We should maintain that if an interpretation of any word in any religion leads to disharmony and does not positively further the welfare of the many, then such an interpretation is to be regarded as wrong; that is, against the will of God, or as the working of Satan or Mara.

Buddhadasa Bikkhu, a Thai Buddhist Monk


Monday, October 22, 2012

Punditry

If you look long-term at how do people in the McLaughlin Group do, they get half their predictions right and half of them wrong because they are basically entertainers.  People criticize this show [the Daily Show], maybe, and say that , oh, it is entertainment masquerading as news, but a lot of news is really entertainment masquerading as news.
Nate Silver,
on the Daily Show, October 17, 2012
Speaking on the observation that political punditry is no better than a coin toss

Postscript:  In Thai (and Sanskrit), the word bundit refers to a scholar or someone with learning who knows what they are talking about.  In American English the cognate term pundit refers to someone who pretends to be a bundit—but isn't.
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