“A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean is worthless.” Justice Antonin Scalia “Consensus is the absence of leadership” Margaret Thatcher Two quotes I have come across in my limited reading recently that sum up the reasons for so many of the problems we see today.
About? From global warming (now climate change) to Covid. We have people in leadership positions listening to consensus instead of seeking the real data to lead with. Glad I live in Florida!
"Consensus is the absence of leadership" is a particularly dumb quote. Like there is something wrong with consensus. Consensus is often the result of leadership.
Death of expertise. You have politically motivated thoughts on subjects. So we should all listen to you, not people who have spent their entire careers learning how to study these topics and utilizing methods for reasons you can't even begin to understand due to a lack of background. And because you don't spend your life looking at these studies, they don't exist, and the consensus came out of nowhere. The Internet has been a boon for information, but not discernment. I'll go with Aristotle. "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know." But sure, you go ahead and tell those dumb scientists that you know how to collect and analyze data on the topics that they have spent their lives studying better than them.
I think there’s wisdom to be found in many places. I’m partial to this quote myself: “For if the light, which every one thinks he has in his mind, which in this case is nothing but the strength of his own persuasion, be in evidence that it is from God, contrary opinions have the same title to inspirations. Then God will be not only the father of lights but of opposite and contradictory lights, leading men contrary ways; and contradictory propositions will be divine truths, if an ungrounded strength of assurance be an evidence that any proposition is a Divine Revelation.” -John Locke
So from what I gather from those quotes is that the Bill of Rights is worthless because of the Supreme Court (since the majority of the court determines its meaning) and consensus is typically a bad way to run things. I'd have to say, those cretins nailed it actually!
Think you're missing the point here a little. An extreme example to illustrate: If the consensus is that we should euthanize anyone over 75, that's the result of leadership? I'd argue that leadership would be to show the bravery to pushback in the face of an obviously bad decision and show why it's wrong. A component of leadership is being able to show the wisdom and rational thought to fly in the face of mob rule which, as I read it, is the point of both of those quotes.
That's a narrow definition. More accurately he should have said, "consensus I don't agree with is the absence of leadership."
You don't even understand how and why global warming became climate change while you come and complain about real data.
It's just one example exiled. There are historical ones littered throughout our history. From the Salem Witchtrials to the Revolution to today. At the risk of using an inflammatory example, I'd argue that every civil rights leader went against the "consensus" of the time and showed leadership to fight against what was obviously wrong. Remember "consensus" here doesn't exactly mean "unanimity". A better clarification on the quote would be "consensus of opinion"
