It is a day to talk about stupidity and how it usually catches up with you if you are in a big public position.
First, it is the heads of Ivy League colleges who have in many cases allowed their schools to subvert what I consider to be the goal of colleges–liberal education, the right to doubt, ask questions, create new ideas.
Sadly, particularly at our supposed elite schools, dissenting from the prevailing left-wing, fake liberal point of view is frowned upon and often receives ostracism and expulsion from the “club.”
When I went to college it was a place to try out ideas. I could be a socialist one day and an ardent capitalist the next. It was generally accepted.
The shunning of academics and writers who suggested that COVID-19 might possibly have escaped from the Wuhan Lab in China was so universal that merely posing the possibility jeopardized an academic’s career.
The blind following of the Black Lives Matter organization, which proved to be a money-making scheme for its promoters, should have taught us again that doubt is a virtue.
The passiveness of the heads of major universities like Harvard is beginning to come home to roost. After Harvard made virtually no response to 31 campus organizations applauding the massacre of 1300 Israelis on October 7, several large donors have indicated they will no longer support the University, including the Wexler Foundation and Ken Griffin of Citadel.
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Let us now talk about a little more folly. Now we are discussing money again and stupidity.
The big old American car companies are in the midst of a strike. But on top of that, they are dealing with the case of the pickup truck that nobody will buy.
Somehow, Ford, GM, and Stellantis convinced themselves that the electric pickup would be their salvation.
That loudmouth Elon Musk character was just lucky enough that foolish stock buyers made Tesla more valuable than all of their companies combined, and Tesla didn’t get unionized either.
But they were going to catch up, build their own lithium batteries, pay for it by selling millions of small electric pickups the size of the Ford F-150.
Well, Ford and GM did it. They built a compact electric truck and put it out before Tesla’s Cybertruck (which still has not been released). They took 150,000 pre-orders and then told the dealers to let them catch up a little with production.
Ford finally released the vehicle this year for over $50,000 a pop. Bill Ford and Bill Farley took their bows.
And then the reviews started to appear. Of course, the PR flacks loved it.
But then, the underground press and the internet comments began: “300 miles on a charge is inefficient if I’m driving it in the backroads to go hunting.”
“What about winter? You’ll be lucky to get 150 miles in Detroit and Cleveland.”
“The load capacity is inadequate for my needs, especially in the cold.”
After people picked up a few pre-orders, they flat-out stopped buying.
Musk kept screaming at his engineers to build a better truck, but even Tesla could not do it.
The F-150 Ford pickup is a surfer’s vehicle. Ford had planned to sell 150,000-200,000 the first year. They are now on target to sell 36,000. They stopped production, and their dealers are stuffed with them.
Did anybody ever ask about load capacity in the winter with a lithium ion battery?
Can they fire Bill Ford in the middle of a UAW strike? And his Detroit Lions are 5-1?
I think a few elite colleges would make him a professor if he would give them a lot of money.
Question: What stupidity makes you crazy?
12 Comments
Great topic Lloyd. I remember during my undergraduate studies learning that ‘critical thinking’ was “recognizing and challenging assumptions.”
After a lifetime of experience, earning my masters, and teaching MBA Critical Thinking, I had to add an important prefix to that old definition- critical thinking today is “the courage to recognize and challenge assumptions.”
I am really disappointed that the choice to be honest and objective now requires one to have courage and face their fears of significant social pressure. Cancel culture. Intolerance to the point of violence. Weaponization of legal system to silence those who dare think for themselves.
We are proud of the stands that we have taken. We can be proud because those stands were based, not on fear of social consequence, but rather on our recognition and challenge of the facts and circumstances.
As one of my favorite sales reps explained to me when I was but a young manager “It’s a great life, Miles- if you don’t weaken.”
Sadly, most ‘officials’- whether at the ivy league or other institutions- have been weakened to the point of crippling their ability to think critically.
Stupidity doesn’t make me crazy. Obedience to fear that disables critical thinking drives me crazy. If you can’t think critically, you are in no position to even self help… That’s Crazy!
Great blog.
You Nailed it!!
Lloyd,
Another thought-provoking article. Your concerns about standing up for what you think is right, even if it goes against prevailing opinion, is the crux of the divide in today’s society.
