I have a theory about Ben Carson.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Clearly, he's quite accomplished in the medical field and undoubtedly knows far more about neuroscience than I could even begin to imagine.

But I also think his brain can only handle so much intelligence, so almost all functional aspects of it are used to store acquired medical knowledge about the brain itself.

And as such, on anything not neuroscience related, he comes out sounding like a drooling idiot.

[treestar]

1. Like most smart people

He is smart as he got into medical school. And graduated.

He thinks he can take a field other than his own and master it in minutes.

Which is odd, as he should know how much it took to learn his own. But most people like this figure they could have graduated in the other discipline. Then they forget the years of study and figure I'm smart, so if I dabble in another field, I can surely lecture those with degrees in it.

I have an uncle who figures he is smart and he has no qualms about telling me things about what I have a degree in. He'll calmly inform me of things as if I don't know.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. The Peter Principle. nt

[treestar]

3. Yes!

I lol'd reading that book. So well done.

[3catwoman3]

31. With a little...

...Dunning-Kreuger thrown in for good measure.

He is an embarrassment.

[Johonny]

20. "intelligent people" can be more susceptible to believing in weird things than others.

http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudoscience/dp/0805070893

Michael Shermer has a good chapter on why smart people believe weird things. It pretty much sums up every Ben Carson in a nut shell. Intelligence in and of itself is not enough to defend again irrational thinking and may under the right conditions enhance irrational thinking patterns.

[RKP5637]

28. Exactly! Being smart and wacky ensures one does the wacky bit better than the next guy. Being

smart is no defense against irrational thinking and might well enhance the wackiness if the individual also has a big ego IMO, especially with a touch of delusional thoughts.

[Johonny]

38. Intelligent people are well skilled in rhetoric

and thus well skilled in convincing themselves the absurd is truth. I call it the David Brooks syndrome. He's very skilled writer, but he writes about absolute crap that convinces only those that want to be convinced.

[treestar]

40. Looks like a good book to read! eom

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. I think that's very true.

Here's a guy who is evidently book-smart, which is necessary to survive medical school and become a successful doctor. But he had to work at that. Even though he's smart it took him years of intense study and work to become that successful doctor. Did it ever occur to him that knowing a lot about medicine does not mean he is qualified to be the President of the United States? Does he think that job requires no training or knowledge beyond watching Fox "News"? "Hi, everybody, I want to be your President even though I've never had any experience whatsoever in government at any level, but I know everything I need to know because I'm a doctor. Also, I read the Bible."

Smart people aren't always smart.

[treestar]

41. The law and government look especially easy

They've seen Law and Order and Perry Mason or whatever, so they must know how the law works and what it is. lol.

And the Bible bit, that will indeed work when it comes to that lot of people who think it will automatically be the fount of all wisdom.

[leveymg]

4. There are many different kinds of intelligence. One is not to speculate about those outside

one's own grasp.

[underpants]

5. Homer: look son the brain only hold so much...

when something goes in, something has to go out. Like that time we went to a wine tasting and I forgot how to drive.

Marge: You were drunk!!!

Homer: And how!!!!

[sendero]

6. I think...

... trying to fit the real world into a religious belief system leads to an extreme level of cognitive dissonance.

Christians simply CANNOT ADMIT, despite all the evidence, that the world is NOT 6,000 years old and that gay people are born that way. It would call everything else about their belief system into question. Better to push fingers in their ears and shout la la la.

[Brigid]

12. That's odd . . .

I know of plenty of churches, including mine, where you won't hear that kind of nonsense. Not even close.

[sendero]

18. Fair enough..

... but there are scads, certainly not a tiny majority, of Christians that are pretty much like this, I hear them spouting bullshit every day.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. Perhaps certain evangelical, fundamentalist Christians.

Painting all Christians in that manner is a broad brush, though.

[sendero]

19. I agree...

... certainly not all. But not some tiny fringe element either.

[guillaumeb]

29. please paint with a smaller brush

I am a Christian. There is no question that the earth is a tiny, teeny bit older than 6,000. (My beard might be older than 6,000 years for that matter)
I know plenty of Christians who also know this. I also support rights for everyone, not just people who believe as I do. And I do not believe in the Flintstone version of history where early hominids used dinosaurs to pull their carts.
You wrote:
... trying to fit the real world into a religious belief system leads to an extreme level of cognitive dissonance.

