Kerry's Joke
- Posted by Andrew Bailey on Friday, November 03, 2006 at 7:57 AM
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7 Comments |
The quotation in question: "Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Suppose we don't take Kerry (or his aides) at their word; that is, suppose that he really was making a jab at the intelligence of those in the US military.
In all the talk about whether Kerry's remark is offensive or not, there's one point I've yet to see addressed; is it true? It seems to me that if it isn't, then perhaps some have the right to be outraged. If it's true, though, then I think the most we can say is that it was unwise of Kerry to assert it. I'd be curious to see any commentary or data addressing this de facto question.
Links, thoughts, anyone?
7 Comments:
Noumena at 4:23 PM said... It's not true. I have a few friends and distant relatives who are either enlisted or were seriously considering enlisting. None of them are geniuses, but they all did at least okay in high school, and could have gone to college if they had been able to afford it. One of my cousins was actually signed up to join the Marines, but got out at the last possible moment and, thanks to some family connections, was able to land an apprenticeship repairing tractor-trailers.
Frankly, I'm a little shocked that you would even wonder about whether or not it's true. For a lot of working class folks, college is unaffordable, working in the service industry won't pay enough to support a family, and unionized, manufacturing jobs are hard to get (if you can find them). The military is the only really viable career option. And that's to say nothing of middle class folks who join the National Guard to help pay for college or out of a sense of obligation.
Andrew Bailey at 9:37 PM said... It seems to me that sometimes we are justified in outrage at things people say, and sometimes not. One relevant factor is whether the said things are true or not. If one is determined to be offended by the Kerry quotation, it'd better well turn out to be false... doesn't that thought strike you as the right reaction?
Noumena at 7:12 AM said... Actually, I don't think that's so clear. Offense at a racist, sexist, heterosexist, classist, &c., remark can be justified simply because the remark is racist, &c., and completely independently of whether or not the remark is true.
But suppose that, in a significant class of cases, veracity is relevant. Even then, what Kerry said was so obviously false that the question "Well, is it the case that it's false, or not?" implicit in "it'd better well turn out to be false" is the wrong reaction.
Let's take a more extreme example. Suppose some neo-Nazi said "The white race has a duty to commit genocide." It seems clear to me that asking "Well, is it the case that the white race has a duty to commit genocide, or not?" is definitely the wrong reaction, and the right reaction is (at least) "No, of course the white race has a duty *not* to commit genocide." I would even be inclined to argue that the first reaction is itself racist.
James A. Gibson at 9:28 AM said... "I would even be inclined to argue that the first reaction is itself racist."
I don't see how that's correct. Perhaps an argument will help, unless you're convinced that to even be in this position epistemically is already too degenerate to see your point. Setting that aside, how the argument would the go? Thanks!
James A. Gibson at 9:29 AM said... Yikes. That should read, "How would the argument go?" :)
at 5:12 PM said... There is a worrisome philosophical mistake that was repeatedly committed in reporting this story. Of course, to say "If you don't study hard, you get stuck in Iraq," is not to say "If you are stuck in Iraq, you haven't studied hard." Such equivocation would be "affirming the consequent." It is surprising how frequently this mistake was made, including by at least one philosophy Ph.D., Bill Bennett.
the metaphysician at 6:30 PM said... One can also do well by marrying into a billionaire family. :)
