tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post22704576143650149..comments2024-03-28T19:27:59.772+00:00Comments on A K Haart: All animals are equal...A K Haarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-25197758594660989082017-03-28T19:21:33.243+01:002017-03-28T19:21:33.243+01:00Sam - thanks and yes, it is odd that politicos and...Sam - thanks and yes, it is odd that politicos and celebrities are so banal or obviously wrong, or it needs explaining. I'm sure non-attachment comes into it in that it tends to be incompatible with ambition.<br /><br />Henry - many years ago I read Paul Johnson's book 'Intellectuals' and enjoyed it. I'm not sure how sound it is, but interesting to read about famous intellectuals from a much more critical angle.<br /><br />Roger - yes, life is as much about who you know as it has ever been and that may explain the stupidities. However the stupidities may not be as viable as they were in a complex and more informed world. <br /><br />James - that may be because 'rightness' isn't as important as perceived 'rightness'. Perceived 'rightness' can be manipulated and that gives it a major advantage over genuine 'rightness'. Until manipulated 'rightness' goes wrong perhaps.A K Haarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-67030605397591633332017-03-28T14:56:38.831+01:002017-03-28T14:56:38.831+01:00'Rightness', in the sense of being correct...'Rightness', in the sense of being correct, seems to desert people once they achieve office. Or maybe the wrong sort sought office.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-60399391120354054772017-03-28T13:42:54.722+01:002017-03-28T13:42:54.722+01:00Was government ever about equality? well maybe fo...Was government ever about equality? well maybe for an hour or two once a century. The rest of the time it is a family business to be kept firmly among friends. Note how the same names crop up in politics and in the media and in big business. Once you are in you can recognise a good racket and advise one's sons and daughters to keep to it.<br /><br />As for thinking, I am afraid brains are a cheap commodity and it is not what you know but who you know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-45378749541181327402017-03-28T09:17:59.015+01:002017-03-28T09:17:59.015+01:00I have recently been re-reading two books recordin...I have recently been re-reading two books recording the political social and economic history of the 20th century - one by Christopher Lee and the other by Paul Johnson. I have enjoyed reading them both mainly because I have lived though a lot of that period and took pleasure in comparing my own memories with those of the authors. I was always well aware that the books had to include the author's opinions as well as documented "fact". Both gentlemen were agreed in their opinions that so many of those whose views on political, social and economic matters, were expressed and acted upon, were proved wrong! I'm sure that many readers agreed with them as did I. I wonder, therefore, why so many of today's "leaders" are so confident that their expressed views are right?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03267170289726545355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-23802470910354281732017-03-27T21:02:11.851+01:002017-03-27T21:02:11.851+01:00Yet another excellent post, circling around the ol...Yet another excellent post, circling around the old theme. I don't know whether you ought to write a systematic book about it, or whether blogging - returning again and again from different angles in an impressionistic way - suits the purpose better.<br /><br />I'm intrigued as to why the ideas of those who are more equal (politicos and celebrities, etc.) are so banal or obviously wrong. If their only qualification for being in the elite is that they are aggressively pushy and self-obsessed, then, other things being equal, they ought to be right more often. Perhaps the medium distorts the message. Or perhaps pushiness and self-obsession mean you miss out on learning stuff.Sam Vegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05978971199859845931noreply@blogger.com