Lovelock is 90 years old this year – and most people’s great-grandfathers are a mix of interesting experiences and wacky views. What is really worrying, though, is the uncritical adulation that he receives for his books in many quarters, despite - or, more likely, because of - his shrivelled view of humanity and his take-it-or-leave-it approach to democracy. Far too many people in high places and the media share Lovelock’s view that only smart people like them should be running things, while the rest of us should do as we are told, trying our best not to leave too big a footprint on the face of Gaia.
The real threat we face these days is the tyranny of the intelligentsia.
I dunno.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest threats remain from the willfully ignorant, the intentionally anti-intellectual, and the
This is not to say I think that meritocracy is the answer, or some elite of the elite running things. I don't. But I see far more harm being done to the social fabric by those who willfully and deliberately choose the simplistic soundbyte over the thoughtful argument. Those who prefer others to do their thinking for them; the vast chorus of "dittoheads" for example who prefer to believe that all the problems in the world are caused by the intelligentsia when demonstrably the tyranny of the mindless mob has caused more suffering.
That is why, Art, I said "intelligentsia," not "intellectuals." Fulton Sheen famouls defined the former as "those people who have been educated beyond their intelligence." You want to find "dittoheads," pay a visit to any newspaper or college faculty lounge or art opening. In Yeats's words:
ReplyDelete"All shuffle there; all cough in ink;
All wear the carpet with their shoes;
All think what other people think;
All know the man their neighbour knows."
These are the "experts" who would govern us.