{"id":53,"date":"2012-06-15T08:25:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/06\/the-campaign-2012-may-the-best-loser-win-the-american-cult-of-smartness-meets-will-ferrell-zach-galifianakis\/"},"modified":"2012-06-15T08:25:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T08:25:00","slug":"the-campaign-2012-may-the-best-loser-win-the-american-cult-of-smartness-meets-will-ferrell-zach-galifianakis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/06\/the-campaign-2012-may-the-best-loser-win-the-american-cult-of-smartness-meets-will-ferrell-zach-galifianakis.html","title":{"rendered":"The Campaign 2012 (May the Best Loser Win) – The American Cult of Smartness Meets Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\"meritocracy.png\"\u00a0Conor Friedersdorf has an interesting book review in the Atlantic. The article is called \u201cThe Cult of Smartness: How Meritocracy is Failing America,\u201d<\/a> and it is based on a book by Chris Hayes called Twilight of The Elites: America After Meritocracy<\/a><\/i>. The premise of the article and book is that the country\u2019s elite have a strangle hold on power and because they control the means, they can manipulate the ends so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer \u2013 especially in regard the institutions of society & education.\u00a0Here\u2019s a sample paragraph:\n
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\u201cIn his [Hayes] telling, that\u2019s one example of the \u201cCult of Smartness\u201d that has taken hold in American life, a pathology characterized by the mistaken assumption that intelligence is an ordinal quality \u2014 that it is possible for observers to accurately rank intelligent people in order from most\u00a0 to least smart, and that the right person for a job is always the one deemed smartest. \u201cWhile smartness is necessary for competent elites,\u201d Hayes retorts, \u201cit is far from sufficient: wisdom, judgment, empathy, and ethical rigor are all as important, even if those traits are far less valued.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Throughout\u00a0<\/span>Twilight of the Elites<\/i>, the reader is presented with similarly specific, thoughtful critiques of what\u2019s gone wrong with America\u2019s ruling class. The elites who run things, having advanced to the top of various hierarchies, are performing miserably, Hayes argues, citing failures as varied as Enron, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, the Catholic Church molestation scandal, the financial crisis, and the steroid scandal in Major League Baseball.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the same time I\u2019m ruminating on this article I\u2019m watching the movie trailers for <\/span>The Campaign<\/a><\/b>, the new Will Ferrell\/Zach Galifianakis movie due out August 10th. You\u2019d be hard pressed to find two more abased, profane, foul-mouthed, crude, and raunchy comic actors out there. Is it just me or is this a perfect casting for a movie lampooning congressional campaigns?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Hayes\u2019 premise is quite simple. \u201cRich Americans are gaming the system to illegitimately increase their wealth.\u201d It\u2019s nothing new, but the twists and associations \u2013 especially with regard the elite\u2019s ability to avoid consequences of their leadership failures \u2013 have become so blatant, that it makes for interesting reading. Hayes has some interesting suggestions for how things can change. I\u2019m not sure I buy any of these, but at least they show some imagination:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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