The PZ Effect

Zoulapia

Quote of the Day: The Way Things Are

Kevin Carson offers an excellent analysis on the recent post by the WSJ on Power Trips. This quote struck me:

In conversations with authoritarians about the stupidity of the pointy-haired bosses, I frequently encounter statements  that “they’ve been put in authority for a reason, and it’s been decided that blah blah woof woof.”  Note the passive voice.  The people in authority, and their policies, are just part of “the way things are,” embedded in the nature of the universe.

Nothing more to say really except to suggest that you read both articles. The WSJ one especially is yet another nail on the coffin of the "Human Nature" myth where humans require some englightened authority to lead them through the straight and narrow.

Quote of the Day: Idiots

Quoth Hans Mondermann

When you treat people like idiots, they’ll behave like idiots.

The whole article is really insightful on the way that people think and interact with each other, with or without someone else (i.e. an authority) doing the thinking for them. This is very similar to the other quote I posted a while back and it also reinforced my observations on obedience.

It further presses the point on how wrong it is for people to defer to (corporate-provided) experts, who much of the time, especially in social sciences like economics and traffic, have a very limited perspective and are unable to reconsider their premises.