If you don't believe in (recognize) white privilege why the fuck are you on a Democratic Forum?

[betsuni]

161. Morons

I always think of Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum":

"There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics. ... Cretins don't even talk; they sort of slobber and stumble. You know, the guy who presses the ice ream cone against this forehead, or enters a revolving door the wrong way. ... Being a fool is more complicated. It's a form of social behavior. ... He's the guy who puts his foot in his mouth ... Fools are in great demand, especially on social occasions. They embarrass everyone but provide material for conversation. In their positive form, they become diplomats. ... Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, and therefore cats bark. ... Morons are tricky. You can spot the fool right away (not to mention the cretin), but the moron reasons almost the way you do; the gap is infinitesimal. A moron is a master of paralogism. ... Plenty of morons' books are published, because they're convincing at first glance. ... The whole history of logic consists of attempts to define an acceptable notion of moronism. A task too immense. Every great thinker is someone else's moron. ... A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn't know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic, on the other hand, doesn't concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idee fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy."

I saw this lovely example of moronic logic right here on DU:

If all white people are privileged and I am white, then I am privileged. But I am not privileged, I am poor and worked so hard so this is wrong because if you say 100% ALL EVERY white person is privileged and there is one white person who is poor, it doesn't affect all white people so white privilege cannot exist.

Ouch, typing that out made my brains hurt. So many examples of moronic thinking here!