The Learned Pig: The Idiot

05 October 2007

The Idiot

"As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured."

-George W. Bush, September 2007

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result I make a lot of decisions."

-George W. Bush, October 2007

This man is the President of the United States of America. That fact, by itself, is the strongest case against democratic representation I've ever heard.

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Why the learned pig?

In early 19th-century America, a certain traveling show featured a remarkable pig that, on command, could spell out letters to form words. This "pig of knowledge", or "learned pig", baffled superstitious mobs, and excited frenzied accusations of witchcraft. In response, the pig's trainer published a pamphlet that sought to dispel the rumors by detailing his methods of instruction, and demonstrating that this apparent miracle could be accounted for through reason and observation alone.

Tacitus once wrote, "everything unknown passes for something splendid." Humans by nature desire to know, and when they encounter something seemingly inexplicable, they tend to fill in the holes with religion, superstition, or inane anti-intellectualism that dismisses the need for knowledge altogether. But these are cowardly subsitutes for reason and observation. The learned pig reminds us that if we wish to be wise, "observe; for observation is the source of wisdom."