An anecdotal story…my neighbor is an avowed liberal. I have no problem with that, although he worships at the altar of Joe Biden. We are talking one day and he thinks that Biden would be correct in appointing a ‘dis-information czar.’ I say that would be terrible, I want to hear all of the information out there and make my own decisions, rather than being spoon-fed the administration line. My neighbor goes on to say that there is too much erroneous information out there that people are believing. I tell my neighbor that I am OK with a ‘dis-information czar’ as long as that person is appointed under a Republican administration. My neighbor becomes indignant and states…”We can’t have that!”. I proceed to tell him the fallacy of his argument. He wants the narrative to only come from his point of view. I rested my case….touche’.
With regards to the Wuhan leak being considered a conspiracy theory, I highly recommend the attached Vanity Fair article that goes behind the scenes of the Wuhan Institute, Dr. Fauci and friends, the CDC, and the WHO. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Article is long and intensive.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/covid-origins-investigation-wuhan-lab
My next stupidiity of the day is the sellout by bigtime sports to sports betting operations. You cannot beat them. Loads of kids will get hooked on betting and TikTok. Have to wonder if the Chinese are big investors in betting companies to.
Almost sure to have the next Pete Rose scandal within a year. STUPID
Lloyd – (According to Ford) They have cut the third shift on the electric F150 line. That is hardly “Stopping Production”. Like electric cars, light electric trucks are not for everybody. There are plenty of non-electric trucks available, just like non-electric cars. I do not have an electric vehicle. But if I buy one, I will be going in fully informed with realistic expectations. Buying into the electric vehicle, car or truck, without a full analysis? Well, that is another definition of stupidity. (And I agree with you on the big-time betting on Sports issue. But I am not surprised.)
Great blog and great response from Miles. Keep ‘em coming.
Lloyd you are constantly putting down electric cars in your blog. Do you own one? My wife drives a 2016 Tesla Model S which we bought new. We have lifetime free Supercharging because that was the deal in 2016. Everyone I know who owns a Tesla loves them Yes they are not the best vehicle if you constantly drive long distance. But my wife does not. There is almost zero maintenance. Once per year at around $400.00 the car is terrific. I understand the Ford F150 has been disappointing for some owners but perhaps they should have done more research before they bought it. While we are paying upwards of $3.00/gallon my wife has not had to deal with that. We wont buy another Tesla because we dont like Elon Musk. But we will have lots of other options when we want to replace her Tesla. Battery range will get better, charging will get faster and our air will get cleaner. You have grandkids, so do I. Isn’t that something to consider as well? We need to clean up our environment for our kids and grandkids. This is why the electric car is important as well.
Mark,
A lot of folks have Teslas and love them. For city drivng, seating four, with limitations on charging that you can navigate fairly easily in big cities, taking advantage of rebates. Yes it is a great choice. Frankly for most people the Camry hybrid is a better value.
My piece was about Ford’s choices on the F-150 Lightning was about the bosses ignoring the needs of a light truck buyer in cold weather. They totally misunderstood their market and are paying the price now.
As far as the environment, the United States has done a lot of the heavy lifting on the air. China, India, Brazil are today’s big offenders. The marginal efficiency of a Tesla vs a coal fired electric plant is infinitesmal. Versus a hybrid, virtually zero. Be proud of buying a Tesla and enjoy it. It works for you. Elon still cannot build a viable truck. He may get to Mars first.
Lloyd,
The kind of stupidity of people that do not know much about engineering but talk like they do bothers me most.
-Own 2 Ford Lightnings and a Chevy Bolt and a Die Shop for 40 Years.
-Lightnings get me anywhere in my home state of Michigan any time with access to charging that adds 100 miles in 15 minutes.
-Lightnings are fun fast as h!#! and pull my 10,00# trailer any time I need.
-When an uninformed idiot asks me what I do when I want to drive to Florida I simply answer, “Take all the money I save driving this, buy a first class ticket, and arrive a day earlier.”
-Electric vehicles are not political, they are logical, max torque at min RPM. Orders of magnitude more efficient than ICE vehicles.
-GM, Ford, Stellantis are not caving to the gov’t in building them, they are car guys, scared as hell of Tesla.
I expected this blog would generate some great discussion, Lloyd. Had to check the comments and I can say I wasn’t disappointed! Thanks for sharing, all.
Lloyd, I think your analysis of today’s college campus maybe misses the mark.
When the hard right wages culture war by “flooding the zone”, they should have no expectation of a campus forum. Especially If the intended purpose is for the speaker to provoke an angry response, then go on social media and raise money.
That is an abuse of civil society and free speech protections, and college administrators are right to intervene, as are social media companies that take down fictitious and dangerous content.
This is the era of organized misinformation. I wonder if your generation faced anything like this on campus?
In answer your question, letting misinformation go unchecked certainly makes me crazy.