"Common sense" Is it just me...?

[Sam1911]

Yeah, funny, but really pretty true. I mean, there are plenty of examples we can dig up of what looks like greater intelligence in the "everyman" of the past, but I've not seen where any of those are really persuasive as representatives of the population at large. Sure, a high school final exam from 1915 might have required the student answer what the total value of exports was from the nation of Borneo in the last set of three years during which that nation was not party to the treaty of Utrecht, or to name all past presidents who had a close relative named Earl, counting cousins but not second cousins ... or something like that ... but how many "everymen" actually got anywhere close to graduating high school in 1915? Not many. Were the masses of farm and factory workers in the Victorian period really brighter than their fellows today? Or serfs picking crops in feudal Japan? Or the average citizen of the Mayan kingdom? Or the average blacksmith or farmer trying to make a living in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1770?

Most probably people are people without much change across the short span of recorded history. They sure don't vote and act in ways that is truly logical, when seen from other perspectives, though most sociologists and psychologists would probably maintain that even the least positive group choices are rational for those making them.

 

[ATLDave]

"Common sense" usually means:

"Do not make me show my work; I cannot walk you through exactly HOW or WHY what I want would have tangible effects, because I have never thought it through in a granular fashion; I have assumed some cause-and-effect relationship that I have never tested, and I do not welcome your critical analysis of same."

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Actual common sense would be going after the actual problem--criminals, gangs, drug turf wars, mentally disturbed and trolls who think real life is like what they see in computer games.

"Common sense" as used by leftists is a fabricated buzz word meaning to create laws based on demonizing people, on bigotry and prejudice. The social attitude behind Jim Crow lives on.

 

[Joshboyfutre]

It seems like more if a lack of experience and knowledge on the other side of the fence.think about it this way, if all you knew of guns was what you seen on the news wouldn't you be scared of them too? Alot if people out there have never even seen or held a gun. There's also the misinterpretation if the 2nd Amendment. Hence the "U don't need a rifle like that to defend yourself" argument.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

So many key phrases that tick me off in this context...

Common sense
Reasonable
All reasonable people agree
It goes without saying
Everyone knows
It's a known fact


Etc...

I hear them and immediately know a "kool aide drinker".


Todd.

 

[JFtheGR8]

It helps if you picture Charles Durning as "Pappy O'Daniel" in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?".

Oh yes! That most definitely helps.

The liberal left uses the term "common sense" because there is no data to support their proposals. You should just know that giving up one of your constitutional rights is for the betterment of the populous. The problem is that there is plenty of data out there that refutes their "common sense" claims.

 

[HexHead]

Anytime a Democrat says "common sense", they're trying to screw you.

 

[bainter1212]

Are we just now realizing that political actors use aggrandizing, belittling, inflatory, grand-standing, denigrating, divisive, whitewash, and otherwise fatuous adjectives to describe the great things they want or the stupid things their opponents want?

Am I insulted that Obama says his gun control wishes are "common sense?" Not really. Certainly no more than I'm insulted that other politicos say that the TSA and the Patriot Act (what a kick in the teeth THAT name is) are for "Homeland Security."




What's the alternative? "Hi y'all, and I'm so happy you've invited me here today to speak to you about my gun control plans! Now my ideas are vapid but I do expect you to vote for them because you're too ignorant and too disengaged from the actual issue to bother to figure out whether my plans make a lick of sense. They're appealing to you because they promise something un-deliverable, but at the expense of something else you don't understand or care about. So that's all gravy, right? By the time you realize they didn't help anything -- if you EVER do! -- I'll be long retired and my legacy will be preserved as someone who 'did something.' Yes, you're dupes and fools, each and every one. There's no denying that, now is there? But if you weren't, I'd have no reason to speak with you, no hope of your support, and you'd all be throwing garbage at me instead of your donations. Can I get an AMEN!? I'd like to take you each by the hand and thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so ignorant, such party toadies, and so easily swayed. I do so thank you for your support and God bless!"

Thank you sir, for that post. It was truly needed.

 

[TimSr]

I always thought "criminals don't obey gun laws" was pretty much common sense.

 

[Warp]

I don't use the term "common sense", ever, in any context...the term is so misused it's ridiculous.

Now, some things are just "good sense".

But really, "common sense" is often used when somebody is trying to convince you of something but they don't actually have a good reason for it, or evidence to support it, or logic, etc