Jerry Seinfeld, Meryl Strep, and Intellectual Sophistication

[coberst]

Jerry Seinfeld, Meryl Strep, and Intellectual Sophistication

 

The Jerry Seinfeld Show is perhaps the most popular rerun comic show on TV. I suspect that I have seen every episode of that show at least twice. The four characters Jerry, George, Crammer, and Elaine work together marvelously.

 

I have seen each of these individuals play other parts in other shows and I must say I have been disappointed each time. Together they are great but apart, in other roles, they just do no work nearly as well.

 

Many decades ago I decided I wanted to learn to act. I took a late evening course in acting at a local College; upon completion I auditioned for parts in plays being produced by our city production group that put on plays in our local “In the Round Play House”. This was, of course, just amateur productions for local audiences.

 

I did get a few acting parts and served as an understudy a few times and had a great time performing and going to various performances. One particular actor in one play I saw just “blew me away” with his great performance. I was especially impressed upon learning that he was playing his very first part in a play. I thought to myself that this guy is a natural in that he was able to do such a great job with such little preparation.

 

I later met the guy, his name was Jimmy, and quickly realize that Jimmy was not performing in the play that I saw but was just being his natural self. In the flesh this guy was just as he appeared in the play that I saw him perform.

 

Jerry, George, Crammer, and Elaine in the “Seinfeld Show” and Jimmy in his first play were all just doing pretty much what they can do naturally. Each could play one type of role very well but could not often play any other role.

 

Whereas you take someone like Meryl Strep and she can play any role in any kind of situation. Therein we can see what sophistication is all about. Meryl was a very sophisticated actress.

 

There are many definitions and synonyms of the word “sophistication” but my choice for synonym here is “cultivation”, which means “to improve by labor, care, or study”. Depending upon the unique natural talents that we each have, we can, through the cultivation of those talents become intellectually sophisticated; thereby we can become more Meryl-like in all of our actions throughout our entire life.

 

Do not allow the anti-intellectualism that is pervasive across our culture deter you in your quest for intellectual sophistication. Many who make policy decisions in our (USA) nation wish us to remain unsophisticated and docile so that they can better realize their selfish goals by manipulating our behavior. Our present economic Waterloo is an ‘eye opening’ example of what can happen to us as a result of these selfish goals, which we, through our lack of sophistication, have allowed to happen.

 

Our problems are not due to lousy politicians and CEOs but our problems are due to our lack of intellectual sophistication.

 

“We have met the enemy and it is us.” Pogo

 

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Edison

 

“Intellectual sophistication is 1% inspiration and 99% the study of the books written by great minds.” coberst

[HermesThePhilosopher]

Another nice thread coberst, and doubly great for talking about Seinfeld :shrug:

 

On the acting, I totally agree, which I guess is why casting is so important. If actors could really diversify, then they would take almost any role. That said, I do really like the Seinfeld characters - Jason Alexander is fantastic as George (mainly because I think I am just like him, in character at least - not bald yet).

 

“Intellectual sophistication is 1% inspiration and 99% the study of the books written by great minds.” coberst

 

With this too I also agree :)

I think I became disillusioned with academics at university where I met many highly educated and respected professors with as much intellectual engagement as a potato. They were very learned, but not so very clever. My latin teacher always said original thinkers were one in six million, and history bears this out, the majority of great advances in thought were made by people quite outside whatever establishments were around at the time.

 

As you relate it to the economy, it is certainly a truth that those in power fear to lose that power, and thus seek to maintain their position. I'm not sure what you mean by the "anti-intellectualism" though - is this to mean that those in power actively encourage/make the populous stupid in some way?

[coberst]

.

 

As you relate it to the economy, it is certainly a truth that those in power fear to lose that power, and thus seek to maintain their position. I'm not sure what you mean by the "anti-intellectualism" though - is this to mean that those in power actively encourage/make the populous stupid in some way?

 

 

I am convinced that our educaional system is a disgrace because those who determine policy want a nation of uncritical thinking docile followers who can be easily manipulated. Those who determine policy are those who control the power of wealth in America. It is those who control American corporations and financial institutions. It is those who have led us into the present situation.

[Flying Binghi]

Who decides what are "books written by great minds" ....lesser minds?

[coberst]

Who decides what are "books written by great minds" ....lesser minds?

 

Each of us must make that judgment for our self. We must make such judgments constantly throughout our life and that is why we must all make the effort to study CT.

 

The first step toward solving our problems is to learn CT (Critical Thinking).

