这期经济学家的文章。我以为道理是相通的。学院派是不认可conspiracy theories, 因为intellectually lazy, 或者难听一点,intellectual degradation.
反对健保是正常的,但希望在摆事实讲道理的基础上。这里转的克鲁格曼,我以为道理就讲得很清楚。
并没有标榜学院派的意思,只是纯粹从知识的角度讲一下。很多人文社会学科其实没什么用,包括我的学科。不过一个饭碗,希望大家宽待些。
至于文中提到的美国政治的这种paranoid, 其来有自,是政治人物有心种下的。以后有机会来讲。
------------------------------------------------------------
Still crazy after all these years
Aug 20th 2009
From The Economist print edition
The perils of losing one's grip on reality
NOT long after the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, the Senate contemplated a bill to tighten federal control over the sale of guns through the post. Three gun-lovers drove 2,500 miles from Arizona to Washington, DC, to protest. One argued that the bill was part of “a further attempt by a subversive power to make us part of one world socialistic government” and that it could “create chaos” and help “our enemies” to seize power. Not much has changed since Richard Hofstadter described this incident in a hugely influential book, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”. Gun-lovers still argue that the slightest curb on their right to bear arms will make America vulnerable to tyranny. And in other areas, too, the paranoid style is alive and frothing.
Some of Barack Obama’s detractors content themselves with arguing that he is a bad president. Others go further. “Birthers” insist that he was not born in the United States and is therefore constitutionally barred from being president. Yet Mr Obama’s birth certificate says he was born in Hawaii, and there is not a shred of evidence to the contrary. There is even an announcement of his birth in the archive of the Honolulu Advertiser, a local newspaper. Yet the internet crackles with theories as to how all this was faked so that, 48 years later, Mr Obama could impose a socialist state on America. And a YouGov poll for The Economist found that 26% of Republicans think Mr Obama is probably foreign-born.
Other conspiracy theories about Mr Obama are even loopier. For example, some Americans think he is the Antichrist. The evidence for this, apparently, is that in the Bible Jesus is quoted as predicting that Satan will come down like lightning from heaven, and the words for “lightning” and “heaven” in Hebrew sound a bit like “Barack Obama”. Plus, his presidential limo is nicknamed “The Beast”. For those who think this is too far-fetched, there is the theory that Mr Obama is a closet Nazi. He thinks abortion should be legal. Historically, some abortion advocates have also been eugenicists. Therefore he must be one of them. Also, he wants to discourage smoking. So did Hitler!
Hofstadter, writing at the time of Barry Goldwater’s insurgency, argued that political paranoia—a mix of anger, heated exaggeration, suspiciousness and conspiratorial fantasy—was most evident on the extreme right. And there are plenty of examples of right-wingers peddling nutty tales. Isolationists in the 1940s accused Franklin Roosevelt of deliberately letting the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour to provide an excuse for war. Talk-radio crackpots in the 1990s accused the Clintons of having Vince Foster, a depressive friend of theirs who killed himself, murdered.
But the left is hardly immune to such fantasies. Some people, including Mr Obama’s own former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, believe that AIDS was cooked up by the government to kill blacks. A staggering 18% of Americans think that the government of George Bush probably knew in advance about the attacks of September 11th 2001 but allowed them to proceed anyway. Some even contend that Mr Bush orchestrated the attacks himself, to create an excuse for invading Iraq. To believe this, you have to believe that the Bushies were both wicked enough to murder thousands of Americans and brilliant enough to execute such a mind-bogglingly sophisticated plot without a single leak—in a culture where Richard Nixon could not even hush up a burglary.
Belief in conspiracy theories can be comforting. If everything that goes wrong is the fault of a secret cabal, that relieves you of the tedious necessity of trying to understand how a complex world really works. And you can feel smug that you are smart enough to “see through” the official version of events. But widespread paranoia has drawbacks. For a start, it makes calm, rational debate rather tricky. How can you discuss the trade-offs of health-care reform, for example, with someone who thinks the government is plotting to kill grandma? It does not help, either, that politicians on both sides are willing to fan the flames. Sarah Palin calls Mr Obama’s health-care proposals “evil”. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, calls the protesters who loudly oppose them “evil-mongers”. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, calls them “un-American”.
