, only on steroids.

This is the trap for fools…

The Obama Administration is seeking not just opinions from their large Hollywood donors, they are accepting direction.  There is not a single person in Hollywood who would turn down such an opportunity.

The President is running out of time.  He must come up with a message that resonates.  He is gladly embracing the ideas of Hollywood as demonstrated by the recent assistance given by Steven Spielberg regarding Bain Capital.  (whoops.) With a small amount of effort you can recall the many Stars he has solicited money and advice from Cloony to Damon and Affleck etc, etc.

You all should know that this is a good thing.  Living in a fantasy world is just that… a fantasy.  In the real world the actors don’t have all the right answers and the universe is as ambivalent as one would expect it to be.  No-one is waiting for the director to say “rolling” and the script writer is not on hand in case things don’t go the way you want.

The Obama Administrations marriage to Hollywood is perfect and I promote it.  It is exactly what he needs to do and ironically is a metaphor for Socialism and it’s guaranteed habitual failure.  But really, who else would you go to in order to promote the myth of Socialism than Professional Liars?

Cheers!