[lbo-talk] Phyllis Wise, chancellor , Remains Piggish to the End

[Carrol Cox]

Joanna: That's partly because, normally, this type of people never have to
deal with any opposition or criticism. It makes them ... stupid.

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This habit of  linking obnoxious behavior or stupidity of decisions to
personal "stupidity" of the agent is one hell of a bad habit. Joanna's claim
above is _stupid_, but we certainly know that Joanna is not stupid. The
implicit premise is that all 6 plus billion humans have identical goals.
When you allow for wildly different purposes, the ascription of "stupidity"
disappears. We don't accurse an arsonist of being stupid in playing with
matches.

Carrol