Bensplaining: Educated Fool Or Idiot Savant?
There are so many freaks and clowns in the absurd circus known as the Trump administration that it's hard to keep track of them. I had forgotten about Rick Head Of An Agency That I Planned To Eliminate If I Could Just Remember The Name Perry until someone posted a picture of a meeting of the worst cabinet ever on Facebook, and I noticed that Rick and several other people in the meeting where Trump was talking seemed to be either praying or sleeping. Oddly, one of the most religious and sleepiest Cabinet members, Uncle Ben (Carson), had his eyes mostly wide open. If the picture was a recent one, he might have been thinking about his upcoming appearance before a congressional committee. During that appearance, Uncle Ben briefly managed to snatch the spotlight away from the insane antics of the Clown-in-Chief by sarcastically pretending that he thought REO was OREO and AMWI was AMWAY. Of course, the scolds on social media (hey, I'm one of them, but I try to have intelligence behind my outrage) pounced. The smarter ones were infuriated that Carson was making fun of a serious situation. But others thought Ben was so stupid that he believed that REO was OREO. One woman cracked me up by calling him an educated fool. But another woman triggered this scold's outrage by claiming that the black man was being disrespectful toward the condescending white woman who was questioning his knowledge of acronyms related to his agency.
Maybe because I've successfully used that strategy, I appreciated that Carson used sarcasm instead of anger to attack California Representative Katie Porter. Since he claims that he had anger management problems as a youth, he probably was trying to diffuse the situation before he lost control of himself. The OREO comment was especially amusing to those of us who know what an Oreo is--a person who is black on the outside and white on the inside. I'm sure Carson was called that name by blacks even before he became the white supremacist's token dark-skinned Cabinet member. He's been an Oreo to black folks at least since he became racist conservatives' favorite black man by attacking Obama at a prayer breakfast. Unfortunately, as I learned when I signed up to buy Oreos (his favorite cookie) for a care package sent to a colleague who had been shipped to Afghanistan (he was in the reserves), and no one laughed, even well-educated white folks are often culturally illiterate when it comes to blacks and don't get the joke (or maybe the few who get it are scared to laugh).
It's not clear why some people believed that Carson, who is literally a brain surgeon, confused OREO and REO. Is it because they think all Trump cabinet members, no matter how well-educated and accomplished, are idiots and fools? Is it because he's black, and they think all black people, no matter how well-educated and accomplished, are idiots and fools? Or is it because he's said some foolish things in the past, and so they assume this specific black brain surgeon and Trump cabinet member must be a fool? I remember when Uncle Ben said something stupid about the origins of pyramids, and in trying to explain how such a well-educated man could be so foolish, I called him an idiot savant. When a scold on Google+ chastised me for ridiculing this accomplished black man, I pointed out that I am also a black idiot savant--really smart in some areas (anything involving reading, writing, and thinking) and really stupid in others--anything involving technology and common sense. I was actually complimenting Uncle Ben as well as making fun of him because idiot savants are as amusing as educated fools, but they're usually less obnoxious.
I never watched "The Big Bang Theory," but I assume it's about some amusing idiot savants. I assume the characters are brilliant in science, engineering, and technology, but they are socially awkward nerds. English and other humanities majors are less likely to be socially awkward and more likely to be technologically inept. I've also encountered four other English majors (a graduate school friend and three people I met in a literature forum on Linked/In) who have the same problems with spatial dimensions and geographical directions that I have. But I think I'm unique in having a problem determining left from right when I'm not in a car or not looking at pictures. For some reason, I have to fake writing (I'm right-handed) to figure out left from right if I'm not in a car. If I just guess, I'm wrong more than 50% of the time. At this point in my increasingly long life, I just let people know that I have this problem and tell them to point to where they want me to go. When a cheerful lab tech was conducting my mammogram recently, I told her to just move me to where she wanted me to be, and we both laughed.
My left-right problem is amusing, but I think Uncle Ben's idiot savant problem is more serious. He has a right-wrong problem, a problem with his moral compass. If he could distinguish between right and wrong, he would not have accepted a position as the head of an agency for which he has no experience. When he was offered the job, he reportedly laughed, thinking it was a joke. Then why did he take it? Why didn't he insist that he be appointed to the more appropriate positions of Surgeon General or Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services? Why would he work in an administration that has the stated aim (as expressed by Steve Bannon, probably another idiot savant) of deconstructing the government? And why would a black man work for and support a white supremacist?
