Bernie Sanders, Cuban literacy, and unspeakable truths
Something different today, just 'cuz. Two brief news-o'-the-week posts.
I am going to say something nnnnnnn... ni...
Hey! That's clearly an adjective, so don't even think about it. Diagram your sentences, kids!
Anyway, I'm going to say something that is actually nice to Bernie Sanders.
This is going to hurt. But, don't worry, I haven't lost my mind. (I don't think I have, but then, how would one know?) Cuban literacy. Fidel Castro was a brutal dictator and a horrible person who happened to improve Cuban literacy rates. That means that if you look at the complete list of everything he did, even though the totality of what he did was overwhelmingly horrible, it wasn't 100% horrible. The set of things he did included at least that one good thing. This is called a "true statement." Bernie Sanders said a true thing. He said a brave true thing.
Oh, that hurt.
OK, time to make myself feel better by explaining why Bernie Sanders still sucks. Why can I say this? I'm what you call, "a professor." My job is to say true things. In particular, my job is to say uncomfortable true things. In tenure veritas! I'm gettin' so much mileage out of that blog title. Sanders is a politician. A bad one. (Unless he's just on Trump's payroll.)
Politicians can't say those things. Why not? Basically, most people are incapable of processing complexity, and if you want their votes, you need to behave accordingly.
If Sanders wanted to say things like that, he should have gone into academia. Then again, there are plenty of true things that even I can't say. So much for my blog title. What can't I say? Obviously, I can't tell you. That would be telling. (Hey, Prisoner catch-phrase. My last blog was titled after a Prisoner reference.)
I am going to say something nnnnnnn... ni...
Hey! That's clearly an adjective, so don't even think about it. Diagram your sentences, kids!
Anyway, I'm going to say something that is actually nice to Bernie Sanders.
This is going to hurt. But, don't worry, I haven't lost my mind. (I don't think I have, but then, how would one know?) Cuban literacy. Fidel Castro was a brutal dictator and a horrible person who happened to improve Cuban literacy rates. That means that if you look at the complete list of everything he did, even though the totality of what he did was overwhelmingly horrible, it wasn't 100% horrible. The set of things he did included at least that one good thing. This is called a "true statement." Bernie Sanders said a true thing. He said a brave true thing.
Oh, that hurt.
OK, time to make myself feel better by explaining why Bernie Sanders still sucks. Why can I say this? I'm what you call, "a professor." My job is to say true things. In particular, my job is to say uncomfortable true things. In tenure veritas! I'm gettin' so much mileage out of that blog title. Sanders is a politician. A bad one. (Unless he's just on Trump's payroll.)
Politicians can't say those things. Why not? Basically, most people are incapable of processing complexity, and if you want their votes, you need to behave accordingly.
If Sanders wanted to say things like that, he should have gone into academia. Then again, there are plenty of true things that even I can't say. So much for my blog title. What can't I say? Obviously, I can't tell you. That would be telling. (Hey, Prisoner catch-phrase. My last blog was titled after a Prisoner reference.)
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