From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   When I was in school, the attitude that many people had was that academic   
   learning was worthless and that the only thing that mattered in life was   
   common sense and social skills. You may want that attitude if you are raising   
   salesmen and lawyers. But the    
   country needs many people besides just that. You also need engineers,   
   programmers, doctors, scientists, teachers and many others. And for these   
   people, they better have academic knowledge.   
      
   Having that attitude is one of the most irresponsible things that one can   
   have. You are attacking your best minds and making enemies of people who   
   otherwise would be your greatest contributors. And that hurts mostly your   
   country.   
      
   So we have idiots riding around with signs that say “My son beat up your   
   honor student.” Once again, these people are hurting mostly themselves. They   
   make enemies of people who otherwise would be their greatest contributors. And   
   that hurts mostly    
   their country.   
      
   For this state of affairs they blame – liberals, Jews, Communists, you name   
   it. They should be blaming themselves. They destroy their best minds, and that   
   renders them non-competitive.   
      
   So then the people raised that way go into the academia. They are rightfully   
   full of hatred. They buy into bullshit such as political correctness. This   
   does not serve the country at all. This serves its enemies.   
      
   In school settings, the “jocks” are seen as exciting and the “nerds”   
   are seen as bores. In the adult life that changes. The “jocks” settle into   
   a predictable existence. The “nerds” keep learning, and they become more   
   interesting people    
   over the long run. At this point the “jocks” decide that the “nerd”   
   types are evil. They are not. They are simply people who've bothered to   
   educate themselves about many things, and they become more interesting over   
   the long run than the people    
   who have been “jocks.”   
      
   Now not everyone who is a “nerd” is a good person, and not everyone who is   
   a “jock” is a bad one. However for as long as people insist on destroying   
   their best minds, they are going to lose. The correct solution to all this   
   mess is to support and    
   encourage academic learning. And then the people who tend to such things will   
   become your country's contributors, and the influence of people who have a   
   grudge against your country will be reduced.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)