Public figures are often wrong and fool you frequently.
Here are a few things to ponder:
• If you believe a comedian about the Founding Fathers, you don't have an education. George Carlin, Robin Williams, Daniel Tosh and others decry them as "slave owners" as part of their act.
Hey. It's an act. What you're doing, when you believe something they say, is join the good feeling of the moment with their schtick - even though there are heinously wrong elements to their presentation.
What the founders did was make it possible for rights to be extended to all, an idea that just plain didn't exist anywhere in practice. We've just been too comfortable for too long to think about that.
What you do when you believe celebrity is confuse opinion with an information source. George Carlin was the colloquial master of English, bar none - but that doesn't make him right in any case. You might like to believe CNN, or Rush Limbaugh, but even on their best days they are merely repeating what someone else said, and they have no real duty to produce objective data.
Notice this? Whenever you're looking at the big news of the day, there are a hundred talking heads trying to scare you - but they're all talking about the same reporter's story. One story!
• If you think a corporation needs to be punished in some way, think about their charter - actually, you might want to think about what a corporation is. Yes, it really can be shown to be a fictional person, established in order to coordinate an activity, like manufacturing (on this point, you probably really ought to listen to the multi-millionaire, rather than a professional mouth). It is actually not your business what their CEO is paid. The charter of the corporation states that. If you clamor for the company officers to travel together, for instance, so that you can personally feel more comfortable about their energy use in a time of high gas prices, you probably ought to think about their actual job: protecting the investors in their company. Don't whine just because you're not one. You have that opportunity. Which brings me to another point.
• Don't base your opinion on wealth envy. Especially when you vote.
I have some harsh news for you: every measure to limit wealth has made it harder for the poor to get there. In fact, every measure to tax wealth has mixed results. A good example is the "luxury tax". Hundreds of boatbuilders were put out of business in Florida alone when it was enacted, as a 10% price hike killed business. Very expensive yachts are now built overseas, because only an idiot would pay a million more dollars on a ten-million-dollar yacht when she could have one shipped here from the Netherlands or Singapore for less.
Maybe that isn't obvious, so I'll spell it out for you: trying to punish "the rich" put tens of thousands of ordinary people out of a job - and actually cost other taxpayers as those people took unemployment benefits.
The bottom line is that legal limits are fine, but basing things on simple jealousy is just plain petty, and you will identify yourself as such.
• Don't believe any organization has the same goals you do.
There may be a coincidence, but if there is a choice between representing you and preserving the existence of the organization - you lose. Sometimes you can see this. Right now, educators are in the news constantly. Somehow, teachers' unions oppose testing to see if their members actually know anything. In New Jersey, state tax money goes directly to the teachers' union because the law makes teachers who are NOT union members pay the union, too. Nice, huh? State pensions are sapping taxpayer money to pay those who do no work, because nobody thought about it beforehand. Now, Flint, MI cannot put police on the street 24/7 because the money has to go to pensions first.
This principle means a lot more than "watch out" - it means you have to recognize the difference between an opinion and an information source. It's more fun to believe Piers Morgan or Rush or the press release containing pat phrases about how they care deeply for you, but these are not sources of information. Keep that in mind!
• Don't believe you have a handle on an issue because you associate with someone who has a presence or following - or that others agree with you.
On-line or off, the cult of personality doesn't convey any special understanding to you - until you evaluate what you've seen carefully. This is noticeable when people do not use critical evaluation skills they use at work to a subject under discussion. For instance, an engineer who would never think of using hearsay in evaluating an industrial process might jump on the bandwagon when a prominent biologist cites CNN as an authority. George Takei is a wonderful person, a great American citizen and a fine actor, but that doesn't make him an expert on the Federal budget any more than does your expertise at the bowling alley or pool hall - and being a fan of his doesn't make you any smarter about that issue, either. We must NOT believe what someone says because of their office or specialty or just who they are, because they can be wrong, or lie; we MUST note that proper credentials and education DO enable a person to present a comprehensive argument or evaluation which stands on its own!
• Don't believe your past performance indicates any sort of future success.
