May 14, 2008
Arriving at Adulthood with Heads Full of Lies
Lies We Tell Kids, by Paul Graham
“The famous scientists I remember were Einstein, Marie Curie, and George Washington Carver. Einstein was a big deal because his work led to the atom bomb. Marie Curie was involved with X-rays. But I was mystified about Carver. He seemed to have done stuff with peanuts.
It’s obvious now that he was on the list because he was black (and for that matter that Marie Curie was on it because she was a woman), but as a kid I was confused for years about him. I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better just to tell us the truth: that there weren’t any famous black scientists. Ranking George Washington Carver with Einstein misled us not only about science, but about the obstacles blacks faced in his time.
As subjects got softer, the lies got more frequent. By the time you got to politics and recent history, what we were taught was pretty much pure propaganda.”
Ah yes, I too vaguely remember something about peanuts. What you need is someone in your life who is thoughtful, straight-talking, and completely trustworthy. I hope I can be that someone for Toddler T.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Great essay, and great content from an obviously fully engaged mind.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Cap: Where ya been? I’ve been missing your fully engaged (fully deranged?) comments.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
ut oh- here comes sharpton
May 15th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Travel, family, the business’ - everything BUT trading.
I see you still have the best del.icio.us on the interweb, youngster.
Cheers!
May 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am
@Cap: Time to focus you priorities and concentrate on injecting smart…ass comments into the blogvoid. I agree about my delicious. :)
May 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am
yes but I’m sure you’ll fill his head with paranoid patter about the great right wing conspiracy.
sad you can’t disagree without showing contempt.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:17 am
ken: Who said I believe in a great right wing conspiracy?
May 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
when one does not have enough information to make an informed judgment, its best to say I don’t know. As one civilization falls another rises on its dust. Mind the vails of time.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Interesting article. Paul Graham is one of the most well known LISP advocates out there. Wondering how you came across this essay.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Budman: I too advocate thpeaking with a lithp. I think I came acroth hith ethay at deliciouth’th — their motht popular litht.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:59 am
What? What? Doing peanut stuff is not up to messing with atoms? How many atombutter and jelly sandwiches did we eat growing up? Zilch!