Inquiring minds want to know: how do you train an aging brain?"
For one thing, older heads should "challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways, adult learners should 'jiggle their synapses a bit' by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own... 'bump up against people and ideas' that are different... [this includes] reading multiple viewpoints, and then prying open brain networks by reflecting on how what was learned has changed your view of the world."
So that's why I made myself sit down, at Step-Mom's house, with her new Christmas copy of the latest Glenn Beck bestseller.
I'm afraid I didn't find it a very mind-expanding or neuron-stretching experience. How did Arguing with Idiots change my view of the world? Only subtly. It reminded me of the profound wisdom of Mark Twain's insight that you shouldn't argue with idiots because observers might be unable to tell the difference.
So I put Glenn Beck back on his dusty shelf... and didn't pick up Going Rogue.
I do promise, though, in my never-ending quest to retrain this aging brain, to look for intelligent representations of that end of the political spectrum next time I'm in Border's or Barnes & Noble.
But I won't expect to find them on the bestseller table.
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Charles Darwin (
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3 comments:
Hey, Phil,
This doesn't have anything to do with your post, but Auburn beat Northwestern 38-35 in overtime in the Outback Bowl yesterday. I knew Auburn was going to win when I heard that Northwestern's quarterback was named Kafka--Mike, not Franz, but still ... He threw five interceptions and his team lost on a fake field goal that he had nothing to do with. Would it be a stretch to call it a Kafkaesque defeat?
Gina
Maybe not, but a really Kafka-esque defeat would involve someone getting squashed like a bug, no? Or possibly having the game end inconclusively, with the officials refusing to take responsibility for enforcing the rules? (This is reminding me of that Monty Python "football" game between the Greeks and the Germans...)
As to your post...Although not a huge fan of Beck; I recently read a book by Glenn Beck that was so wonderful I gave it as a gift to my son. He was not impressed with the concept at all. So I suggested we try the concept on for size. He was so sure it was “bogus”, but when the day was done he agreed that it was all true! I highly recommend his book, “The Christmas Sweater”.
Irene =-)
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