I might respond in similar fashion to your attempt to characterize all believers as agreeing with the views of some believers.

[840high]

33. Nonsense.

[Archae]

7. I think Carson is very bright.

BUT...

He is kissing up to the worst of the Teabagger crowds.
And they hate science. And logic.

[strawberries]

8. He is quite accomplished and

he has a different opinion than you as do others. That doesn't make him dumb or a drooling idiot. Just a man with his own values and opinions

[Tommy_Carcetti]

9. On political issues, he's quite dumb.

He once claimed that the ACA was the worst thing to happen to the country since slavery. Meaning the ACA was worse than Jim Crow laws, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, Vietnam, Watergate, 9-11, the Iraq War and any numerous other national tragedies and embarrassments we've suffered since 1865.

[strawberries]

10. did he say why he felt that way? NT

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. The quote.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/10/11/ben-carson-obamacare-worst-thing-since-slavery/

"You know Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery," Carson, who is African American, said Friday in remarks at the Values Voter Summit in Washington. "And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control."

[strawberries]

15. wow

how does he connect the dots between health care and slavery? Makes no sense

I apologize for any post I made standing up for him

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. It's okay.

[ProfessorGAC]

34. Pretty Good!

You were out on the ledge there, and realized that it was a bad place to be. You stepped it back. Way to swallow your pride! It's hard to admit you were wrong in front of others. Hard for anybody.

[Reter]

22. Depending on how you look at it, WWII was good in that war was the right thing to do

Probably WWI was necessary too. I'd replace them with Waco.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

23. Nonetheless, we did lose hundreds of thousands of people.

And there were certain disturbing side issues, such as Japanese Internment.

Any war, justified or not, is ultimately a tragic event, even if it is also a necessary evil.

[guillaumeb]

30. evil is never "necessary"

how does using violence become necessary as a way of combating violence?

Violence is used when a person or nation decides that talking will not accomplish the objective.

[treestar]

24. Oh that gay people are so by choice

Last edited Wed Mar 4, 2015, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Is just another opinion?

And his so-called support is lame. No statistics, a limited population and probably bullshit

One thing I believe no liberal would do is defend a right winger as simply having a different opinion.

[Erose999]

13. He's in it for the money & fame. He's found it pays well to be the token Black conservative and he's

playing it up for the Faux News crowd.

[NightWatcher]

26. It's all about selling books to the Faux News crowd

The same morons who level their coffee tables with copies of Herman Cain's books they bought 4 years ago to prove that they weren't racist.

[Erose999]

35. That and speakers' fees. Addressing whatever GOP affiliated groups will pay him big bucks to speak.

Sarah Failin' made millions in speakers fees before the GOP eventually figured out that her ship had sailed, been boarded by pirates, gotten lost in the Bermuda Triangle, and devoured by dread Cthulu.

[Hoyt]

17. He's pandering to Republicans. Even if he knows better, he has to act as stupid as his constituents.

[Orsino]

25. No mystery. Money makes 'em all talk stupid and mean.

Because money is stupid and mean.

[uponit7771]

27. He's no doubt an opportunist, he doesn't believe half the crap that comes out of his mouth

[woodsprite]

32. I've known many really bright people

I work at a University with some really prominent professors in their fields, but some of them are the dumbest people when it comes to common sense things. I think Carson falls into that category.

One really bright Econ prof called me up to his classroom because he couldn't get his computer working. He applauded that I was able to walk in and get it running for him in a few seconds. He asked me to share with his class how I troubleshot the problem and fixed it. I felt horrible about it, but I told him it was the first thing I tried, I plugged it into the electrical outlet. Honestly, that was the only thing I did.

[Gothmog]

36. Doctors are really bad business persons

There is a term in the securities business called DDDs which means dumb doctor deals. If a promoter has a deal that is too stupid to sell to anyone else, they target doctors who are really bad business persons

[pansypoo53219]

37. drs focus on the minutia. need larger view to get REAL perspectives.

[TeamPooka]

39. Ben Carson is a fucking idiot. Period. Don't make more of him than the idiot he is. nt