Welcome home, fellow Gator.

The Gator Nation's oldest and most active insider community
Join today!

Scalia and Thatcher Wisdom…

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by QGator2414, Dec 20, 2022.

  1. QGator2414

    QGator2414 VIP Member

    18,234
    1,511
    1,308
    Aug 24, 2009
    Ocala
    “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.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. BossaGator

    BossaGator GC Hall of Fame

    4,537
    194
    203
    Apr 10, 2007
    Arlington, VA
    Can you be more specific?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. WarDamnGator

    WarDamnGator GC Hall of Fame

    10,724
    1,346
    1,718
    Apr 8, 2007
    .... Says a guy that refined the bill of rights at will because he was part of a majority....
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  4. QGator2414

    QGator2414 VIP Member

    18,234
    1,511
    1,308
    Aug 24, 2009
    Ocala
    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!
     
    • Come On Man Come On Man x 1
  5. docspor

    docspor GC Hall of Fame

    5,696
    1,821
    3,078
    Nov 30, 2010
    [​IMG]
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  6. dangolegators

    dangolegators GC Hall of Fame

    Apr 26, 2007
    "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.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Come On Man Come On Man x 1
  7. QGator2414

    QGator2414 VIP Member

    18,234
    1,511
    1,308
    Aug 24, 2009
    Ocala
    No surprise you would miss the point from two of great minds of the past…
     
    • Come On Man Come On Man x 1
  8. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

    15,791
    2,037
    1,718
    Dec 9, 2010
    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.
     
    • Winner x 5
    • Best Post Ever x 2
    • Like x 1
    • Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
    • Funny x 1
  9. fda92045

    fda92045 GC Legend

    585
    145
    1,973
    Feb 19, 2012
    Oh what's next....you think the earth is flat?
     
    • Come On Man Come On Man x 1
  10. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

    11,228
    2,514
    3,303
    Apr 3, 2007
    Charlotte
    “Leadership is agreeing with me!” QGator2414 paraphrased
     
    • Disagree Bacon! Disagree Bacon! x 1
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  11. GatorRade

    GatorRade Rad Scientist

    8,626
    1,606
    1,478
    Apr 3, 2007
    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
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Wish I would have said that Wish I would have said that x 1
  12. QGator2414

    QGator2414 VIP Member

    18,234
    1,511
    1,308
    Aug 24, 2009
    Ocala
    Today is the Winter Solstice. Definitely flat…:cool:
     
  13. QGator2414

    QGator2414 VIP Member

    18,234
    1,511
    1,308
    Aug 24, 2009
    Ocala
    Funny remarks.

    Good quote from Aristotle.
     
  14. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    29,799
    1,846
    1,968
    Apr 19, 2007
    Where you reading the Big Book of Internet Quotations again?
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  15. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    29,799
    1,846
    1,968
    Apr 19, 2007
    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!
     
  16. BigCypressGator1981

    BigCypressGator1981 GC Hall of Fame

    6,707
    1,372
    3,103
    Oct 11, 2011
    OP where did you read these? Twitter?
     
  17. DesertGator

    DesertGator VIP Member

    4,510
    2,339
    2,013
    Apr 10, 2007
    Frisco, TX
    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.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  18. exiledgator

    exiledgator Gruntled

    10,967
    1,897
    3,128
    Jan 5, 2010
    Maine
    That's a narrow definition.

    More accurately he should have said, "consensus I don't agree with is the absence of leadership."
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  19. exiledgator

    exiledgator Gruntled

    10,967
    1,897
    3,128
    Jan 5, 2010
    Maine
    You don't even understand how and why global warming became climate change while you come and complain about real data.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  20. DesertGator

    DesertGator VIP Member

    4,510
    2,339
    2,013
    Apr 10, 2007
    Frisco, TX
    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"
     
    • Like Like x 1