wood for the trees..., page-33

DreamTrader...

Lol…”Dr t4p”…do I get to feel breasts?

Sorry to do this, but you have touched on one of my hobby-horses, so turn off now if you are not in the mood for it.

Here goes…

Don't need to have letters behind your name to be knowledgeable...and those that live for such things simply don't get it in my view. Anyone can learn "stuff" and repeat it parrot fashion...a bit like some chart traders, lol…albeit perhaps with some form of reinterpretation thrown in to show they actually understand it?

For me it is the actual journey of knowledge that excites, chasing the path of information and comprehending it…then developing on it…which can often lead you to all sorts of detours (distractions).

Don't need a badge for it...it doesn't change what you know, or who you are!

The real reward in my view is the pleasure of sharing such information once you have a handle on it!

I attribute this view to one of me very early teachers, who may have been running a math class for example...only to finish the day discussing Killer Whales, or the meaning behind the words "million dollar riff" in the song by the Skyhooks!

True...such diversions were quite common in his classes and yes these are actual examples. What this did however was set me on a path for knowledge…but one preempted with an open mind and little restriction on where it might lead.

Anyway my point is, I do not understand why most people seem to feel better than everyone else because they happen to know something that others do not...I do not understand how people can hoard knowledge in light of how they got it?

This is not just about scholarly education by the way...it can be just as apt for the “blokes” in the pub who might look down on the guy who does not know how to talk their “lingo”, or how to drive a “b-double”, or whatever their skill set may be that sets them apart…which of course is just another form of elitism.

Religion, politics, racism...war...they are all just extensions of the same basic segregation of "them and us"

As for education based elitism, this is the worst kind in my view, as knowledge at least should give people the capacity to know better…or at least it should, unless of course they haven’t actually learnt very much yet? Sadly, I know many highly educated people who in my view, simply don't "get it"...and by that I mean they seem to feel “better” than others because of what they know.

We all have different capacities for learning, be they influenced by environmental, physiological, social or other issues. More often than not however, "intelligence" (or lack thereof), has relatively little to do with knowledge…which of course is the opposite inference many "educated" people like to make towards those who aren't.

Even slow computers can be loaded with lots of “stuff”…it just takes a little longer to upload!

Intellectualism, in my view, is the last real "ism" that is still readily tolerated by society...but it shouldn’t be and it's time will eventually come I suspect.

Frankly...I really fail to see why those with capacities that others do not have, often feel the need to let everyone know about it...to exploit it so to speak…are they really that insecure? What is going on with such behavior...I mean really...what are they trying to prove? Do people actually feel better within themselves if they have "Dr" at the start of their name...or any number of letters at the end…or can make less educated people feel somehow inferior?

Not everyone does this of course and I accept I am very much generalising here...but there are many who do behave in such a way and the amazing thing in my mind is that with the sort of segregation such"titles" present, society is actually giving them the tools to do so..tools for tools?

Sadly, it is obvious that we are still very much suffering today from the sort of social elitism entrenched from our past...lol...have you ever really thought about just how silly a Judge (of all people), looks in his little white wig and Santa Clause outfit?

I mean, this is the year 2007...what are they doing playing dress-ups for work? Isn't it about time they try to "get it"?

To give you an idea of what I think of such things; I was actually offered an honorary degree from a Melbourne uni...I turned them down because I could not see the point of it…it meant nothing to me. The problem for them was that I was teaching year 4 subjects at the particular institution, yet I was only a year 1 student in the very same subjects...lol...on paper, completely unqualified to be teaching!

This “deal” however meant little about what I actually knew, but everything about "perceptions" and "rules"...lol...what a wank?

I ceased teaching there after 3 years...had better things to do...but they offered me a fast-tracked doctorate if I returned; all I had to do was simply submit one of the many "reports" I had done for the classes to fulfill my thesis requirements.

I turned them down of course…and never did finish my final year, so still unqualified…lol

Another example, I proactively "helped" my first partner through a masters degree in biochemistry...I knew nothing about it, have forgotten most now too, but for the purpose of the exercise, simply went about finding out as much as I could on the specifics of her particular subject paper and pretty much wrote a shadow thesis as a back-up reference for her...just for the sake of it. She eventually presented it as a separate offering to her own with full recognition of my authorship. lol...I won't tell you the result, but the professor was more than interested in my "process"…and assumptions…and still has my paper apparently?

lol...talk about getting side-tracked here?

Anyway, the point of all this ranting is that in my view knowledge is to be shared...and celebrated...this is how society managed to get where it is today. The alternative is some sort of dark-ages filtered release or virtual repossession of real knowledge, burning of books and censorship of anyone who says anything that may result in the “great unwashed” finding stuff out…like how the earth is not actually flat...or how witches do not actually weigh the same as ducks because they are made of wood...

Oooohh aaaarh no...I hear you gasp, no way?

Or heavens forbid, that someone should suggest that the markets are actually rigged to favor the “sophisticates”, via all sorts of “vehicles”…be it brokers, media "placements" or otherwise…and that price manipulation is very much entrenched in the system as a sort of necessary evil.

Oooohh aaaarh no...I hear you gasp, no way?

Not one person who has ever gained a qualification, in fact not a single one of you reading this post, has ever gained any knowledge without someone else sharing what they knew first.

Not one!

Think about that next time you decide to keep something to yourself...or worse, look down on others because you know something they do not...or even worse still, try to stop someone else from genuinely sharing information they have!

We were all babies once...we all knew absolutely nothing other than how to suck, make noise and shi.t our nappies.

lol...seems some on HC have not changed one little bit?

Cheers!