There are some people that seem to operate without any conscious idea of how they represent themselves in public. I know, to a certain extent, we all have warped pictures of ourselves but there is one guy in my Poverty and Policy class that seems to have no self-awareness at all.
We were having our end of semester, what have you learned, continuity and change class and in our discussion our profession wanted us to offer some solutions to poverty. Random Guy had one. He proposed that everyone receive money based on what they were worth.
A loaded statement if ever there was one.
He went on to explain how his plan would evaluate people based on their societal inputs and outputs based on some sort of caloric/moral index. It was some sort of colletivistic-based plan that everyone would have to participate in and when asked how he planned to get people to do it he said it was based on discipline. A non-answer. When pressed further he said, "In the beginning it would be based on fear." Well that's what we're looking for in a solution to one of societies most pressing problems. Fear and intimidation. There isn't already enough of that around.
Later in our discussion we were talking about infant mortality rates, he basically said that poor people shouldn't have children. My professor, born in central Europe immediately after World War II was over pointed out that if poor people hadn't had children, she wouldn't be around.
The point is this: was this guy not thinking when he said these things? Could he not imagine how his proposals sounded? He never seemed embarassed, even when the class was in an uproar he seemed unfazed, defending his plan.
I always admire people with conviction but this guy just proves that having the courage of your convictions means very little if you're
crazy.