Educated fools and idiot savants are usually harmless, even entertaining, as "The Big Bang Theory" has illustrated for many years. But when the idiot savant lacks moral intelligence, he's dangerous. I appreciated Carson's sarcastic response to the California Representative's condescension because it was an appropriate response to unintended and unrecognized racism, but I don't appreciate his immorality. There is nothing funny about a morally ignorant person with power.
Maybe because I've successfully used that strategy, I appreciated that Carson used sarcasm instead of anger to attack California Representative Katie Porter. Since he claims that he had anger management problems as a youth, he probably was trying to diffuse the situation before he lost control of himself. The OREO comment was especially amusing to those of us who know what an Oreo is--a person who is black on the outside and white on the inside. I'm sure Carson was called that name by blacks even before he became the white supremacist's token dark-skinned Cabinet member. He's been an Oreo to black folks at least since he became racist conservatives' favorite black man by attacking Obama at a prayer breakfast. Unfortunately, as I learned when I signed up to buy Oreos (his favorite cookie) for a care package sent to a colleague who had been shipped to Afghanistan (he was in the reserves), and no one laughed, even well-educated white folks are often culturally illiterate when it comes to blacks and don't get the joke (or maybe the few who get it are scared to laugh).
It's not clear why some people believed that Carson, who is literally a brain surgeon, confused OREO and REO. Is it because they think all Trump cabinet members, no matter how well-educated and accomplished, are idiots and fools? Is it because he's black, and they think all black people, no matter how well-educated and accomplished, are idiots and fools? Or is it because he's said some foolish things in the past, and so they assume this specific black brain surgeon and Trump cabinet member must be a fool? I remember when Uncle Ben said something stupid about the origins of pyramids, and in trying to explain how such a well-educated man could be so foolish, I called him an idiot savant. When a scold on Google+ chastised me for ridiculing this accomplished black man, I pointed out that I am also a black idiot savant--really smart in some areas (anything involving reading, writing, and thinking) and really stupid in others--anything involving technology and common sense. I was actually complimenting Uncle Ben as well as making fun of him because idiot savants are as amusing as educated fools, but they're usually less obnoxious.
I never watched "The Big Bang Theory," but I assume it's about some amusing idiot savants. I assume the characters are brilliant in science, engineering, and technology, but they are socially awkward nerds. English and other humanities majors are less likely to be socially awkward and more likely to be technologically inept. I've also encountered four other English majors (a graduate school friend and three people I met in a literature forum on Linked/In) who have the same problems with spatial dimensions and geographical directions that I have. But I think I'm unique in having a problem determining left from right when I'm not in a car or not looking at pictures. For some reason, I have to fake writing (I'm right-handed) to figure out left from right if I'm not in a car. If I just guess, I'm wrong more than 50% of the time. At this point in my increasingly long life, I just let people know that I have this problem and tell them to point to where they want me to go. When a cheerful lab tech was conducting my mammogram recently, I told her to just move me to where she wanted me to be, and we both laughed.
My left-right problem is amusing, but I think Uncle Ben's idiot savant problem is more serious. He has a right-wrong problem, a problem with his moral compass. If he could distinguish between right and wrong, he would not have accepted a position as the head of an agency for which he has no experience. When he was offered the job, he reportedly laughed, thinking it was a joke. Then why did he take it? Why didn't he insist that he be appointed to the more appropriate positions of Surgeon General or Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services? Why would he work in an administration that has the stated aim (as expressed by Steve Bannon, probably another idiot savant) of deconstructing the government? And why would a black man work for and support a white supremacist?
Educated fools and idiot savants are usually harmless, even entertaining, as "The Big Bang Theory" has illustrated for many years. But when the idiot savant lacks moral intelligence, he's dangerous. I appreciated Carson's sarcastic response to the California Representative's condescension because it was an appropriate response to unintended and unrecognized racism, but I don't appreciate his immorality. There is nothing funny about a morally ignorant person with power.
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