It’s serious
In his book “Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History”, David Aaronovitch argues that conspiratorial fantasy can have dangerous real-world consequences. Hitler read and believed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a bogus account of a global Jewish conspiracy. So did the founders of Hamas. Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a bomb in Oklahoma in 1995 because he thought the federal government was hatching various dastardly plots.
Some people watch the ferment at town-hall meetings in America today and worry that another Oklahoma-style atrocity is brewing. A few protesters are waving placards wishing for Mr Obama’s death. Others are ostentatiously wearing firearms outside his rallies. A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Centre describes an uptick in the number of “Patriot” militia groups since Mr Obama’s election and frets that some could turn violent.
One should not exaggerate such threats. The Secret Service does not let gun-wielding protesters too near the president. And the vast majority of people who visit crazy websites will never hurt anyone. But there is no cause for complacency, either. Politicians should tone down the rhetoric. Protesters should read some history before making Hitler comparisons. Talk-show hosts should stop pretending that paranoid nitwits are asking reasonable questions. If people are continually told that their government is plotting against them, a few may decide to fight back. And as Lee Harvey Oswald showed, even one man with a violent sense of grievance can do a lot of harm.
- Re: 关于intellectual honestyposted on 08/25/2009
至于文中提到的美国政治的这种paranoid, 其来有自,是政治人物有心种下的。以后有机会来讲。
这在心理学上叫暗示,催眠法就是用这种暗示。非常强烈的效果,可以短时间内就让人指鹿为马。谢abee,very entertaining article.... - Re: 关于intellectual honestyposted on 08/25/2009
maya wrote:
这在心理学上叫暗示,催眠法就是用这种暗示。非常强烈的效果,可以短时间内就让人指鹿为马。谢abee,very entertaining article....
哈哈。等我写篇关于这个催眠暗示的好玩东西。 - posted on 08/25/2009
If people are continually told that their government is plotting against them, a few may decide to fight back. And as Lee Harvey Oswald showed, even one man with a violent sense of grievance can do a lot of harm.
这最后一段就有点弱了。政府从来都是比较可怕的东西,这个应该是常识。
为什么呢?因为政府(衙门)里的人。因为政府的运作机制以及薪酬从来吸引不到最优秀的人才进去。我最近跟美国警察有深度接触:)知道他们跟中国一样,抓人是有incentive的。每一次arrest,特别是夜间的arrest,都是警察挣外快的良机。他们有很丰厚的overtime,如果他们作警察10年,有一年里他们有最多的overtime,他们的退休金就按照最高的那年按比例计算。他们的overtime,名目很多,带犯人上法庭又是什么overtime。
政府官员以及军队为了跟纳税人表达清廉,表面上的工资都是很低的,表面的工资低了,他们进去之后当然会利用职权。比如我在的这个区,马路好好的,但整天在修理。我就怀疑一定是区里的哪个王八蛋受了贿赂,把修路的工程承包给了他的cousins。
政府是个抽象的概念,是政府里的人的问题。它吸引不了有为的年轻人来为政府工作。政府里的人全都一个德行,中国外国全都一样,都是中领馆里的那种。
对政府始终抱有怀疑是公民应有的警惕。 - Re: 关于intellectual honestyposted on 08/25/2009
maya wrote:
对政府始终抱有怀疑是公民应有的警惕。
这个我绝对赞成。 - Re: 关于intellectual honestyposted on 08/25/2009
maya wrote:
政府是个抽象的概念,是政府里的人的问题。它吸引不了有为的年轻人来为政府工作。政府里的人全都一个德行,中国外国全都一样,都是中领馆里的那种。
对政府始终抱有怀疑是公民应有的警惕。
俺出国办签证那会儿,就没法不骂美领馆里的那种畜生。现在还没法回避TSA,每次去机场。
I envy those who have the confidence to trust their health care to the government;-) - Re: 关于intellectual honestyposted on 08/25/2009
俺出国办签证那会儿,就没法不骂美领馆里的那种畜生。现在还没法回避TSA,每次去机场。
TSA是畜生东西。
Please paste HTML code and press Enter.
(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation