http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/256445/new-sophists-victor-davis-hansonAnother fine bit of observation from VDH, who has the audacity to open his eyes and report what he sees, rather than what the neo-sophists would prefer to be.
"We are living in a new age of sophism — but without a modern Socrates to remind the public just how silly our highly credentialed and privileged new rhetoricians can be."VDH gives several examples of the credentialed class making statements at odds with empirical data.
"In 2009, brilliant economists in the Obama administration — Peter Orszag, Larry Summers, and Christina Romer — assured us that record trillion-plus budget defects were critical to prevent stalled growth and 10 percent unemployment. For nearly two years we have experienced both, but now with an additional $3 trillion in national debt. All three have quietly returned to either academia or Wall Street."
"One constant here is equating wisdom with a certificate of graduation from a prestigious school....
America is huge and diverse, but the world of our credentialed experts is quite small, warped, and monotonous...
In classical sophistic fashion, rhetoric is never far from personal profit... "
