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Around the time of the Chad-hanging 2000 presidential election, a letter to the editor in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (ajc.com) says in effect: I know that (George W.) Bush is not very smart, but that's what I really like it.
Forget for a moment, the humor in that statement. The writer, by all appearances, was serious. The writer was undoubtedly thinking of Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton, who was a Rhodes scholar. Clinton may have been intelligent, but many thought he got away with too and was able to sidestep deep political problems too easily. Clinton, who was considered by some, was so smart, it was terrifying. Bush was, in terms relative to a politician, honest. As he said: "You're either with us or against us." And, "I do not do nuance." Some people feel more comfortable with a president who they believed was more like them, and not as "slick", like Clinton, who received the nickname "Slick Willie".
Newspaper columnist Thomas Sowell, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, says the world is a worse place because of the intellectuals. He defines intellectuals as those who come with ideas, and little else.
Karl Marx, who wrote the Communist Manifesto, was one intellectual Sowell mentions. Marx's ideas created in the 19th century dominated much of the activity in the world in the 20th century. Of course, as Sowell points out, how others use these ideas caused suffering, hunger and slavery in many places.
He says the same about how some young Muslims are using the ideas of their faith to wreak havoc in the world. The ideas, such as firearms, are powerful. At the same time, they are dangerous in the wrong hands. You can see how each side of the U.S. gun cells above control debate. One side believes that guns are more dangerous. The other side thinks that ideas are more dangerous.
A barrel of gunpowder?
By itself not an idea worth blowing the dust into the air. But with resources for implementation, for better or worse, an idea is powerful.
Most ideas are valuable, but there are exceptions. For example, there is a good idea to be in front of a moving truck to find out if you'll die. The ideas encourage us to think, and everything that stimulates thinking usually good. (Yes, I know. We hate when our heads thinking too much. Usually, it means more work for us – no more fees). Wisdom in us has any ideas, think of them in our own circumstances, and uses for our good and, hopefully, the good of others.
Some, as some young Muslims, the ideas used for evil, but that's no reason to limit the flow of ideas. We can fight against evil, but deprivation of ideas really hurt. If you see in the image of Bush openly or "stain" of Clinton, he deserves the right to think for yourself and have so many ideas as possible in the mixture to formulate their own thoughts life. The more ideas you have, the better your thoughts and, hopefully, for their actions. You may not agree with every idea, but would do well to solitary death to defend the right of all ideas to be heard.
By Peter Bilodeau
Peter Bilodeau is a journalist and professional copywriter. His work can be seen at http://www.wealthwisdomandwellness.com.
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