Originally posted by french frank
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Didn't say that intellectuals were doers - just the 'natural leaders' (in the sense that, faced with a particular situation, they are the ones who are prepared to take a lead when no one else shows any sign of doing anything).
This is the stance taken by the ERG. Experts and academics are "corrupt", just as the "EU" is "corrupt"; unaccountable and self-serving. Therefore their actions and predictions can't be trusted. We fall back on our own eminently sensible opinions, which are as good as anyone else's (even when we have no special experience or knowledge).
That sounds like low self esteem, Lat - γνῶθι σεαυτόν - Know thyself. To me there are no "standards" involved. I just use it to mean people who are prepared to focus their minds on assessing, analysing, seeking more information where it's needed, and processing it, coming to thoughtful, informed conclusions which 'fit the facts'.
This is the stance taken by the ERG. Experts and academics are "corrupt", just as the "EU" is "corrupt"; unaccountable and self-serving. Therefore their actions and predictions can't be trusted. We fall back on our own eminently sensible opinions, which are as good as anyone else's (even when we have no special experience or knowledge).
That sounds like low self esteem, Lat - γνῶθι σεαυτόν - Know thyself. To me there are no "standards" involved. I just use it to mean people who are prepared to focus their minds on assessing, analysing, seeking more information where it's needed, and processing it, coming to thoughtful, informed conclusions which 'fit the facts'.You won't identify with this as a serious point but I will make it a lighter, almost funny observation.
I went right off David Owen in the mid to late 1980s when I concluded he was unable to work with anyone. Such was my pique with the system generally in 2010 that I threw out the books he had signed for me, among others. Now I deeply regret it as he is one of the few people in politics with whom I am finding any sort of identification. It's a strange old world.
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