 

CT is an acronym for Critical Thinking. Everybody considers themselves to be a critical thinker. That is why we need to differentiate among different levels of critical thinking.

 

Most people fall in the category that I call Reagan thinkers—trust but verify. Then there are those who have taken the basic college course taught by the philosophy dept that I call Logic 101. This is a credit course that teaches the basic principles of reasoning. Of course, a person need not take the college course and can learn the matter on their own effort, but I suspect few do that.

 

The third level I call CT (Critical Thinking). CT includes the knowledge of Logic 101 and also the knowledge that focuses upon the intellectual character and attitude of critical thinking. It includes knowledge regarding the ego and social centric forces that impede rational thinking.

 

Most decisions we have to make are judgment calls. A judgment call is made when we must make a decision when there is no “true” or “false” answers. When we make a judgment call our decision is bad, good, or better.

 

Many factors are involved: there are the available facts, assumptions, skills, knowledge, and especially personal experience and attitude. I think that the two most important elements in the mix are personal experience and attitude.

 

When we study math we learn how to use various algorithms to facilitate our skill in dealing with quantities. If we never studied math we could deal with quantity on a primary level but our quantifying ability would be minimal. Likewise with making judgments; if we study the art and science of good judgment we can make better decisions and if we never study the art and science of judgment our decision ability will remain minimal.

 

I am convinced that a fundamental problem we have in this country (USA) is that our citizens have never learned the art and science of good judgment. Before the recent introduction of CT into our schools and colleges our young people have been taught primarily what to think and not how to think. All of us graduated with insufficient comprehension of the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary for the formulation of good judgment. The result of this inability to make good judgment is evident and is dangerous.

 

I am primarily interested in the judgment that adults exercise in regard to public issues. Of course, any improvement in judgment generally will affect both personal and community matters.

 

To put the matter into a nut shell:

1. Normal men and women can significantly improve their ability to make judgments.

2. CT is the domain of knowledge that delineates the knowledge, skills, and intellectual character demanded for good judgment.

3. CT has been introduced into our schools and colleges slowly in the last two or three decades.

4. Few of today’s adults were ever taught CT.

5. I suspect that at least another two generations will pass before our society reaps significant rewards resulting from teaching CT to our children.

6. Can our democracy survive that long?

7. I think that every effort must be made to convince today’s adults that they need to study and learn CT on their own. I am not suggesting that adults find a teacher but I am suggesting that adults become self-actualizing learners.

8. I am convinced that learning the art and science of Critical Thinking is an important step toward becoming a better citizen in today’s democratic society.

 

Perhaps you are not familiar with CT. I first encountered the concept about five years ago. The following are a few Internet sites that will familiarize you with the matter.

 

Critical Thinking and Its Relation to Science and Humanism

 

cache:mkodBBrpMg0J:www.criticalthinking.org/TGS_files/SAM-CT_competencies_2005.pdf critical thinking multi-logical - Google Search

 

Critical Thinking: Expanding the Paradigm

 

http://www.criticalthinking.org/resources/articles/glossary.shtml

 

http://www.doit.gmu.edu/inventio/past/display_past.asp?pID=spring03&sID=eslava

[RonPrice]

SEINFELD

 

There is very little on film or television that moves me to laughter. I am often amused, tickled, impressed by the cleverness of some comedian but, if I watch a whole program I am out of spirits half way through and distinctly disjointed by the last phase of the sequence. As the piece progresses, my laughter becomes mechanical and each chuckle intensifies my ill-at-easeness. At the end of the program I feel flat and empty. I also feel I have wasted my time. There are come comedians and comedy which has a morelasting value. Seinfeld is one of these—at least for me. -Ron Price with thanks to G.B. Shaw on Oscar Wilde in Bernard Shaw: A Critical View, Nicholas Grene, MacMillan Press, London, 1984, p.4.

 

Laughter is idiosyncratic, canned, a

commercial product. I feel it inside,

welling-up, fast, a spontaneous explosion,

frequently in Seinfeld, a program of skits

about nothing, trivia, the spaces in relationships,

self-centered human beings. I dig the absurd, my

laughs and millions of others in this most popular

of programs, where the energies of comedy are

harnessed, dynamically: do we understand ourselves

in the end? Society? I create nothing. I invent nothing.

 

I imagine nothing. I see the drama and laugh at

everyday nothingness. Can I call these laughs

spiritual relaxation? Filling my pocket full with the

most delightful emptiness and the weight of the

day lifts, exploded into thin air.

 

Ron Price

16 August 1998

Edited August 16, 2010 by RonPrice
to add some words