Summary of Thomas Sowell's The Vision Of The Anointed

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The prevailing social vision of our time is the intellectual and political elite’s view of society. It is not that these views are particularly evil or erroneous, but rather that they are taken for granted by so many people that their assumptions and corollaries are rarely challenged.
#2 The prevailing vision of our time is that of a special state of grace for those who believe in it. Those who disagree are not seen as being just in error, but in sin.
#3 The differences between the two visions are not just personal, but reflect a difference in moral philosophy as well. The left sees itself as morally superior to the right, and uses compassion as a weapon against its opponents.
#4 The prevailing vision of our time is the exaltation of the anointed above others. It has permeated academia and the media, and has made major inroads into the religious community.

Sujets

• Général
• Public policy

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 09 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669351801
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Thomas Sowell's The Vision of the Anointed
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The prevailing social vision of our time is the intellectual and political elite’s view of society. It is not that these views are particularly evil or erroneous, but rather that they are taken for granted by so many people that their assumptions and corollaries are rarely challenged.

#2

The prevailing vision of our time is that of a special state of grace for those who believe in it. Those who disagree are not seen as being just in error, but in sin.

#3

The differences between the two visions are not just personal, but reflect a difference in moral philosophy as well. The left sees itself as morally superior to the right, and uses compassion as a weapon against its opponents.

#4

The prevailing vision of our time is the exaltation of the anointed above others. It has permeated academia and the media, and has made major inroads into the religious community.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The prevailing vision of our time, the vision of the anointed, has shown an extraordinary ability to defy evidence. It is the task of critical thinkers to expose the flaws in such a vision, and bring it back into line with the facts.

#2

A very distinct pattern has emerged when policies favored by the anointed have failed. It typically involves four stages: the crisis, the solution, the results, and the response.

#3

governmental programs to help the poor go back further than President Johnson’s war on poverty. President Kennedy stated the purpose of these programs to be to help our less fortunate citizens help themselves, and he expected the programs to reduce dependency over time.

#4

The war on poverty was based on the belief that social programs would reduce urban violence. But critics argued that these programs would only increase dependency, and would lead to more rioting and violence in the future.

#5

However, the war on poverty programs did not help reduce government dependency, but rather increased it. The percentage of people dependent on the federal government to keep them above the poverty line increased.

#6

The war on poverty, which was meant to reduce dependency, actually increased it. Thus, no acknowledgment of failure was made. Instead, the goal was revised to simply reducing poverty by transferring resources.

#7

The vision of the anointed always succeeds, no matter what happens. If not by the original criteria, then by criteria extemporized later. And if not by empirical criteria, then by criteria that are sufficiently subjective to avoid any possible refutation.

#8

The federal government began financing sex education programs in the 1960s, and by the early 1980s, two-thirds of the money received by family planning agencies came from the federal government.

#9

The crisis that sex education was supposed to solve was the declining fertility rates among teenage girls. However, critics argued that sex education would lead to more sexual activity, not less.

#10

The American Biology Teacher journal noted in 1980 that the alarming statistics on rising teenage pregnancy only highlighted the need for strong leadership by the federal government in solving the problem.

#11

The goal of sex education in America is to change students’ attitudes about sex, not to teach them about biological or medical facts. This is completely consistent with the vision of the anointed, which is to supplant the values students have been taught at home with the new anointed values.

#12

The American criminal justice system was changed drastically in the 1960s, in response to a crisis that existed only in the minds of the chief judges and justices. The facts suggest otherwise: the murder rate was lower in 1960 than it had been in 1930.

#13

Rehabilitation of criminals has rarely been attempted. The therapeutic vision permeated the writings and speeches of President Lyndon Johnson’s attorney general, Ramsey Clark.

#14

The American criminal justice system was changed by the Supreme Court, which expanded the rights of criminals in the custody of the police. The vision of the anointed triumphed in the criminal justice system.

#15

The theories of crime, which led to such conclusions as increased rights for criminals, were tested empirically, and their conclusions were found to be logically consistent with their premises.

#16

The results of these liberal policies were clear. The crime rates skyrocketed.

#17

Another way to avoid discussing rising crime rates was to simply say that mentioning law and order was racist.

#18

The general public and law enforcement officials continued to complain about rising crime rates, but the elite remained unmoved.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

Statistics can be used to confirm a given vision, or they can be used to prove the opposite. The same is true of anecdotal facts. It is important to understand that evidence is different from mere data.

#2

Another example of this is the debate around prenatal care. It is commonly assumed that black mothers receive less prenatal care than white mothers, and that is why their infants die on average at a younger age. However, this ignores the fact that Mexican American mothers also receive less care than white mothers, and have lower infant mortality rates.