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Brian Sorgatz
(rhymes with “cats”)
Arcata, Humboldt County, California, United States
What sort of man blogs about Playboy? I flatter myself to think that Kendra Wilkinson might call this blog intellectual pimping.
“Composer Artisan” ISFP. Socially and economically libertarian for reasons having nothing to do with Ayn Rand. Favorite activities: reading, writing, moviegoing, piano, didgeridoo, light hiking, spiritual practice, friendship, sex.
Hollywood, California, is my spiritual hometown. I actually grew up in three other communities in California, but it hardly seems to matter which three. How could my heart take root anywhere under the tyranny of American public schooling?
I don’t have to work for a living. After my father died in December 1997, my family and I won a legal settlement.
Of course, discussion of human natural inequality will always be sensitive. It’s a hard fact to absorb that some people will never be as intelligent as some others, or as musically gifted, or as mathematically skilled. Americans in particular hate the notion that there is some natural limit on what people can and cannot achieve.Since Brin prefers “true science fiction” to space opera or superhero comics, I’ll say that my experience as a “gifted child” in the government school system—perhaps one of the “institutions” Brin would have us serve—reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron,” which begins with this paragraph:
But there is a distinction between moral and political equality for all—the bedrock of a liberal society—and unavoidable natural inequalities between human beings and, in a few narrow areas, between social groups. This cannot and should not mean that any individual should be prejudged or denied opportunity. But it does mean that some imbalances in certain professions may not be entirely a function of prejudice or bigotry.
The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.A related earlier post:
Labels: ArtPic, BlaSla, Cintv, Educ, Lib, Lit, MorPa, OthBlo, PM, Sc
Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 11:57 AM
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