Sunday Smiles

David Strom 2:00 PM | September 07, 2025
Grok David Strom

George Orwell famously said that "some ideas are so stupid that only an intellectual could believe them," or at least some variation of that line. The origin is disputed, but the sentiment should not be. 

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There are a lot of such ideas floating around these days, but the number of people who profess to believe them is actually quite large. That's because, over the past 50 years, there has been a consistent effort to turn ever more people into "intellectuals" by sending them off to colleges and universities for educations that achieve little more than detaching them from reality. 

Higher education can, in principle, serve a vital function in society. It is important to create a class of people who have been educated in history, political philosophy, science, and the other liberal arts. And, of course, modern technological society benefits mightily from developing a research and technical class that specializes in disciplines that expand our economy and improve our well-being. 

But most people benefit little or at all from modern "higher education." The original idea was that higher education teaches people how to think, not what to think, and expands the number of people with a more synoptic view, enhancing democratic governance.

How has that worked out? 

We have created a midwit class that doesn't think better, but is rather indoctrinated by an intellectual class whose goal is to subvert people's ability to think by implanting totally absurd ideas. Higher ed teaches people what to think, not how to think. 

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The result is a midwit class. Over-educated in the sense that they feel as if they have been given the keys to the intellectual kingdom, but are largely incapable of original thought. Divorced from common sense--education through experience--they rely on believing what they are told by an "expert" or intellectual class. If they read something in the Times or The Atlantic, they assume it is well thought out and true. 

For me, the ultimate example of that phenomenon was the COVID pandemic response, and in particular, the religious belief in the utility of cloth and surgical masks. People purchased decorated cloth masks, or religiously wore surgical masks that left gaping holes around the mouth and nose, and yet believed these would protect them from a virus whose size could legitimately be measured at the nano-scale. 

Even more absurd is that they would put these masks on and take them off multiple times--putting the virus directly and for extended periods of time right next to their nose, all while believing in the talismanic power of a piece of cloth. It only took a moment's thought to realize that the idea was absurd on its face, but belief in expertise short-circuited the ability or inclination to think at all. 

Instead, they were weaponized against the people who exercised independent thought. The amount of hate directed at us was astronomical. There was talk of concentration camps, vaccine passports, and taking away children from dissenters. 

People wore masks outside; children were banned from playing in the sun. Lone people at beaches or out on the ocean were arrested. 

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All because "experts" said they should be. 

The "woman" waving her penis is a version of this. Any sane person knows that women don't have penises, but midwit "experts" tell us they do so. Pravda dutifully repeats it, and the entire judicial system bends itself to enforce an absurdity. 

The creation of midwittery--a relatively modern invention--has unmoored people from reality. It's not that common sense is infallible — that is why societies depend on well-educated elites to play with ideas and debate among themselves, as most of us live our lives in the workaday world. 

The midwit class is the most dangerous to society. Without them, intellectuals couldn't spread the absurdities beyond their own circle of influence, and the intellectual class would be less able to enforce among each other the worst ideas, and they would die a more natural death. Midwits revel in adopting absurd ideas because it gives them special power over ordinary people. The more absurd the better. 

That's how we get news stories describing women waving their penises at children.








































































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