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Holy Crap - The Revolution is about to start

Ha! Believe me, Harvard has produced some colossal fools over the years. Even one of the other foolish presidents mentioned above, Mr George Walker Bush, Jr.
 
Dumbya went to Harvard Business School. He got his first degree from Yale, where no doubt he was a legacy admission. Nixon would certainly not have been a legacy admission to Harvard.
 
Politesse said:
Ha! Believe me, America has produced some colossal fools over the years. Even one of the other foolish presidents mentioned above, Mr George Walker Bush, Jr.
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FTFY.

Which doesn't make us any different from any other people or culture. We're just richer and more powerful. Our mistakes are huge.
Tom
 
IMO, wisdom involves experience, while intelligence is the ability to approach a new situation with little or no prior experience, using existing knowledge and applying it effectively.

Edit: Nixon was knowledgeable but not necessarily intelligent.
 
TomC said:
Politesse said:
Ha! Believe me, America has produced some colossal fools over the years. Even one of the other foolish presidents mentioned above, Mr George Walker Bush, Jr.
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FTFY.

Which doesn't make us any different from any other people or culture. We're just richer and more powerful. Our mistakes are huge.
Tom
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Indeed. I would not choose many places in the world over the United States. But we are not immune to the inherent weaknesses (and corresponding strengths) of democratic governance. Politics is struggle, and it never ends.
 
Nixon wasn't stupid. He was just a crook, despite him saying, "I am not a crook". At least he helped start the EPA, which Trump wants to end. Nixon was known as tricky dick, not stupid dick.
 
If Nixon ordering the Watergate break-in, recording incriminating conversations in the Oval Office, attempting to cover it all up, and then firing key officials in the ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ isn’t having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense, we might need to redefine stupid. :whistle:
 
southernhybrid said:
Nixon wasn't stupid. He was just a crook, despite him saying, "I am not a crook". At least he helped start the EPA, which Trump wants to end. Nixon was known as tricky dick, not stupid dick.
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There are smart crooks. But do smart crooks keep assiduous records of their crimes, and let everyone know those records exist?
 
I think in the case of Watergate, Nixon’s screwups were not those of a stupid or unintelligent man, but rather of a man intoxicated with hubris and the arrogance of power, alloyed with deep insecurity, paranoia, and hatred for those he felt had looked down on him. Lyndon Johnson, also an intelligent man, had many of the same traits, which led to the Vietnam debacle.
 
pood said:
I think in the case of Watergate, Nixon’s screwups were not those of a stupid or unintelligent man, but rather of a man intoxicated with hubris and the arrogance of power, alloyed with deep insecurity, paranoia, and hatred for those he felt had looked down on him. Lyndon Johnson, also an intelligent man, had many of the same traits, which led to the Vietnam debacle.
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I agree and despite Johnson accomplishing some excellent things, I tend to think he decided not to run for another term due to the mess in Viet Nam. Perhaps we can say that Nixon and Johnson were smart, but they weren't very wise. There is certainly a difference and it takes a lot of life experience in most cases to wise up.

Some older people like my brother in law never acquire any wisdom. Despite having a doctoral degree he is an idiot who just voted for Trump. Based on some things he told Mr. Sohy today, I think he's getting his disinformation from Faux news or Newsmax.

Are we going to keep arguing about whether or not Nixon was smart or stupid? :stupid:
 
pood said:
I think in the case of Watergate, Nixon’s screwups were not those of a stupid or unintelligent man, but rather of a man intoxicated with hubris and the arrogance of power, alloyed with deep insecurity, paranoia, and hatred for those he felt had looked down on him. Lyndon Johnson, also an intelligent man, had many of the same traits, which led to the Vietnam debacle.
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Ah, so we’re saying Nixon’s intelligence was so high that it spiraled right around to classic dumb fuckery? It’s like claiming he was operating on a whole different level of ‘genius,’ where intense self-doubt, paranoia, and a dash of unchecked power created a perfect recipe for strategic blunders.
 
I think it is that intelligence is no guarantee against doing stupid stuff and committing awful blunders, because innate character and personality often and perhaps usually trump careful considered thinking, and if character and personality are flawed an intelligent person might do very stupid things.
 
I see now. So, Trump inciting a revolution could be seen as an intelligent person letting emotions, biases, and distractions drive him to act in stupid ways.
 
Gospel said:
pood said:
I think in the case of Watergate, Nixon’s screwups were not those of a stupid or unintelligent man, but rather of a man intoxicated with hubris and the arrogance of power, alloyed with deep insecurity, paranoia, and hatred for those he felt had looked down on him. Lyndon Johnson, also an intelligent man, had many of the same traits, which led to the Vietnam debacle.
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Ah, so we’re saying Nixon’s intelligence was so high that it spiraled right around to classic dumb fuckery? It’s like claiming he was operating on a whole different level of ‘genius,’ where intense self-doubt, paranoia, and a dash of unchecked power created a perfect recipe for strategic blunders.
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What we are really saying is that intelligence and integrity do not correlate. In fact, integrity often gets in the way of ambition. With enough ambition, intelligence matters less than one would like to think and integrity, not at all.
 
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