I don’t think that the high bidder
for the “Three Urinals” was necessarily stupid. I’m sure the bidder regards it
as an investment that will surely appreciate in an increasingly crazy art
market. I don’t think the artist was stupid because anyone who could put
something over like that has to rank with the craftiest con men. The really
stupid thing was the commentary that featured a breathless curator at the
Museum of Modern art extolling the virtue of the “Three Urinals.” Here’s a link to a short video, or just view below.
Next in stupidity was the news
that an economist from MIT, who had consulted for the Obama administration on
the framing of the “Affordable Care Act”, has admitted that he deliberately
fudged the cost figures because the American people were too “stupid” to
understand the truth. Apparently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had to
be fed phony figures (“garbage” in the words of one official) so that they
could turn out figures that a stupid public and their representatives would
swallow.
It turns out that despite the
President’s pledge, it was never intended that the American people could keep their
policies if they liked them. It turns out that popular employer sponsored plans
were secretly targeted for elimination, as were popular Health Maintenance
plans employed by Seniors instead of Medicare.
We can’t say that the MIT
economist was stupid because he was paid around $400000 for his consulting
work, and still was able to keep his own medical plan at MIT. Also, I don’t
think the American people are as stupid as he thinks. The really stupid in this
episode were the bureaucrats at the CBO who connived in the deception; the
people’s representatives in Congress who voted for Obamacare without reading or
understanding all its ramifications; and the media who swallowed all the “garbage”
without question.
Here in Connecticut another
example of stupidity came out right after the re-election of Democrat Governor
Dannell Malloy for another four-year term. In the week after Election Day the
State’s budget office released the startling figures that showed the State
facing a projected $100 Million deficit in this fiscal year. Certainly, the
Governor and his minions in the budget office are not stupid since they wisely
withheld the information until after the election.
The stupid are the editors,
reporters, and commentators of the local newspaper whose coverage of the
campaign was totally oblivious to the impending deficit, and who could only
claim to be "shocked, shocked" by the news. Throughout the campaign they had chosen to
follow the Governor’s lead and concentrate their attention upon the Republican
opponent’s character and wealth. To be fair, I have to say that Republican
candidate demonstrated his own share of stupidity when he failed to focus on
the impending budget shortfall.
Finally, on the local level, the
head of the Fairfield Democrat committee responded to charges that one of her
candidates lost because she ran a “negative” campaign. She explained that
whatever was said about the candidate's opponent could not be negative because
it was true. It didn't occur to her that when you stress your own candidate’s
character and achievements, that is “positive.” But when you focus on the
opponent’s lack of character and achievement, that is “negative.” Either the
head of the local Democrat party, like the MIT economist, thinks we are stupid,
or else she is just stupid herself.
Let me just end with a note from a
friend in England about the “Three Urinals.” He told me that he had gone for a
walk in a local park and came upon a rest station where he also found three urinals.
He took a photo and sent it to me. They looked to be in pristine working condition,
and unlike their modern art cousins seem to be good for something,
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