The Source of Wisdom

It wasn't long ago – a few weeks ago (or a few days depending on whether you calculate from the day this was published or the day it was written) I wrote

I should point out that I'm right and you're wrong, but I'll deal with that issue at some time in the near future, and tell you how I know it.

And I'm going to deal with that issue here. But let me start with the words of others.

G-d said it. I believe it. It's true.

I saw that on a bumper sticker. That's certainly an answer. And it's an answer to virtually all questions. If you seek it, it is there.

But some may not be satisfied and ask for additional verification. They may wonder about the source.

How do I know? The Bible tells me so.

Those are among the lyrics of a song that was popular some years back. Simplistic, isn't it? But we all accept this kind of reasoning, even if we don't recognize that fact. We just find our gospel in different places.

I was reading a book recently, Alan Schwarz's A.D.H.D. Nation, and I was very impressed by it. It said so many things I knew to be true, about how we, as a nation, had taken a syndrome that involved a relatively small number of children and magnified it into a problem affecting three to six times the number of people who may have it. It's become fashionable – and an excuse for all sorts of failings. It provided a justification for taking drugs. And it involved all age groups.

In fact many of the books I read also confirm other views I have. The subject doesn't matter, but they're usually political. They clarify important issues and provide documentation of all the salient points that support my opinions. I'm in the avant-garde and the world is slowly catching up – at least I hope so. But I've always been ahead of my time.

The same is true of the newspapers and magazines I read. They're also among the enlightened, and their articles, opinions, and letters also parallel the views I hold. They substantiate all that I think and say (though admittedly I try to avoid actually speaking to others whenever I can). It's clear that others recognize the wisdom of all the views I hold.

Still, when I hear others speak (even if I don't speak, I listen) I usually find myself subjected to drivel and absurd ideas and thinking. Surely they'll learn, but they're not yet on the road to wisdom. What they say is almost as inane as what they read. I know that because they sometimes specify the newspaper from which they've gotten the nonsense. They treat the New York Times as if it were the source of the gospel. They believe everything that it deems fit to print. (How do I know? The New York Times tells me so.)

Will Rogers said, in a self-deprecating manner, “All I know is just what I read in the papers,” and he was a very smart man. But he continued, “and that's an alibi for my ignorance.” The ideas that he took from those papers (and I'm sure he wasn't talking about the paper I read) were nonsense, and, in his droll and “innocent” manner, he made that clear to his audience. So those who read those papers, and those who take seriously what they have to say and who repeat it, are speaking nonsense. The readers of those rags probably hold those perverted views anyway, and that's why they choose inferior media. Most of the media are ignorant. They don't agree with me. So most people are similarly ignorant. They reflect the nescient notions (no, I am not William Safire) that the media they follow advance.

It is reassuring to mention that the books I read and the media I absorb, reinforce the wisdom that I know to be reliable. As opposed to the misinformation swallowed by others, the sources I value are wise. They are perceptive and understanding of the meaning and implications of what they are reporting. And they can be relied on.

So if they agree with me, and they do, they prove my correctness – not that I ever doubted it. After all, I'm always right. And if you don't agree, you're wrong.

[If you consider this circular – or (incor)rectangular for that matter – reasoning, you're wrong.]

September 28, 2016.