{"id":12306,"date":"2020-04-14T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12306"},"modified":"2020-04-13T18:39:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:39:10","slug":"the-thin-facade-of-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-thin-facade-of-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thin Fa\u00e7ade of Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The virus will teach us many things, but one lesson has already been relearned by the American people: there are two, quite different, types of wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One, and the most renowned, is a specialization in education that results in titled degrees and presumed authority. That ensuing prestige, in turn, dictates the decisions of most politicians, the media, and public officials\u2014who for the most part share the values and confidence of the credentialed elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other wisdom is not, as commonly caricatured, know-nothingism. Indeed, Americans have always believed in self-improvement and the advantages of higher education, a trust that explained broad public 19th-century support for mandatory elementary and secondary schooling and, during the postwar era, the G.I. Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the other wisdom also puts a much higher premium on pragmatism and experience, values instilled by fighting nature daily and mixing it up with those who must master the physical world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is the sort of humility that arises when daily drivers test their skills and cunning in a semi-truck barreling along the freeway to make a delivery deadline with a cylinder misfiring up on the high pass, while plagued by worries whether there will be enough deliveries this month to pay the mortgage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An appreciation of practical knowledge accrues from watching central-heating mechanics come out in the evening to troubleshoot the unit on the roof, battling the roof grade, the ice, and the dark while pitting their own acquired knowledge in a war with the latest computerized wiring board of the new heating exchange unit that proves far more unreliable than the 20-year-old model it replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Humility is key to learning, but it is found more easily from a wealth of diverse existential experiences on the margins. It is less a dividend of the struggle for great success versus greater success still, but one of survival versus utter failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2020\/04\/12\/the-thin-facade-of-authority\/\">Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness The virus will teach us many things, but one lesson has already been relearned by the American people: there are two, quite different, types of wisdom. One, and the most renowned, is a specialization in education that results in titled degrees and presumed authority. That ensuing prestige, in turn, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3cu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4078,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/on-reminding-the-politicians-whos-the-boss\/","url_meta":{"origin":12306,"position":0},"title":"On Reminding the Politicians Who&#8217;s the Boss","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com The Democrats and their tribunes in the mainstream media weren\u2019t too happy about the House of Representatives reading aloud the Constitution. The\u00a0New York Times\u00a0called it a \u201cpresumptuous and self-righteous act,\u201d while New York Representative Jerrold Nadler dubbed the reading a \u201ctotal nonsense\u201d and \u201cpropaganda.\u201d In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5154,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-panhandlers-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":12306,"position":1},"title":"A Panhandler&#8217;s World","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Where the monies flow from university coffers. by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers If you have a child in college or are yourself a college graduate, university panhandlers are constantly pestering you for money. Public institutions have seen state-money diminish, and private schools are competing fiercely to offer students the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13383,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/biden-mocks-ancient-wisdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":12306,"position":2},"title":"Biden Mocks Ancient Wisdom","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"School of Athens by Raphael, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Human nature stays the same across time and space. That is why there used to be predictable political, economic, and social behavior that all countries understood. The supply of money governs inflation. Print it\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/biden-mocks-ancient-wisdom\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/SchoolofAthensRaphael.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/SchoolofAthensRaphael.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/SchoolofAthensRaphael.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/SchoolofAthensRaphael.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3548,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/back-to-school-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":12306,"position":3},"title":"Back to School Blues","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Last week I went shopping in our small rural hometown, where my family has attended the same public schools since 1896. Without exception, all six generations of us \u2014 whether farmers, housewives, day laborers, business people, writers, lawyers or educators \u2014 were given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;August 2007&quot;","block_context":{"text":"August 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/august-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/before-the-culture-fades\/","url_meta":{"origin":12306,"position":4},"title":"Before the Culture Fades","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. 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Longtime editor of\u00a0The New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12187,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-trumps-unorthodoxy-becoming-orthodox\/","url_meta":{"origin":12306,"position":5},"title":"Is Trump\u2019s Unorthodoxy Becoming Orthodox?","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review When candidate Donald Trump campaigned on calling China to account for its trade piracy, observers thought he was either crazy or dangerous. Conventional Washington wisdom had assumed that an ascendant Beijing was almost preordained to world hegemony. Trump\u2019s tariffs and polarization of China were\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12307,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12306\/revisions\/12307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}