Never Underestimate The Power Of Stupid People In Large Groups

When I was growing up in the fifties, it was often said that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Since then, the pursuit of knowledge has given way 
to the pursuit of blind (and blinding) ideology.
Frequently, I have opportunity to correct the chain emails sent by a right-wing friend.
After one such correction I mentioned to G. that every political email he sends contains a minuscule kernel of truth always buried in a pit of sludge.
His reply shocked me: "I like being partly right."
As I said at the beginning, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." 
In fact it is more dangerous that a straightforward lie since brazen lies are more easily deconstructed. 

***

"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice.  The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization.  We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal.  Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good.  The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”  

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Trappist Monk, FatherThomas Merton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton