The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy

This book thoroughly exposes the (generally leftwing) pseudo-intellectualism that has dominated so many institutions and power centers in the world, particularly in the west, with special focus on the United States.The book accomplishes this in a fairly concise manner of 9 easy to read, well written and well reasoned chapters supported by a moderate-or-higher amount of examples and historical cases demonstrating various points.Ultimately the book demonstrates in stunning clarity that American society has more and more come to be dominated by what are like modern day sophists. This class of people, whom Sowell names "the anointed" in sarcastic reference to their own inflated egos and views of themselves, is one which is expertly skilled in rhetoric and highly articulate.A fundamental flaw in society/human nature is that large swaths of the public are unable to see through the charade that is the verbal cunning of the anointed because they equate verbal skills/articulate speech with high intelligence and virtue. Or they cannot tell the difference between those who are smart and those who appear or sound smart, those who are virtuous and those who appear or sound virtuous, those who want and pursue what's best for society and those who claim to do so, and so on.And so the anointed are able to achieve huge success in their ambitions through clever manipulation and exploitation of the large swath of society which is gullible and easily manipulated, especially emotionally. Yet virtually whenever the anointed exercise power, they leave a trail of destruction in their wake. But they never examine themselves, their presuppositions, the ultimate effects of their policies, etc. They always find other things to blame, they redouble their commitments, they redefine terms and abuse language, they rewrite history, they slander and demonize their opponents, they silence opposition and debate, they hide or dismiss contrary evidence, and so on.This book is a walk through all of that, how the anointed tend to think, how they tend to operate, how their various misguided crusades and misadventures come to be, their strategy and tactics for achieving their goals and dealing with their opponents, the gargantuan gaps in their thinking and in their overall processes which serves to insulate them from evidence and from reality itself really, and the disastrous results that they have tended to achieve (and ignore).

To understand my review, it's helpful to understand that I have carefully thought about Thomas Sowell and believe him to be one of the U.S.'s greatest living philosophers/academics. "The Vision of the Anointed" is an a terrific example. Sowell builds his case of two opposing philosophies of life, one tragic, one perfectible.Without using any of the regrettable personal attacks, Sowell lays out his opponents vision of the perfectibility of human beings, versus his vision that humans are flawed (not perfectible). He carefully lays out his claim that public policy and personal actions need to be premised on the concept of "the tragic". Further he explains the inevitable negative consequences of policy based on elites believing that they know best and need to have significant power over the unanointed.One can read Sowell and disagree with his vision and prescription for public policy; but it's clear he has thought carefully through his position and understands his critics, vastly better than they appear to understand him. Ebony magazine chose to ignore Sowell, when listing the 100 most important Black Americans in the U.S. Ebony magazine gets demerits for ignoring Sowell; their only reaction to someone they are afraid of engaging/debating. We as Americans are better of for Thomas Sowell, and you'll be better off for reading "The Vision Of The Unanointed."

WOW - this book has been put on my "to read again shelf" - If this is any indication there are only 5 other books there and I read about 100 books a year. Terms such as superlative and magnum opus easily come to mind.First of all this book is cerebral - the writing is clear and plain but requires thought on almost every page. Therefore, most of those who need it most will not be able to wade through it because to do so would force you to think. Thomas Sowell has dived deep into the muddy waters of the thought patterns of the left (vision of the anointed) and the right (tragic vision). He wants to understand the true motives of the left not just the results of their actions. I will not insult you any further with my word since they will only subtract from this awe-inspiring book. Instead enjoy a few words from the tome itself."The focus here will be on one particular vision - the vision prevailing among the intellectual and political elite of our time. What is important about that vision are not only its particular assumptions and their corollaries, but also the fact that it is a prevailing vision - which means that its assumptions are so much taken for granted by so many people, including so-called "thinking people," that neither those assumptions nor their corollaries are generally confronted with demands for empirical evidence. Indeed, empirical evidence itself may be viewed as suspect, insofar as it is inconsistent with that vision.""(T)he vision of the anointed is not simply a vision of the world and its functioning in a causal sense, but is also a vision of themselves and the moral role in the world. It is a vision of differential rectitude. It is not a vision of the tragedy of the human condition: Problems exist because others are not as wise or as virtuous of the anointed.""Factual evidence and logical arguments are often not merely lacking but ignored in many discussions by those with the vision of the anointed. Much that is said by the anointed in the outward form of an argument turns out not to arguments at all. Often the logical structure of an argument is replaced by preemptive rhetoric or, where an argument is made, its validity remains unchecked against any evidence, even when such evidence is abundant. Evidence is often particularly abundant when it comes to statements about history, yet the anointed have repeatedly been as demonstrably wrong about the past as about the present or the future - and as supremely confident.""Those with the vision of the anointed are particularly prone to think of their own philosophy as new, and therefore as adapted to contemporary society, but their framework of assumptions goes back at least two centuries - as does the framework of those with the tragic vision.""But one of the crucial differences between those with the tragic vision and those with the vision of the anointed is in what they respectively assume that we know how to do. Those with the vision of the anointed are seldom deterred by any question as to whether anyone has the knowledge required to do what they attempting.""The hallmark of the vision of the anointed is that what the anointed consider lacking for the kind of social progress they envision is will and power, not knowledge. But to those with the tragic vision, what is dangerous are will and power without knowledge - and for many expansive purposes, knowledge is inherently insufficient.In their hast to be wiser and nobler than others, the anointed have misconceived two basic issues. They seem to assume (1) that they have more knowledge than the average member of the benighted and (2) that this is the relevant comparison. The real comparison, however, is not between the knowledge possessed by the average member of the educated elite versus the average member of the general public, but rather the TOTAL direct knowledge brought to bear through social processes (the competition of the marketplace, social sorting, etc.), involving millions of people, versus the secondhand knowledge of generalities possessed by a smaller elite group. Moreover, the existing generation's traditions and values distill the experiences of other millions in times past. Yet the anointed seem to conceive the issue as one of the syllogistic reasoning of the past versus the syllogistic reasoning of the present, preferring to believe that improvements in knowledge and reason permit the former to be dismissed.""What is seldom part of the vision of the anointed is a concept of ordinary people as autonomous decision makers free to reject any vision and to seek their own well-being through whatever social processes they choose. Thus, when those with the prevailing vision speak of the family - if only to defuse their adversaries' emphasis on family values - they tend to conceive of the family as a RECIPENT institution for government largess or guidance, rather than as DECISION-MAKING institution determining for itself how children shall be raised and with what values.""The anointed do no simply HAPPEN to have a disdain for the public, Such disdain is an integral part of their vision, for the central feature of that vision is preemption of the decisions of others.""Perhaps the most fundamental difference between those with the tragic vision and those with vision of the anointed is that the former see policy-making in terms of trade-offs and the latter in terms of `solutions'.""The point here is not simply that some people were mistaken in their beliefs and hopes for this particular program, but that they barricaded themselves against all beliefs to the contrary and morally condemned those who express such beliefs. It is this pattern which has been all too characteristic of the anointed, on this and other issues, over a very long span of time."I hope this woefully small smattering of quotes has helped enlighten you about this great book.

This is one amazing book. Published in 1996 it predicts with remarkable accuracy the growing destructive power the Liberal-Left in American society and by extension, Western society in general.What Sowell calls "the annointed" we now commonly refer to as the metropolitan liberal elite or the intelligentsia. This elite have an unshakable belief in their moral and intellectual superiority over the masses. His analysis of their baleful influence on the lives of ordinary citizens (or "the benighted" as Sowell calls them) is remarkably clear. The annointed are unwilling to face up to the damaging social and economic consequences of their very many failures.Unfortunately, in the years since this book was written the annointed have reached unprecedented levels of power and influence in all the most important areas of public life – politics, criminal justice, education, healthcare, social services, mass media (even the military to some extent). If this progression continues we find ourselves living under an all pervasive system of social/moral control of enforced "politcal correctness".When politicians or the media speak of "a crisis which must be addressed" you know the annointed have spotted an opportunity to take the moral high ground with all the self-congratulation that will involve.

I’m only 1/4 in and really enjoying it. Was recommended and definitely hasn’t disappointed. Makes you look at the world differently.

This is best political analysis that I have ever read. It eloquently articulates everything that is wrong with modern progressive leftism (with supporting evidence).

Thomas Sowell is one of the most clever and insightful people alive. Very informative if you want to understand how pc culture has become so pervasive and why those who push it on the rest of us fail to see it's shortcomings.

Empirical evidence suggests that despite many good intentions Socialism fails. When crime, welfare dependency, family break up, rates of teenage pregnancy, unemployment and income inequality increase rapidly under a Socialist Government, despite massive improvements in technology and wealth, many people wonder why. Professor Thomas Sowell examines and exposes the deceptions of Socialists and explains why state intervention usually makes the situation worse.Everybody with a social conscience should read and understand the message in this book. Literacy and numeracy aren't enough, you must understand how Political systems work too. Sowell provides answers that educated people should know, understand and act upon.