No Need to Ask, by Robert Gore
Why are so many “luminaries” such obvious mediocrities? How does incompetence spread its leprous grasp? Why is so much obviously trite, second-rate, or just plain awful cultural fare not just tolerated, but hailed as brilliant, transgressive, and transformational? How can universities promulgate nonsense that leaves graduates stupider than before they matriculated? Why does the faintest of commendatory words—“nice,” “cute,” and “like”—dominate media, online, and verbal discourse, while we no longer hear terms like “admire” and “respect”? No answers are possible without examining the dynamics of sucking up.
This is an excerpt. For the complete article, please click the above link.
This is an excerpt. For the complete article, please click the above link.
"Our reading is mendicant and sycophantic. In history, our imagination plays us false. Kingdom and lordship, power and estate, are a gaudier vocabulary than private John and Edward in a small house and common day's work; but the things of life are the same to both; the sum total of both is the same. Why all this deference to Alfred, and Scanderbeg, and Gustavus? Suppose they were virtuous; did they wear out virtue? As great a stake depends on your private act to-day, as followed their public and renowned steps. When private men shall act with original views, the lustre will be transferred from the actions of kings to those of gentlemen." -Self-Reliance, 1841