To Err Is Interesting

[from 9/16/09]

What I think the guy meant when he said "To err is human; to forgive divine", not having had the patience to read the whole piece, is that poetry critics should lighten up on the grounds that they then might come nearer to the divine. But all I hear is "to err is human", and isn't that what makes humans so interesting? Whereas the divine must bore us all, judging from the abundant lack of forgiveness. So why go there?

My entire interest in human history and current affairs is based on my love of error. I've always enjoyed error. Error and folly, or as I prefer to call them, stupid and stupidity, ought to be the principle objects of study in all anthropology and political science curricula, and central to the study of psychology. Of course history should be understood as the study of almost nothing but the trajectories of errors, propagating through time and space. Especially the parts having to do with the "leaders."

As much as I want to see error and stupidity take a central role in human self-knowledge, it does pain me a little when amateurs set about calling attention to it. This is what happened last Wednesday when Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to his workplace. Clearly what Mr. Wilson should have said was "You are in error!" and "Read my blog" and he should have posted an explanation of the president's error in 500 words or less online. He could have used his Blackberry to post it from the floor of Congress. So far no real explanation has appeared.

During the rebuttal, another Republican amateur stupid-spotter didn't spot one actual instance of stupid error in Obama's speech. This is astonishing, because even I could spot mistakes in it, and I approve of the president's plan.

For example, when Mr. Wilson was shouting "You lie!" to Obama, what Obama had said was that the plan he would accept would not insure illegal aliens. In reality, illegal aliens are allowed, RIGHT NOW, to obtain insurance in this country, by PAYING FOR IT out of their earnings from their illegal jobs, and nothing in any plan under consideration by the Democrats would prevent that from continuing to happen. What the plans say is that illegal immigrants won't be given any government assistance to help pay their premiums. So what Obama said was erroneous, and if Wilson had not been such a poor student of error, he could be the one telling you all this, instead of me. By the way, I'm all for illegal immigrants buying their own insurance.

Right after the shouting, and after the evil eye from Nancy Pelosi, Obama went on to say, "... no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." Why didn't anyone in Congress then shout "Error! What federal conscience laws?" If we had federal conscience laws, how could we have congressmen?

I can understand why Republicans are prepared to believe that Obama is evil, given that they've been demonizing liberals for decades, but even if the man's mistakes are intentional you still have to say how they are mistakes, or you haven't really called him out. Step one, tell me what he stepped in. After that you can go on to convince me he stepped in it on purpose.

Exercises to Better Know Your Stupidity

1. The Republicans say the Democratic plan would fund insurance for illegal aliens on the grounds that they wouldn't pass a bill that would totally rule it out. Using that reasoning, prove that the Democratic plan will fund breast implants, sex lubricants, and removal of heads from asses.

2. Obama said he wants to prevent insurers from dropping your coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Draw as many stupid conclusions as you can from that fact. Here's a hint to help you get started: liberals consider sexual orientation to be a pre-existing condition.