NPR exec claims intelligence while exhibiting none

It really didn't bother me when I was taking a class at Northern Illinois University and the professor suggested that, "One day, computer programmers may be able to take all of your brainwaves and create a program of your mind and thoughts so that you would live inside the Internet." Flaky? Sure. A little bit moronic? Absolutely. Does that kind of thinking have a place in the 'real world?' Come on? But, at least he didn't ask me to watch a performance of two people having sex or something.

On the other hand, I was bothered today when I saw the video of NPR executives Ron Schiller and Betsy Liley speaking to what they thought were two men with $5 million to give from the Muslim Brotherhood in America.

There was a lot said by these two NPR geniuses that bothered me, like the laughable statement that TEA Party people are fanatically involved in people's lives, but there was one other thing that prompted me to write here today. I was bothered by their comments that fit with the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal brush the Left has consistently tried to use to paint conservatives and, in particular, members of the TEA Party.

Schiller spoke of how 'his' country has disturbed and disappointed him. He said that the "educated, so-called elite is too small a percentage of the population (but, apparently, a couple members smaller than he was counting)."

He added that "you have this very large uneducated" group that is more "about anti-intellectualism."

I used to talk to people about how the things they taught in college didn't exactly fit well in the real world - like making a computer program out of your brainwaves. But, it really goes much deeper than that. Many of the ideas better left in academia are not as obviously idiotic as abandoning our bodies to exist as programs in the Internet.

If you want an example of what happens when someone takes naively wild ideas out of the classroom and tries them out in the real world, you need look no further than the White House. Barack Obama is the epitome of someone better placed in the figurative world of ideas than operating where the rubber meets the road. It's like giving the keys to someone who once read a book about driving a car instead of someone who has actually been down the road a time or two.

Above all, what Schiller exhibited is the kind of arrogance I love about 'the elite' - it makes them such easy targets. And, in the process, it reminds us 'little people' that all those letters beyond their names don't necessarily make them any wiser than the rest of us.

I don't have a Phd after my name. I do have a dozen credits towards a masters degree, however. During the time I've spent in academia, I've met some very intelligent people. Some of them have less common sense than a lab rat but they can still provide the solutions to complex mathematical equations.

We have a need, in the real world, for people who can solve such problems. However, when I checkout of the grocery store, in spite of the rise in food prices, I still don't need a scientific calculator to do the math. We also have a need in this world for intellectuals, people who will explore and consider those things we don't otherwise have time to consider. But, thankfully, engineers building aircraft for Boeing don't apply theoretical equations to the process. They like to test out the theoretical before launching airplanes filled with hundreds of living, breathing, non-theoretical bodies.

The truth is, after numerous years in academia, where I've met some very intelligent people, I can honestly say that, some of the smartest people I've ever met never went to college. Some of them never even finished high school. I had a friend who couldn't read or write but could do things with a tool-and-die machine that were out of this world.

One of the most important things I've learned about intelligence is that it's value is dramatically diminished when accompanied by arrogance. Arrogance, after all, is the exhibition of absolute confidence that one is correct. Once we reach that point, there's no reason to search any further for answers. And if Schiller is disturbed and disappointed, I suggest that he look within first before casting stones where he obviously hasn't really looked.