TTSR The Words Of Fools

Discussion on The Thomas Sowell Reader by Thomas Sowell, The Words Of Fools

"The Thomas Sowell Reader" by Thomas Sowell, pg. 10, The Words Of Fools

    There are few statements that are as true today as they were when they were written, however, the statement “Words are wise men's counters*, but they are the money of fools” by Thomas Hobbes, has proven to be one of them.  

     Speaking words to convey a point or an idea is considerably different from taking the literal meaning of words so far that they are out of context.  “Take the simple phrase "rent control." If you take these words literally, you get a complete distortion of reality.”  The city with the oldest and strongest rent control laws in America is New York, but it is also the city with the highest average rent.  Evidently the “rent control” laws are not controlling the rent.  It is the same with government ‘Stimulus’.  The spending doesn’t stimulate the economy; so has the literal meaning become the words of a fool?

     Take the phrase “social justice’ for example. It is a term used frequently in politics because it has no specific meaning, yet, it brings up the idea that something is ‘not right’, ‘unjust’, or that some people are so much better off than others.  

     Some “social justice” supporters would argue that it is unfair for a person to be born into circumstances that make his or her life vastly different from that of someone else.  Maybe it’s true.  Suppose the kid that goofed off his years of tax paid education would have done differently if he had been born into a different home with different standards.  This is not society’s fault unless society is supposed to make sure that everything is fair and equal. 

     Every year a person will have numerous encounters with people, events, and opportunities that will shape their future.  None of these things are equal or can be made equal.  If this is unjust, it is not a “social” issue because there is nothing society can do about it. If someone wants to go far in life, it is their responsibility, no one else’s, to work hard, apply themselves to knowledge, and do the very best that they can do.

*Counters: speak or act in opposition to, response to, parry, hit back at.

Sowell, Thomas. The Thomas Sowell Reader.  United State of America: Basic Books, 2011.

Proverbs 17:16
"Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?"

Proverbs 14:7 
"Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge."

Proverbs 23:9  

"Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words."

Jeremiah 17:11
"Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool."