We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities read more
Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man.
What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
This strange disease of modern life, with its sick hurry, its divided aims.
This strange disease of modern life, with its sick hurry, its divided aims.
Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that read more
Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that a special warning strip of land around the edge of a baseball field lets a player know that he is about to run into a concrete wall when he is preoccupied with catching the ball. The wider that strip of land and the more sensitive the player is to the changing composition of the ground under his feet as he pursues the ball, the more effective the warning. Romanticizing or lionizing as "individualistic" those people who disregard social cues and inducements increases the danger of head-on collisions with inherent social limits. Decrying various forms of social disapproval is in effect narrowing the warning strip.
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something read more
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something we already have. It is a search for a final and irrefutable demonstration that our absolute truth is indeed the one and only truth. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others.
Against stupidity the very gods fight in vain.
Against stupidity the very gods fight in vain.
If everything's under control, you're going too slow.
If everything's under control, you're going too slow.
Science is facts. Just as houses are made of stones, so science is made of facts. But a pile of read more
Science is facts. Just as houses are made of stones, so science is made of facts. But a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.
There are few things more dishonorable than misleading the young.
There are few things more dishonorable than misleading the young.
