Theft at the Public Till
It’s time to bid farewell to these fantasies of omnipotence. In the long run no one-no country and no individual-can avoid coming to terms with the limits of his own responsibility, and setting priorities. Perhaps we ought to explain what a priority is. Some people pretend to be more stupid than they really are as soon as they encounter an argument that doesn’t fit their view of the world. So: the word priority means more than a simple either-or, more than just the choice between mutually exclusive alternatives. Where to begin? Where can I engage my efforts most effectively? Which of these options should take precedence? Thomas Sowell in a Business Week article wrote that “What logicians call ‘the fallacy of composition’ has come into its own. Prosecutors, who see obviously guilty defendants either acquitted or let off with convictions for much lesser crimes than the ones they committed, complain that juries are too easily swayed by emotional appeals based on unsubstantiated claims of unhappy childhoods. Professors complain that today’s college students have many passionate opinions but very little ability to use logic to support those opinions or to analyze opposing views. In the media, buzzwords increasingly replace thought and non sequiturs have become so common as to cause no notice or embarrassment. The notion that what is true of a part is true of the whole is the lifeblood of TV programs like Oprah and Donahue, where great issues of public policy are reduced to how particular individuals feel. For example, when someone said that our government should not ransom hostages being held in the Middle East, Donahue’s reply was: ‘But suppose it was your brother they were holding?’... “in a similar vein, columnist Anna Quindlen replied to those who ob- jected to disruptions by activists by saying: ‘if I could help give someone I loved a second chance, or even an extra year of life, what people think would not worry me a bit.’ In other words, if it helps A, who cares what it does to B. C. D. and the others-or to law and order in a society where mob rule becomes the way to get what you want?” “Just look at some of the public health causes that do get our atten- tion. Asbestos kills asbestos miners, at least the ones who smoke; from that fact has grown a giant industry to rip asbestos out of the ceilings of public
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