In 2010 Thomas Sowell blasted The Smartest People in the World with his book, Intellectuals and Society, delving deep into the question of just how stupid these people are. I reviewed the book for Chalcedon.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/a-review-of-intellectuals-and-society
As you will have seen from my review (if you’ve read it), Dr. Sowell didn’t devote any effort to discovering why intellectuals have such asinine beliefs. I would have liked to have asked him why he didn’t get into that, but he wasn’t available at the time. I admire Dr. Sowell and I would love to have interviewed him.
The question not having been addressed by the author, it remained for the reviewer to do his best with it.
I greatly enjoyed your excellent review of that brilliant book that can be seen as maddening to some. Dr. Sowell wrote much that needs to be learned. I see “Intellectuals and Society” as a basic introduction to today’s issues, a work that can be read by believers and non-believers alike; signs of strong Judeo-Christian belief would have the work rejected by critics and very many readers alike. I agree with your desire that he would follow that work with another that will provide the completion of that necessary information.
Of great interest to me was the revelations made about the sociopathic evil of George Bernard Shaw and the echoing of David Rockefeller’s admiration of Chairman Mao’s implementation of Marxism by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times. Friedman wrote that the tyranny of red China imposed “critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.” “Move forward,” a popular phrase of the day. Any idea where we are going? Next train to Auschwitz? Get in line for your chip? Mark of the Beast here? Get the results of the latest medical advancement in your vaccine here?
Maybe now that Sowell is retired he may be more available for an interview.
Good review. I read the book a few years back and was blessed by it. My own review is here: https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/review-intellectuals-and-society-by-thomas-sowell/
Thanks for the clip, I’ve read it–cool, that we reviewed the same book. But like I said, it would’ve been even better had Dr. Sowell delved into the reasons *why* intellectuals believe such tommyrot.
I agree, wished he did went over why and you rightly identified the root problem in your review
I’ve always wondered why he didn’t address it. I don’t think of Thomas Sowell as being bashful.