<<The validity of genius has been discredited, I
believe, by its evident cultural specificity,
Beethoven.
<<In the end, it's a bunch of guys saying "Here are the
things (especially abstract things) that we do well. If you
can't do them too, then you're dumb and can have the hard,
physical jobs that we don't want, or you can
be drugged, or institutionalized, or written off entirely."
Better to define the dumb when they're young so the mandate
can be fulfilled.>>
However, saying that Newton, Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok or Art
Tatum was a genius is not to say any of those things. The
question of institutionalization, credentialism, condemning
people to failure by measuring and ranking, and other
socially created ills should be treated separately from
inordinate capability. Individual genius does exist.
Best,
MrT
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