It is irritating but common for privilege to not recognize itself or reveal appropriate humility as it bellies up to the bar to snorkel up the caviar at a fancy state dinner, so my attitudes towards this man’s writings are certainly coloured by what I know of his past. As a technocrat who helped found our stupid national oil company, Petro-Camada, with its oh so trendy, bilangue, name, working under that fake friend of the common man, Maurice Strong, to his stint as Canada’s vice-regal consort when his wife, Adrienne Clarkson, was Governor General of Canada, having proved her patriotic worth while working for Radio Canada, and then as head of Pen, an organization that leaves a lot to be desired, he has never shunned the public trough. Here is a picture of the Governor General’s residence, where they lived from 1999 t0 2006:
So when he talks about the need for public institutions, take it with a grain of salt, sprinkled lightly over the baby beluga.
He has not lost his powers. A very intelligent man, astonishingly well read, and with an unusual genuine experience of Africa, he is both right and wrong at the same time, partly on purpose, almost, as he has a correct distrust of the Age of Reason’s outcome, the belief that there is truth in facts, and a dismissal of common sense and intuition, amongst other forces. That is the subject of his book, Voltaire’s Bastards, which has been recently republished. He talks well, and convincingly, and then suddenly he seems way off base. But luckily he is being interviewed by Russ Roberts, who is an empathetic fellow and manages to disagree without being disagreeable, and the resulting interview is wide ranging and interesting about the role of the responsible individual, not the rugged individualist, and the school as creator of citizen in the past, and employee in the present, amongst other thought provoking topics.
I had an argument (well, not, because I was unable to respond politely at the time) with a good friend, who, unable to understand my home-schooling and having worn out the lack of socialization argument, said that I wouldn’t be raising my kids to be good employees. It had never occurred to me that I should do such a thing, and it was something my hubby and I would argue about re the nature of his engineering schooling versus my pie in the sky arts stuff. Who should pay for what? Should industry pay for engineering, and patrons pay for arts? I don’t think anyone would have designed a system that tried to pay for everyone to go to school until they were thirty, but I digress.
It was not my intention to turn this into a constant plug for Econtalk, but this interview, with its exciting Canadian connection (and my hubby sat next to this guy on an airplane, coming home with an impression I shall leave unpublished) seems well met to follow on from a discussion of ideas. So with no sense of irony detected from the interviewee, but much detected by this listener, here is the former vice-regal consort, discussing elites:
John Ralston Saul on Reason, Elites, and Voltaire’s Bastards
John Ralston Saul
John Ralston Saul, author and head of PEN International, speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book,Voltaire’s Bastards, and the role of reason in the modern world. Saul argues that the illegitimate offspring of the champions of reason have led to serious problems in the modern world. Reason, while powerful and useful, says Saul, should not be put on a pedestal above other values including morality and common-sense. Saul argues that the worship of reason has corrupted public policy and education while empowering technocrats and the elites in dangerous and unhealthy ways.
Nothing like a lack of insight. And good morning.
one thing leads to another. it started with a search for Hume, and quickly turned into a refresher course on “epistemology”. i have forgotten so much. but i got to where i am now in my thinking by asking these questions so long ago. i believe that Saul is on to something here, but i need to review these philosophies again… rationalism, empiricism, idealism, historicism/relativism?, and a few other “isms” i have forgotten.
by the way, i definitely thought i was going to college to get a job at the time. i felt conned very shortly after graduation – the kids coming out of college now should be just incensed.
i will get back to this later if i have time. thanks Xty.
i have not taken my refresher philosophy course yet – but have not been able to stop thinking about your post Xty. this is what’s churning in my head… i have found myself becoming less objective as i get older – what i mean is that more and more i believe that we are not capable of knowing what the right answer is. those of you that know me here will not find that too surprising. i hate absolute philosophies, black and white thinking, elitism, AND boorishness. we have a problem in the Western world in that there is no longer any middle ground. not everyone can be right, or can they be? can everyone be both right and wrong? how about a little humility?
i find the “true AND false” paradigm being explored in the field of quantum mechanics to make sense, but i won’t try to explain it. i hope this adds to the discourse, rather than to the confusion!
