Every once in awhile, it pays to rethink something we take for granted. For ages, we’ve said there are no actual synonyms in the English Language, only approximations.
Maybe that’s wrong.
For example: people like to use “stupid” and “ignorant” interchangeably. Technically untrue. That’s because “stupid” is congenital but ignorance can be cured.
Maybe that’s wrong.
It may be that ignorance cannot be cured. Or even treated. The drug of choice, education, seems not to work anymore.
Education should come with a pharmaceutical warning: “Education is not for everyone. Ask your doctor if education is right for you.” We have name brands for education. Harvard, MIT, Cal Tech. We have generics: Fiddlehead Community College, University of Phoenix. And we have out and out placebos: Liberty University, Bob Jones University, Trump University.
Ahah! Trump. As you survey the present political moonscape, you will notice the merger of stupid and ignorant into one fat real synonym.
Trump himself is neither stupid nor ignorant (falling back on the original difference between the words.) But his followers? And the people who are trying to undermine his presidential candidacy? That’s another story.
It’s not that Trump plays on our fears; gives “voice to the voiceless.” It’s that the antidote to Trump is equally death dealing.
Let’s say for some reason, Donny-baby drops out of the race or is forced out. Do you think Dudley Do-right Romney is going to ride in on a white horse and save the day? Ask the 47%. That political coffin is in the ground.
No, Mr. Fake Moderate private equity funder would seem better -- so much does in retrospect. But that ain’t so. Romney came out swinging yesterday (3/3) but he bats like a girl.
No, we’ll get either Cruz (Looks like Joseph R. McCarthy, talks like Wally Balloo) or Rubio (Trump’s understudy on the Borscht Belt insult-comedy circuit.)
Education in that case is like handiwipes. They kill 99.9% of common household germs. Side effect: they leave alive only the drug-resistant 0.1% to multiply like… like germs.
At least Carson knows how to do a real pre- op surgical scrub. Not that he’d be any good, either.
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Quote of the day:
“That’s because you’re tall and handsome.” -- Former Nightline anchor Ted Koppel answering Bill O’Reilly’s claim to be among the “top ten” most trusted names in television.
Shrapnel:
--Koppel also told O’Reilly that the antidote to Trump is “good old fashioned reporting.” Meaning instead of mindless commentary, people should be told more of what Trump has said and done in the past. Billo said people don’t care about that stuff and he probably was right.
--Here’s what we’re focusing on instead of today’s facts. Someone in Detroit found a cache of Ty Cobb baseball cards from around 1911 and values them collectively in seven figures. Nice to find a few pieces of cardboard whose combined worth is more than the entire rest of the city, but hardly as earth shattering as Republican infighting.
Grapeshot:
-A token mention, now of Bernie Sanders because we’ve said nothing about him recently: Bernie Sanders (oops, that’s two mentions.)
-And here’s a mention for Cillary Hinton.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2016
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