I love Ben Stein!!

[The Hunter of Jahanna]

A lot of you out there probably wont know who Ben Stein is , but you might have seen a gameshow he had on MTV a while back. I saw this article he had written and had to post it , both because it is sadly true and because it seems to totaly go against the grain of his TV personality.

How to Ruin American Enterprise Benjamin J. Stein, 12.23.02 We're well on our way to squelching what gives this country an edge. What would it take to kill innovation altogether? As a casual observer of what makes this country work and what stops it cold, I hereby offer a few suggestions on how we can ruin American competitiveness and innovation in the course of this century. I think the reader will agree with me that we are already far down the road on many of them: 1) Allow schools to fall into useless decay. Do not teach civics or history except to describe America as a hopelessly fascistic, reactionary pit. Do not expect students to know the basics of mathematics, chemistry and physics. Working closely with the teachers' unions, make sure that you dumb down standards so that children who make the most minimal effort still get by with flying colors. Destroy the knowledge base on which all of mankind's scientific progress has been built by guaranteeing that such learning is confined to only a few, and spread ignorance and complacency among the many. Watch America lose its scientific and competitive edge to other nations that make a comprehensive knowledge base a rule of the society. 2) Encourage the making of laws and rules by trial lawyers and sympathetic judges, especially through class actions. Bypass the legislative mechanisms that involve elected representatives and a president. This will stop--or at least greatly slow down--innovation, as corporations and individuals hesitate to explore new ideas for fear of getting punished (or regulated to death) by litigation for any misstep, no matter how slight, in the creation of new products and services. Make sure that lawsuits against drugmakers are especially encouraged so that the companies are afraid to develop new lifesaving drugs, lest they be sued for sums that will bankrupt them. Make trial lawyers and judges, not scientists, responsible for the flow of new products and services. 3) Create a culture that blames the other guy for everything and discourages any form of individual self-restraint or self-control. Promote litigation to punish tobacco companies on the theory that they compel innocent people to smoke. Make it second nature for someone who is overweight to blame the restaurant that served him fries. Encourage a legal process that can kill a drug company for any mistakes in self-medication. Make it a general rule that anyone with more money than a plaintiff is responsible for anything harmful that a plaintiff does. Promulgate the pitiful joke that Americans are hereby exempt from any responsibility for their own actions--so long as there are deep pockets around to be rifled. 4) Sneer at hard work and thrift. Encourage the belief that all true wealth comes from skillful manipulation and cunning, or from sudden, brilliant and lucky strokes that leave the plodding, ordinary worker and saver in the dust. Make sure that society's idols are men and women who got rich from being sexy in public or through gambling or playing tricks, not from hard work or patience. Make the citizenry permanently envious and bewildered about where real success comes from. 5) Hold the managers of corporations to extremely lax standards of conduct and allow them to get off with a slap on the wrist when they betray the trust of shareholders. This will discourage thrift and investment and ensure that Americans will have far less capital to work with than other societies, while simultaneously developing that contempt for law and social standards that is the hallmark of failing nations. Hold the management of labor unions to no ethical standards. 6) While you're at it, discourage respect for law in every possible way. This will dissolve the glue that holds the nation together, and dissuade any long-term thinking. Societies in which the law can be clearly seen to apply to some and not to others are doomed to decay, in terms of innovation and everything else. 7) Encourage a mass culture that spits on intelligence and study and instead elevates drug use, coolness through sex and violence, and contempt for school. As children learn to be stupid instead of smart, the national intelligence base needed for innovation will simply vanish into MTV-land.

[Heartless Butterscotch]

Yeah, Stein served as a speechwriter and lawyer for Nixon and Ford. He seems to have a more serious offscreen personality.

[ 12-17-2002, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: Heartless Butterscotch ]

[RevRuby]

actually that prettymuch fits with what I had believed him to be like off camera. I think he's a great actor (even if he does get type-cast alot- see the wonder years, and Casper (the first one) among others)

[Mack_Attack]

I think he still has a game show called win Ben steins Money. Maybe it is just on here in Canada. Not the best show put he puts up 5000 every time he plays.

[The Hierophant]

Heh, I gotta say that Mr. Stein is right on the money with his social observations there (although I have no idea who he actually is). Hurry up America! Or us New Zealanders will sneak up and overtake you with our Kiwi ingenuity and vegemite sandwiches!

[The Hunter of Jahanna]

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! VEGEMITE *runs and hides from the scary sandwich spread*

[khazadman]

You'll find Win Ben Stein's Money on the comedy channel.

[The Hierophant]

Ahh, I just looked up Ben Stein on www.imdb.com
NOW I know who he is. I never realized he had such a 'professional' intellectual career. I figured he was just another pigeon-hole actor (y'know, as the boring psychiatrist/lawyer/accountant type character). Very nice indeed. And the validity of his statements still stands [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Cloudbringer]

I've seen the game show a few times, but didn't know he had been a speech writer. Very interesting.