The investment people cite this in their sleep, because idiots continue to believe that a cash cow is infinite.
This principle extends over a wide range of human activity, because hope and denial are basic survival mechanisms people use to fight off despair.
No matter how successful you are, rush-hour traffic does not care about your philanthropy or kindness to animals.
I know you have kids, have made your way, etc. The cruel world does not give a damn about what you did back in the day. You still need to look out, especially if you invest in a subject you have never studied.
• You need to vote more - and not just for a President.
One of the enduring stupidities of elections is that Presidential candidates will promise to do things they are expressly forbidden, or are not their duty once they take office. It appears that the public consistently gives them a pass on that, being either ignorant or uncaring about the actual structure of government.
If you call for the manager every time, rather than the first person who can solve your problem - my French fries are cold, damn it! - you may be the type of personality who thinks they shouldn't waste their time on "lesser" elections.
Guess what: The House of Representatives has 100% of Federal money.
What can you do without money?
• Don't believe a law or bill says what anyone says it does.
The law is specific. I don't know if you knew this, but crime has a specific definition, which you will not hear from anyone: A crime is an action in violation of a statute.
If there is no statute, there cannot be a crime, regardless of what you think of the story you heard about some poor unfortunate soul.
Law is not what your friends or family say it is, no matter what you think of them. Dad's a good guy, but he's outnumbered a thousand to one by people with the power to change the law. Look it up yourself. Then...
You will notice that Congress routinely misleads people with the title of bills...
Activists will deliberately lie about the law or a bill to get what they want. Sometimes these are Congressmen, and the Constitution is ignored, such as when they collectively subvert immigration law (8USC1182). Good luck with that.
The key here is to recognize that you are subject to the law, not its master -- and the irony here is that if you do not pay attention to your duties as a citizen, other people can use the law to oppress YOU.
Sorry.
• Don't believe the Constitution says what someone else says it does.
Read it yourself. Then brace yourself when someone claims "it's a living document", or that what they're doing is either mandated or supported by it.
If you take a look, you'll find out that "popular" opinion differs from what it says, and some people with authority make claims about it - curiously, these claims usually support a power grab by the speaker.
The Constitution actually limits government, not you. You do NOT GET anything from government that you do not pay for - either directly, in taxes, or by the surrender of some liberties. That's another dish, rich food for thought.
Another couple of dishes: consider whether "the establishment of religion" meant "religious organization, plural" when the 1st Amendment was written. Note that Congress routinely passes laws affecting religion in the USA. Then, if you think that the National Guard is the "militia" mentioned in the 2nd Amendment, go read the fence down at the National Guard Armory. I think you'll find it says "US Government Property", and their uniforms say, "US ARMY".
Your own Congressman may tell you that the National Guard, established in 1905, was what the Founders were talking about, so you can be disarmed.
So you - YOU - can be disarmed. You are a threat to the power of the State if you do not do what you are told.
• Don't believe your education ends, OR that it is ever complete.
I have actually heard someone say, "I'm done with school."
That person, by temperament or upbringing or both, has consigned herself to menial work. She will never matter.
The rest of the world is in competition with you.
Other people will get the nice apartment, raise a family and so forth based solely on their intelligence and ambition (shut up about "the rich" - they know about money, and chances are that if you're whining, you don't). You don't get a choice about participating.
Of course, you could sign yourself into the slavery of welfare, where you are a commodity, a thing, cultivated for your vote.
That's how poor people are made.
• Don't take the first impression or meaning from any statement in argument. Look for the underlying, real, issue. Examples:
There is a protest against the rule prohibiting the use of portable electronics in aircraft, with a lot of noise being generated about how they can't really interfere with the plane, or, on the other hand, that they do. That's not the point. That rule is to make your dumb ass pay attention to the plane, and what is happening around you. This might be a surprise, but aircraft, when things do go wrong, make a hell of a bang when they hit something and then erupt in astonishingly big fireballs. I'm really sure Tapfish or Farmville can wait for you.
Extend this principle to other scenarios. I think you'll be surprised what you find.