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During the semester, I shall post course material and students will comment on it. Students are also free to comment on any aspect of American politics, either current or historical. There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges. This blog is on the open Internet, so post nothing that you would not want a potential employer to see. Syllabus: http://gov20h.blogspot.com/2023/08/draft-introduction-to-american-politics.html

Monday, October 5, 2015

The Fascinating Juxtaposition of Ben Carson as an Odd Defying Inspiration and a Political Nut

I'm not sure how to go about posting to the blog, but I intended to post the following:


It's undeniable that Ben Carson is a brilliant. He's one of the best neurosurgeons in the world. He is brilliant. Additionally, his rise out of poverty with the power of education is incredibly inspiring. He also urges people to stop focusing on things like race and instead focus on people as individuals, saying in the first republican debate, "When I take someone to the operating room, I’m actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn’t make them who they are. The hair doesn’t make them who they are. And it’s time for us to move beyond that." However, he also says things that are... questionable to say the least, for example what he said about AP US history, "'most people' who complete the course would then be 'ready to sign up for ISIS.'" Additionally, he recently said that islam conflicts with the constitution and that Americans should avoid electing a muslim president of the United States. From someone who opposes judgement of people based on race so strongly, this stance is notably hypocritical. 

Essentially, if you remove his politics (at least from my perspective) you've got a brilliant and inspirational man of both faith and science. However, if you listen to his politics alone, he's kind of seems like loon in some regards, especially in his opinions on islam.  

This article from Times talked about this dichotomy, and took the stance that Ben Carson's inspiration and brilliance should be maintained regardless of his political activity, because it's too valuable to lose: http://time.com/4058637/michael-brown-attorney-ben-carson/


1 comment:

Pitney said...

Note the unimpeachable source that this article cites when referring to Tocqueville: http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/10/188346/debunking-ben-carson-we-werent-better-educated-1830s