Bruno

Discussion (4) ¬

1. 
   SomeOldGuy

   February 23, 2019 at 12:20 am | #

   I read his “In Watermelon Sugar” back in the early 70’s if I remember correctly. Back in my Hippie days.
2. 
   Peter Rogan

   February 23, 2019 at 3:31 pm | #

   No wonder the Great Unwashed prefers to stay angry and ignorant and call people who know more of life than they do ‘elitist.’ It’s their only defense for their unalterable dullness.
3. 
   ronald

   February 25, 2019 at 12:00 am | #

   You certainly don’t get less pretentious over time, do you?
4. 
   llirium

   February 25, 2019 at 10:40 am | #

   Well… most people around me prefer picking up a job and then doing as little as usefully possible in their spare time. It’s functional, but learning more could help a person gain more by better meeting his own needs.

   They tend to question: “What good will learning more do me?”

   You can’t really answer that with any degree of certainty, either. Maybe if they pick up a book (that isn’t forced on them in school) it’ll change their perspective on life or teach them something invaluable… but maybe that book is a crappy book with poorly thought-out ideas in it so it really wouldn’t do them much good anyways.

   A lot of staying “stupid” is pure pragmatism, book learning won’t affect their lives because it won’t get them more money, food, shelter or safety. They’re either uninterested or incapable, and perhaps there is no reason to do extra learning in that life situation.

   I don’t really think it’s fair to judge, Peter, not everyone can be a Tennyson, but then again, future leaders have to come from somewhere and that’s worrying when not enough people are intelligent enough to understand the world around them. Maybe it’s also more of a problem as our world becomes progressively complex, far more than even things were 20 years ago.