Sincere Ignorance and Conscientious Stupidity

[XLFD]

While checking out my e-mails at yahoo.com the other day, I noticed an article among their headline news entitled "Ben Carson somehow reaches new level of stupidity..." and wondered what kind of nonsense news could this be. 

First off, Dr. Ben Carson, former presidential contender and conservative talk show personality, is not a person who I would ever equate with stupidity, graduating from Yale and Michigan University and practicing pediatric neurosurgery successfully for 30 years at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland until recently retiring.  He has received more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, dozens of national merit citations, and written over 100 neurosurgical publications.  When one reviews what he has accomplished in life since starting off very modestly with a variety of factors working against him, he should be seen as nothing other than a prime example of what intelligence and drive can accomplish in America.

Secondly, the word 'stupid' and 'stupidity' has wisely been weeded out of most polite conversations and viewed as a derogatory term.  While it still has its applications, its usage, particularly in a headline directed at somebody, is often used to suggest why a person's views should be marginalized.  Until its recent resurgence with progressives labelling Trump and similar conservatives, these same progressives were telling the rest of us that the reason we want to use the word "stupid"  is the exact reason we shouldn’t: Because it has power. And that very real power has been used to hurt very real people.

So as I opened the New York Daily News (NYDN) article, "Ben Carson somehow reaches new level of stupidity with latest commentary on Poor", I was expecting to see an openly progressive reporter make a fool of himself to entertain his mostly progressive audience by subjectively attacking a bit of conservative wisdom uttered by Dr. Carson, the new HUD secretary chosen by Donald Trump.   It should be noted that the NYDN is the ninth largest newspaper in circulation in the US, and is about as non-partisan as a New York daily could be expected to be.    

The author Leonard Greene starts off by referencing an incendiary remark made by Carson about slavery a few months before.  In March, on his first address as HUD secretary Carson said, after making some inspired remarks about immigrants at Ellis Island:  "There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less."

For those words Carson was roundly criticized for being insensitive and offensive, even though Ben Carson himself is black and undoubtedly has ancestors that came here shackled in such ships.  As he would later note in his defense, if you look up the word immigrant in the dictionary, you will find that it is "a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.  There is no distinction between being a voluntary immigrant or not. 

Ironically, the same people offended by his use of the word "immigrant" are the same ones who use that term to refer to what many call "illegal aliens", precisely because using 'immigrant' implies nothing about legality or nationality.  Consequently, the outrage over Carson's words in March had nothing to do with what he said, rather who was saying it and his politics. 

Reporter Greene sets it up as:  Carson delivered a mind-boggling, simplistic assessment about what separates haves from the have-nots in America.  “I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” Carson said in an interview on Sirius XM Radio that aired Wednesday. “You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.”

But Carson did not stop there, because people who say ignorant things as often as they wash their hands don’t quite know when to stop.

“You take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world — they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,” Carson said.

Greene then supplies backup for his stupidity diagnosis, noting the actor who is best known as Mr. Sulu tweeted:   "Ben Carson says that poverty is a 'state of mind.  You know what else is a state of mind? Always being a blithering idiot.” 

Following similar tweets by two frustrated progressive appointive politician belittling what they read into Carson's words, Greene concludes that "Carson seems to think that growing up in poverty himself gives him the right to pass judgment on poor people and their small-minded mothers."

But once again, they twist the meaning of what Ben Carson said into a template that they think will hurt his ability to approach the problems HUD faces with a conservative viewpoint.  If you consider what he actually said, it did not even imply what they try to say it does. 

For instance, others have inferred that poverty is a mindset and have not been claimed to be stupid for saying it, some of these have not been conservative at all, like Morgan Freeman.  A Youtube video noted the eerie similarity between Carson's and Freeman's philosophy:

And when you consider the words of Ben Carson, you can likely see the truth in his words, unless you may be blinded by the same elite attitude as NYDN reporter Greene and his three progressive allies better known more for their advocating for the special rights of 63 or more different genders and other 'mindsets'. 

Carson himself is an example of someone who has propelled himself up despite adversity and somebody you would expect to rebound if he got knocked down.  If you looked at his same graduating class back in predominantly black, non-prestigious Southwestern High School in Detroit, you would find others who had the same background as Carson and whose life went downhill due to their own doing or undoing.  You can probably think of some families, maybe your own, where two siblings had the same resources, but went two different ways primarily due to their mindset.

Does Greene explain exactly where Carson's words are in err, does he offer counter-examples showing where he is wrong?  Nope, his analysis involves having three other people calling Carson a blithering idiot, utilizing false analogies, and suggests that he is blaming and passing judgment on victims of structural inequality.  This name-calling and logically fallacious arguments allow him to declare Carson has ascended to a new level of stupidity.  The problem modern day progressives seem to have with Ben Carson's words is that it inspires people to believe they are special and can make a difference, and even change their lot in life.   

It's really not pediatric brain surgery to determine where the stupidity is.

[Willy]

Ben Carson is exactly correct and has clearly stated in easy to understand terms why some live lowly lives while others become positive influences. If I have learned anything about people is that most will seek and use any excuse they can find to explain why they have not succeeded in life. A lot of people continue to blame others for their their lot in life.