A list of modern myths.
I agree with about half of these.
UPDATE:
Goaded by an anonymous - and rather snippy - commenter, I have decided to elaborate.
My original post to this simply said that “I agree with about half of these.” I didn't have time (at the time) to articulate my thoughts, but I wanted to record my reaction anyway, with the idea that I might come back and respond in more detail.
An anonymous reader posted a rather sarcastic response, suggesting that since I didn't agree with everything in the article, I therefore must hold absurd and stupid beliefs, such as “shouldn't people on detox send their waste to the toxic waste disposal place ?”
So here's the detailed response.
Basically, this article promised much, and didn’t deliver.
This is a pity, because there are so many “modern myths” and misconceptions, that it seemed like a wasted opportunity.
So lets go through them...
1. The myth of meaning.
People think words mean things and that they know what they mean. Both claims are often untrue.
I guess meaning is a myth if you subscribe to post-modernism. That’s very last decade, but let's not quibble. It's true that meaning is -as a friend of mine would say- "a big mess."
2. The myth of religious beliefPeople say they believe in life after death but still grieve when people die. Christians try to get rich and Muslims gamble. The state of mind here is unaccountable in the same way as that of the child who pretends that the tree stump is a bear and then becomes genuinely frightened of it, while knowing all the time that it is a tree stump. Like the child's game, the grown-up one deserves no special respect, but provided it keeps away from the serious side of life it can remain harmless enough.
In other words, religious belief doesn’t exist, because people don’t act as if their beliefs are real.
This is easily refuted. I present Mother Teresa and Jonestown as two examples.
3. The myth of British valuesThis holds that there is a special system of British values, of 24-carat export quality.
This was a sensible point to make, but the sneering tone undermined it somewhat.
4. The myth of the scientistA version of this myth is that something called science is a self-propelled self-governing activity of special virtue, dedicated solely to truth.
Let’s break that down into its components and see which parts are myth and which parts are true.
Self-propelled- partly true. It would be impossible to stop “science” from being conducted, but on the other hand it could be slowed by cutting funding
Self-governing – true
Special virtue – not true; that part is indeed a myth
Dedicated solely to truth – true.
There doesn't seem to be much of of a myth component to this myth.
5. The myth of management“This claims that people can be managed like warehouses and airports, and that some other people are especially good at it. This is entirely wrong”
I’m looking around, and you know, people are being managed. We might not like it, but it’s happening. Managers are telling them what to do and they are doing it. Not only that, but some people seem to be better at doing this than others.
There is an actual myth buried in here: the idea that there is some kind of innate skill called “management ability,” that some people have and others don’t, that can be transferred across domains.
6. The myth of democracy“By and large, even in systems with advanced educational resources, the people cannot do better than take their news and opinions from the likes of Rupert Murdoch”
The fact that people don’t pay much attention to the news, or that the news is often of poor quality, doesn’t mean democracy is broken.
7. The myth of cultureAs it occurs in phrases such as multiculturalism, working-class culture and the like, this is the myth that there is a definite, admirable, rooted traditional way of being, and that it must be valued and cosseted and, above all, respected. All this is poppycock. Tempores mutant et nos mutamus in illis - the times change and we change with them.
I agree completely.
8. The myth of equal respectThe belief that everyone deserves equal respect and that anything else is discriminatory and elitist. The truth is the exact opposite: discrimination is a virtuous activity and elites are to be admired.
Where does my uncle with Downs’ Syndrome fit in to this world-view?
9. The myth of choice and competitionThis is the idea that people are better off, more free, more liberated, if they can choose which of two equally toxic hospitals they can use, instead of being offered just one good one.
Maybe this myth alludes to issues specific to Britain and health care that I'm not aware of. At any rate, I wasn't sure what the overall point was. That free markets don't work? That health care should not be privatised? That dividing resources produces poor outcomes? It's not clear.
10. The myth of the public service ethosThe idea that sometimes people will do something because it is the right thing to do, not because it affords them any advantage. This was once true, but constant repetition by politicians and economists that it is a myth has successfully made it one.
I assume this one was a joke.
