tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post7601839348061874546..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: The Cult of Smart IIAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-80911371893103751152021-03-06T15:04:11.474-05:002021-03-06T15:04:11.474-05:00Actually only Reform and Liberal Jews were part of...Actually only Reform and Liberal Jews were part of the ingroup, and Conservative and Orthodox Jews have long belonged to the outgroup. Likewise, Jews were not "universally hated by the underclass"; it depended on the experiences of that particular underclass with local Jews. For Eastern European farmers whose mortgages was held by Jews and whose taxes were collected by Jews; there would be resentment sliding up to hatred. But farmers in the U.S. Great Plains whose mortgages were held by, and taxes collected by, fellow Christians might be indifferent to Jews.SJBChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03730062017267927696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-27272076239071752162021-02-22T19:43:34.926-05:002021-02-22T19:43:34.926-05:00dmoelling
The great 'might have been' in ...dmoelling<br /><br />The great 'might have been' in the Trump presidency is what would have happened had the Democrats taken Trump's offer to regularize the Dreamers in exchange for modest funding to repair/reinforce existing border barriers.Christopher Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00396671757183163171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-1393070059774947092021-02-22T19:39:07.356-05:002021-02-22T19:39:07.356-05:00@ Granite Dad - I was with you completely until th...@ Granite Dad - I was with you completely until that last sentence. Depending on the <i>de facto</i> definition of "needlessly," of course.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-60334284774171478402021-02-22T18:57:40.341-05:002021-02-22T18:57:40.341-05:00I attribute much of my workplace success to just b...I attribute much of my workplace success to just being generally genial and be willing to listen to folks. Also trying to find common ground with people goes a long way- coworkers, other departments, clients. It’s amazing to me the people who can’t master the skill of not arguing needlessly with your boss. GraniteDadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04851407860883846133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-83184710745364068202021-02-22T18:49:34.913-05:002021-02-22T18:49:34.913-05:00In the Parable of the Talents I noticed that he ca...In the Parable of the Talents I noticed that he carefully explains it to his readers. I wondered how many of his readers needed the explanation. <br />I didn't go through the comments--probably should have--I wonder how many thought of 1Cor 12, which is the first thing that comes to my mind when discussions of IQ and merit pop up.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-16194426916407777512021-02-22T18:17:19.108-05:002021-02-22T18:17:19.108-05:00All Donald Trump wanted was to be accepted into th...All Donald Trump wanted was to be accepted into the Manhattan real estate tycoon class. He tried hard but didn’t have the secret handshake. If the democrats had been smarter they could have won him over as the successor to the big union bosses of yesterday. The smart crew keeps the castle walls hoghdmoellinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13128088863830769762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-58218683909790370972021-02-22T18:01:49.868-05:002021-02-22T18:01:49.868-05:00Having hired a lot of people, and also fired a few...Having hired a lot of people, and also fired a few, I think it's important to note that a lot of things matter in the job world other than pure IQ-type smarts...not that that isn't important, of course. For example, resilience: if you're a sales rep and you can't recover from rejection, you're not going to be very successful; same true if you're an aspiring musician. Ability to keep it together in stressful situations: pretty important if you're a pilot or an air traffic controller (or an electricity or gas dispatcher!) or a member of a surgical team. Ability to interact with people and persuade them: important to an wide range of jobs. Courage, of many types, ranging from courage to start a new venture to courage to climb a wind-turbine tower. Physical strength and coordination, still important in many kinds of jobs<br /><br />The gating qualification for today's Credentialism is not only measured intelligence; there is also a large component of required conformity, as identified by all the hoop-jumping that one needs to do.<br /><br />David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-46879199548488071242021-02-22T17:43:39.865-05:002021-02-22T17:43:39.865-05:00He himself (Donald Trump)went to a medium-tier col...<i>He himself (Donald Trump)went to a medium-tier college and is probably closer in spirit to the small-business owners of the upper Labor class than to the Stanford MBA-holding executives of the Elite.</i><br /><br />Trump started at Fordham, definitely medium-tier, but he graduated from Penn, a member of the Ivy League. He didn't end up medium-tier.<br /><br /><i>And my hypothesis, stated plainly, is that if you’re part of the Blue Tribe, then your outgroup isn’t al-Qaeda, or Muslims, or blacks, or gays, or transpeople, or Jews, or atheists – it’s the Red Tribe.Correct.</i><br /><br />Correct, indeed. I didn't realize it at the time, but I began to turn away from the Blue/Liberal/Progressive Tribe in high school when I concluded that all of us form ingroups and outgroups. By contrast there has long been a strong tendency among the members of the Blue/Liberal/Progressive Tribe to believe that THEY are the tolerant, inclusive unbigoted ones. Tom Lehrer put it well in his patter before his National Brotherhood Week song: "I realize there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I HATE people like that."<br /><br />RichardJohnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07490819511630683969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-44889604296381071642021-02-22T17:20:27.692-05:002021-02-22T17:20:27.692-05:00He himself (Donald Trump)went to a medium-tier col...<i>He himself (Donald Trump)went to a medium-tier college and is probably closer in spirit to the small-business owners of the upper Labor class than to the Stanford MBA-holding executives of the Elite.</i><br /><br />Trump started at Fordham, definitely medium-tier, but he graduated from Penn, a member of the Ivy League. He didn't end up medium-tier.RichardJohnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07490819511630683969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-41496803649262550862021-02-22T17:07:05.258-05:002021-02-22T17:07:05.258-05:00Here's another way we're tying ourselves i...Here's another way we're tying ourselves into knots: we say it's wrong to equate IQ with merit, which is of course true in the same sense that it's silly to equate height or perfect pitch with spiritual merit. But that's not to say that we don't recognize that IQ, height, or perfect pitch can be awfully valuable traits that it would be a needless loss to society to disincentivize.<br /><br />Then we acknowledge that, if a trait is highly valued by a lot of people, they're going to exert much of their social and economic influence to get the benefit of the work or product that the trait makes possible, which will generally lead to the accumulation of wealth (expressed in money or social influence, but always some kind of wealth) by people who possess useful traits.<br /><br />Then we say it's unfair that some people have wealth and some don't, because everyone deserves to have a "good life."<br /><br />But we bitterly resist the notion that wealth is what defines a good life.<br /><br />OK, maybe wealth doesn't define a good life. Maybe people don't respond exclusively to financial incentives, and maybe they also respond to incentives like love and compassion and meaning and belonging. If that's so, then let's start showing how much we enjoy indulging the instincts of love and compassion by showering wealth on people unlucky enough to lack any traits that lead to work that leads to goods or services we care about. And by "we" I mean "us," not those other people we'd like to perform this essential duty for us without costing us anything personally."<br /><br />Or we can conclude that wealth isn't that important or interesting, and that poor people are as valuable as rich ones, and their lives are just as meaningful. Or we can conclude that people who haven't been able to think of anything to do for others that others want might, in many cases, do well to think more of how to please others, if only to make it more likely that their neighbors will want to drop by with good things and help and favors. You can please your neighbors by being good company and reliable and honest citizens and solid Rotary Club or church members as well as by inventing a great new app or becoming Salesman of the Year at the car dealership.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.com