Čez vikend sem se zabaval z branjem diskusije na blogosferi o tem, kako nekomu posredno reči, da je neumen, ne da bi bili grobi do njega. Debata se je razvnela, ker je Larry Kotlikoff protestiral, ker naj bi Paul Krugman napisal, da je kongresnik Paul Ryan neumen. Krugman je bil v resnici precej bolj fin – za oznako Ryana si je sposodil oznako Ezre Kleina iz leta 2007: “a stupid person’s idea of what a thoughtful person sounds like.” No, s tem je v resnici užalil Ryanove volilce in konzervativce, ki se jim zdijo Ryanove ideje razumne in premišljene.
Hja, jaz sem se pred dvema letoma vprašal o prištevnosti nekdanjega predsednika vlade, ko je z nespametno izjavo podžgal špekulacije finančnih trgov o bankrotu Slovenije, kar se je nekaterim zdelo žaljivo. Morda bi moral uporabiti bolj prijazno posredno oznako in se vprašati o prištevnosti volilcev, katerim se takšna oseba zdi tako razumna, da dobi dovolj glasov, da lahko postane predsednik vlade. In ni edina. Ima precej konkurence. Sploh pa na levici oziroma levi sredini. Od tod moja oznaka volilnega telesa izpred enega meseca Ta nacija potrebuje psihiatra.
Če koga zanima (iz vidika intelektualne zvedavosti), je spodaj povzetek diskusije o razumnosti Paula Ryana:
Larry Kotlikoff: Paul Krugman: Stop Calling People Names: “Paul Krugman [has] a responsibility to act like [a] grownup…
…If they start calling people with different views “stupid,” they demean themselves and convey the message that name calling rather than respectful debate is appropriate conduct…. None of we economists know anything for dead sure…. A key job economists have is to explain the different views we have about how the economy works before explaining why we prefer our view. Simply saying “You’re wrong, I’m right, and, furthermore, you’re stupid for not agreeing with me.” is something you’d expect from a child, not a grown up and certainly not from a columnist for the New York Times who sports a Nobel Prize…. I’m sorry, but Paul Ryan is not stupid…. I’m very proud to call Paul Ryan my friend even though we don’t agree on everything and even though I voted for President Obama twice…
I read this, and my first reaction is: did Larry Kotlikoff read?
Let’s back up: What does Paul Krugman write? He writes:
One of the best insults I’ve ever read came from Ezra Klein, who now is editor in chief of Vox.com. In 2007, he described Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, as “a stupid person’s idea of what a thoughtful person sounds like.” It’s a funny line, which applies to quite a few public figures. Representative Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is a prime current example….
Did Ezra Klein call Dick Armey “stupid”?
No.
Ezra Klein said that a stupid person would think that Dick Armey was thoughtful.
Does Ezra Klein think that Dick Armey is stupid?
No.
Ezra Klein’s point is that Dick Armey is not an “honest, thoughtful, crackling-with-ideas type conservative… [with high] intellectual energy”, but rather something else, something else that presents a simulacrum of thoughtfulness that is convincing to stupid people.
Does Paul Krugman call Paul Ryan “stupid”?
No.
Paul Krugman’s point is that Paul Ryan is like Dick Armey–someone who presents a simulacrum of thoughtfulness that is convincing to stupid people (or, I would argue, simply not paying a great deal of attention).
Vir: Brad DeLong
In še Krugmanov odziv:
[…] No, I didn’t say that Paul Ryan is stupid. I did imply — and have said explicitly on many other occasions — that he is a con man. Why did I do that?
Not as a way to avoid having a substantive discussion. I’ve documented Ryan’s many cons very extensively, showing in particular that his budgets were sold on false pretenses — all the alleged fiscal responsibility lay not in the much-hyped changes to Medicare, but in magic asterisks claiming huge but unspecified savings from discretionary spending and huge but unspecified revenue gains from closing loopholes he refused to name.
DAMIJAN blog 