A perspective here in Utah Valley, where some rural scenery continues to survive (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo). \u00a0It\u2019s really quite good to be home in this valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been thinking, yet again, about a rather well known quotation that is commonly \u2014 albeit, it seems, incorrectly \u2014 attributed to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The statement may actually derive originally from a comment made by the prominent late-nineteenth-century British historian Henry Thomas Buckle:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The point seems to me a valid one. \u00a0Pretty much so, anyway. \u00a0Although I\u2019m not so sure that it\u2019s purely a matter of intelligence. \u00a0The level of a person\u2019s education certainly has an impact, too. \u00a0And it\u2019s certainly not a matter of social<\/em> class.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But we see it plainly in the phenomena of gossip and personal attack, both of which have been given a massive megaphone by internet anonymity.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously, we all have occasion to discuss people and events and ideas. \u00a0We would find a person whose conversation always focused on just one of those three, or even on just two of those three, exceedingly strange. \u00a0Such limitation would be unnatural. \u00a0Inhuman.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it might occasionally be wise to examine our conversations, in person and online, against the standard implied by Buckle and his successors. \u00a0We should use it as a checklist, to see which of the three categories \u2014 people, events, or ideas \u2014 tend to dominate our discourse and to consider why that might be.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plainly, there will be occupational differences and other role distinctions that will impact what we discuss. \u00a0Psychiatrists and social workers and bishops will tend, quite legitimately, to speak a great deal about people. \u00a0Philosophers will, I hope, spend a great deal of their time discussing ideas. \u00a0Historians and journalists will necessarily concentrate on events.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is nothing unworthy about discussing events, let alone people.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not discussing professional duties, though. \u00a0We\u2019re focused, rather, on ordinary conversations and on online behavior. \u00a0And we\u2019re not talking in exclusive terms. \u00a0We\u2019re looking at propensities.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s yet another quotation centered more or less on the same subject:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who will\u00a0gossip\u00a0to you, will\u00a0gossip\u00a0about<\/em> you.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve been thinking, yet again, about a rather well known quotation that is commonly \u2014 albeit, it seems, incorrectly \u2014 attributed to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt: \u00a0 Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. \u00a0 The statement may actually derive originally from a comment made by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5619,5622,5607,5613,5616,5628,5610,5625],"class_list":["post-78489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-average-minds","tag-events","tag-gossip","tag-great-minds","tag-ideas","tag-people","tag-personal-attacks","tag-small-minds"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Utah](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/04\/800px-Baled_hay_in_Utah_Valley.jpg\")
<\/a>