Aggregator • MaxedOutMama • ID=61084 |
Ninety Percent Debunking - MaxedOutMama Jan 24, 2010, 5:00 pm
I'm sorry for not posting much. There are now three reasons. The first is that a lot of my time is still invested in medical appointments and such for the Chief, as well as in SuperDoc's computers. The second is that I am having major problems with internet access, which notably slows things down. The third is that I am gobsmacked and metaphorically concussed with astonishment about the reaction of the press and hunks of the political apparatus to the Massachusetts vote.
I don't know how long it will take me to get through my head that a considerable group of people whose business is essentially politics or commenting on politics are actually horrendously, awe-inspiringly bad at it. Unbelievably bad. Self-destructively bad.
Take, for example, Frank Rich's column on what the Massachusetts vote means, and then compare it to Krauthammer's diagnosis. Krauthammer has more recent data, which is probably one clue as to which I find more convincing. Yet I suspect that both are probably missing some of the real impetus behind the vote. Almost always these things are more local than pundits want to believe.
Still, Krauthammer's point about health care "reform" is addressed in both columns. Rich claims that the WH hasn't done enough communicating about what the bill will mean. In part that's because there isn't a final plan yet, and in part it is because most independent analyses have raised severe concerns about the financial viability of the plan, and its purported solutions. The population doesn't like it and doesn't support it, and as far as I can tell, the population has realistic concerns.
I'm still mentally staggering to find this much off-the-wall nuttiness so proudly displayed, and I'm struggling to understand why this is occurring.
Perhaps these other bloggers are on to something. I am very fond of the Photon Courier blog, because it's different. It's not about sides or the current, but about the basics that we all might miss. David posted a link to Assistant Village Idiot's post, (discussion there or at Chicago Boyz crosspost) which is pretty much a post of correspondence from a friend. It's hard to describe and far too long to excerpt, because his friend is discussing why people who are intelligent fail in the real world, and why academic strengths frequently do not contribute to success outside the ivory tower.
Here are some of the observations:
- How to correctly define the problem, in most cases when it presents itself as something else, is key to a successful outcome.
- ...simple understanding of a concept does not mean that you can do it.
- Paraphrasing - success business executives become generalists who are not wedded to the skills of their training, but use techniques and skills as necessary to address the problem.
- Paraphrasing - High level failures are often created when a stressed executive returns to what has worked in the past but is inapplicable to the current problem.
