Chris Matthews Lectures Ben Carson About the Pyramids

[Timsup2nothin]

Doctors do deserve respect. This should not be misconstrued as saying they are all geniuses though. The thing about being a doctor, especially something like a neurosurgeon, is that it's not as much about intelligence (although there is a lower limit beyond which it won't be doable) but about dedication. It's about being willing to go through 12 years of schooling and training before you even really start your career. It's about being willing to work long unpaid overtime even when your schooling is done keeping up with the literature of your field. Being a doctor is a LOT of work, you don't have to be a genius to do it but you do have to be damned dedicated.

Agreed. The problem is that among themselves doctors have a hard time accepting that. As I said, I met any number of doctors who thought that however many years studying medicine made them expert businessmen.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Yes, that is a problem with people that have highly specialized skill sets in general. Any highly skilled professional is at danger of mistaking expertise in their field for expertise in all fields.

 

[Commodore]

Political candidates mispeak.

Except Obama didn't then continue to defend his statement that there are 57 states. The fact that Carson won't back down from this and admit what he said was stupid shows he does not see what he said as a mistake. He truly believes it, and that makes him an idiot.

 

[Flying Pig]

More charitably, it shows that he prefers to stick to his guns when he knows that he's wrong, because he sees changing his mind or admitting it in public as a sign of weakness. I would say that that makes him an unsuitable leader, but not necessarily an idiot.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

If he was wrong on one thing I might buy that, FP, but this is a guy who also thinks that Darwin came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection with encouragement from Satan. So I think he's actually just an idiot.

 

[Zelig]

Doctors do deserve respect.

Sure, as much as anyone else.

I personally know some brilliant doctors whom I greatly respect, but have been thoroughly disabused of the notion that they deserve any extra respect over others simply by virtue of being doctors.