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Not From the Onion
Tiny brain no obstacle to French civil servant.
Hat tip to Winterspeak.
Posted by Alex Tabarrok on August 29, 2007 at 07:06 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
Ah, small-minded libertarians laugh at the medical misfortunes of somebody who might equally well be employed in the private sector. Oh, wait, I forgot that everybody in the private sector is a mighty he-man genious entrepreneur magnate, just like in the Rand novels! That's not funny: where's political correctness when the poor, beleaguered capitalist rich folks are concerned? Won't somebody stand up for Paris Hilton?
But when demonizing anything having to do with government, who cares? Gotta get the yucks from confirmation bias. Libertarians might wince at Bobbitt jokes, but they can guffaw freely at hydrocephalacs.
Posted by: Mike Huben at Aug 29, 2007 7:55:41 AM
Lighten up, Mike. It's an interesting story. No one is laughing at medical misfortune. And anyway, it's the high-iq people in government that we libertarians worry about.
Posted by: Alex Tabarrok at Aug 29, 2007 8:34:30 AM
Being a civil servant in France includes (IIRC) park attendants, janitors etc. and similar jobs.
And while Mike may be po-faced, I think Alex is being disingenuous to suggest there wasn't a little sneer at french bureaucrats even if the story is interesting on its merits. But, and this is where Adam Smith comes in, suffering at a distance doesn't actually overly concern us if you remember his comparison between losing your little finger and an earthquake in China.
Posted by: tadhgin at Aug 29, 2007 8:56:01 AM
A bit mean in my opinion.
(I tried lightening up, and yet... I still found it a bit mean).
Posted by: NJ2 at Aug 29, 2007 10:20:00 AM
FWIW, the substance of the post ('Tiny brain ... ') was lifted word for word from a story in the Scotsman, which (it seems to me anyway) is not obviously trying to be mean.
This does not mean that libertarians are nice people!
Posted by: Eric G at Aug 29, 2007 10:51:35 AM
It's not mean but misguided. Brain size does is not closely correlated with intelligence or IQ. As the story from The Scotsman points out, the man's IQ was 75, which is not far off from the average of 100 and well above a level that would signify mental retardation.
Posted by: dan cole at Aug 29, 2007 10:55:20 AM
This article is very informative. Most interesting - a math student with an IQ of 126 and missing 95% of his brain mass.
Posted by: Matthew C. at Aug 29, 2007 11:49:34 AM
"Lighten up." "It was just a joke." That's what bullies usually say when confronted with their nastyness.
"it's the high-iq people in government that we libertarians worry about" Ah, so you wouldn't worry about libertarian candidate Stan Jones?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1736039/posts
It's nice when people wear their foolishness like a badge. Usually libertarianism doesn't show so clearly.
Posted by: Mike Huben at Aug 29, 2007 2:09:00 PM
Well, it is commonly stated (I have no idea if it is true or not) that you only use 5% of your brain, so if the 95% you are missing is the unused part, then maybe it is not so surprising that this man exists.
As for whether the humor was appropriate, I think Alex was making fun of bureaucrats. Is it inappropriate to make fun of bureaucrats? I think not.
Mike, do you work at the federal or the state level?
Posted by: Yancey Ward at Aug 29, 2007 2:50:12 PM
Oh, and I laugh my ass off at Bobbit jokes. As a man, I can wince at them, but many are still gut-busting.
Posted by: Yancey Ward at Aug 29, 2007 2:52:16 PM
Alex said he wasn't laughing at the man. That was the title, he warned it wasn't from the Onion and not to take it that way. He is obviously aware of the potential joke, which is why rather than merely linking the title, he pointed out it isn't a joke. It is interesting, and if someone after the fact wants to make a joke about French bureaucrats, it doesn't in any way imply that they don't have sympathy for, or possibly receive inspiration from, the man in the story.
Posted by: Paddock at Aug 29, 2007 6:31:30 PM
People, relax. I thought it was damned funny, esp. since the writer didn't seem to catch it.
Besides, it's a bit inspiring. If all of us could use our brains as efficiently as this fellow, imagine the possibilities.
Posted by: Steve L at Aug 29, 2007 6:53:17 PM
This is so intriguing. I do not find it mean at all. You may even title the post "in praise of iron cage bureaucracy."
Posted by: Yan Li at Aug 29, 2007 6:56:42 PM
"Lighten up." "It was just a joke." That's what bullies usually say when confronted with their nastyness.
Absolutely true. However, it is also what nice people say when people get offended at an innocent comment.
Posted by: greenish at Aug 29, 2007 11:06:29 PM
The humor is in the symbolism, not the literal details of the story. That's why Helen Keller jokes are popular with every generation of children.
Civil servants are symbolically funny but a small-brained French civil servant? Priceless.
Posted by: MR at Aug 30, 2007 12:00:26 PM
My internal monlogue's response to Mike's comments was "Is he effinng kidding?"
Then I Googled him:
http://www.impel.com/liblib/Huben.html
"Mike Huben is a liberal who has been criticising Libertarians on the net for a decade or so."
He does teach at the oldest high school in the US, but otherwise seems partially trolly.
He and Steve Sailer should combine their internet genes to form a palatable commenter.
Posted by: Johnny Debacle at Aug 30, 2007 12:40:21 PM
Actually, 75 is a pretty low IQ. The mean of IQ is 100 and the SD is 15, so 75 is nearly 2 SD below the mean. This guy's IQ is in the bottom 5%.
Of course, given the MRI, it's remarkable that the guy isn't comatose.
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