Easy Intelligence 101
This is my intelligence class for the masses:
Lesson 1. Be a contrarian.
End of lesson.
That's it. The easy way to sound intelligence is to be a contrarian. Don't take a position on anything, always include a caveat. Here I'll give an example.
Dumb Person: We need to find the terrorists and attack them, kill them, even if that means invading another country that may harbour terrorists.
Intelligent Person: We do need to find and kill the terrorists, BUT, (an important word to the contrarian intellectual), we need to first consider the political consequences of our actions, we may be creating more terrorists by aggressive military action.
See! See how easy it is to be intelligent. The intelligent person assumes the dumb person isn't considering political ramifications. To be intelligent, simply assume the person you are speaking with is a simpleton. Here's another example.
Dumb Person: Going into Iraq wasn't a mistake. Our intelligence cited WMD, they had a connection to Al Qaeda, they were undermining sanctions and violating UN resolutions.
Intelligent Person: Going into Iraq wasn't a mistake, BUT, you needed to do it the right way. You shouldn't go to war without a plan to win the peace, and you need your allies by your side.
See how that works. You too can be intelligent. Try it at home!
Lesson 1. Be a contrarian.
End of lesson.
That's it. The easy way to sound intelligence is to be a contrarian. Don't take a position on anything, always include a caveat. Here I'll give an example.
Dumb Person: We need to find the terrorists and attack them, kill them, even if that means invading another country that may harbour terrorists.
Intelligent Person: We do need to find and kill the terrorists, BUT, (an important word to the contrarian intellectual), we need to first consider the political consequences of our actions, we may be creating more terrorists by aggressive military action.
See! See how easy it is to be intelligent. The intelligent person assumes the dumb person isn't considering political ramifications. To be intelligent, simply assume the person you are speaking with is a simpleton. Here's another example.
Dumb Person: Going into Iraq wasn't a mistake. Our intelligence cited WMD, they had a connection to Al Qaeda, they were undermining sanctions and violating UN resolutions.
Intelligent Person: Going into Iraq wasn't a mistake, BUT, you needed to do it the right way. You shouldn't go to war without a plan to win the peace, and you need your allies by your side.
See how that works. You too can be intelligent. Try it at home!
posted by Joe Pierce at 9:42 PM
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