“A lot of the impact of the experiment is that it forces you to change your perception of the world, and in such a way that you need to develop a new logic system. So, there’s two basic types of logic. There’s classical logic where things are either A or B, but they’re not A and B at the same time, and then there’s quantum logic which says that all the future possibilities are realizable today. That they actually exist in the present. You don’t have to wait for future contingency to realize the possibility now.”
more here…
http://blog.ted.com/2011/06/02/struggling-with-quantum-logic-qa-with-aaron-oconnell/
I too have become less black and white in my thinking and understanding. Waves and particles, uncertainty everywhere. Scale. Confusing facts with truths. But Ralston Saul is one arrogant son of a *%*^ who has led an insanely privileged life. Easy for him to rattle on about an ideal society when he has never had to worry about money or where his next meal was coming from … he has no clue what motivates the average man and cannot even begin to speak of the effort he wishes others would make to engage in civil action when he has guarded the corridors of power relentlessly and arrogantly.
But yes – go to school to get a job was never right – governments targeting future employment goals through school funding – they restrict access to medical school here to limit the number of doctors so they can ration health care, and churn out lawyers like cupcakes. Most people should probably go to work to find a job. Or at least get a break from the monotony of high school to try their hands at something, and then go back if so inclined. I have sure forgotten more than I ever learned, and I avoided reading philosophy as much as was humanly possible.
Oh – I added a word of the day widget!
Probably off topic, but I just read this and enjoyed it. It’s another summary of Jesse Livermore, and the Lefevre book.
http://www.crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2013/11/the-devil-in-jesse-livermore.html
And more on topic, I too have become far less sure of my opinions, at least as far as they manifest themselves into investment choices (I remain harshly opinionated politically, but I’ve divorced that from actual money management). I used to be “perma” many things. Oil, gold, etc. Not any more. I freely admit that I have no idea. I’ll just let the markets be my guide, and use fairly mechanical buy/sell systems to ride the wave.
one conscious choice i make is not to judge the content by the messenger, and in this case it was easy, since i had been unfamiliar with John Ralston Saul. i did listen to the entire podcast which i will not make a habit of, since my to do list for today has now become unreasonable, especially now that my non-rainy window has closed! so thank you for raking my yard – and who are you to say that it hasn’t been raked!
speaking of widgets, i have deployed the screen capture in a novel way. did you know that you can alter the streaming artwork on these pod-casts by right clicking on the screen and selecting different options? then Alt and PrtScn copies the image at any given point in time.
it would be interesting to know how Jessie Livermore would be invested right now. i have sat tight, but not been right. investing was so much simpler back when there was such a thing as a reality.
why do people rake(bag) leaves anyway? mine always blow away with the wind and they are good for the soil. …just processing input, dropping a tune, saying “hi all” and hoping that i aint the word of da day.
i rake my leaves, but use it as mulch in my garden and other planting beds.
i’m not trying to be the word of the day myself. the weather here stinks, and you know how Monday night went in Titletown.
these are pretty easy to do once you learn a few tricks. you just can’t ever paint the same thing twice.
I live with the word of the yesterday – two of them!
Having mum in the house is boring and difficult and good all at the same time. I am hoping that ignoring enough of my problems will make them go away, like Pete’s leaves. I am mostly happy that the youtubes are working out. There is a strong possibility that I am going insane. There is now a commode chair in my kitchen. Who will sit on the commode chair, asks the little red hen? Me, says mum, who has asked for two decades why we don’t have a toilet on the first floor. Who will empty the commode chair, asks the little red hen?
Crickets? but their arms are too small …
my mom is currently living with my baby sister, pretty close by..20mins.s or so and she is a certified pain in the ass. hi all. ..this is pretty good imo……see if it works.
just sharing some more brain cells because i have them in abundance.
i always wonder and try to interpret the origin and meaning of lyrics..fave of mine..not sure why. congrats to the tech team! thank you.
absolutely incredible weather here (emote)
.
“incarnation”
nice!
for the lady.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZ7MD9oc3o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PqhOrgk11A
last one.