A recent article by the inimitable Victor Davis Hanson noted that we are in dire need of Renaissance men — people who are well versed in many disciplines, not limited to a narrow specialization.  Hanson bemoaned a modern society that is so compartmentalized by “professionals” and the “tyranny of credentialism” that “a tiny credentialed and often incestuous elite manages the lives of a vast underclass whose daily lives are scripted by top-down master planners — as an autonomous and skeptical middle class disappears.”

Hanson cited Aristotle, Cicero, da Vinci, Jefferson, Franklin, and Churchill — among others — as examples of multi-faceted and multi-talented geniuses, Renaissance men, from the past...and Elon Musk as perhaps the best example alive today.

This caused me to ask myself why it appears that people of this ilk, with the desire and ability to master many disciplines, are becoming fewer and farther between?  Why are there almost no Renaissance men anymore?

First and foremost, our schools.  They no longer teach kids how to think, but what to think.  They have largely jettisoned the classics, rhetoric, debate, history, economics, et al. for “instruction” on gender theory, DIE, and CRT.  In short, too many of our school systems are far more interested in indoctrinating our children than in educating them.  This is — or should be — criminal.  It is a form of child abuse, with permanent deleterious affects that reverberate through time.

Ironically, the advancement of technology has also contributed to the dumbing down of society.  Machine and artificial intelligence is rising, human intelligence falling.  There is a correlation.  Too many of us rely on calculators to do even the most basic math, and on Google to do our research and tell us what is real, right, and true.  The rapid advance of A.I. can only exacerbate this problem.  We are writing ourselves out of our own story.

Benjamin Franklin was a journalist, publisher, printer, author, politician, diplomat, inventor, scientist, and philosopher.

What would a new Renaissance man look like?  Gender theory expert, master of DIE, CRT professor, TikTokker, video-gamer, Pornhub aficionado, influencer, Instagram guru?

We have been lied to, indoctrinated, hypnotized, anesthetized, and lobotomized...all to the benefit of a clearly non-benevolent government.  Coincidence?

Thomas Jefferson was a diplomat, the third U.S. president, founder of the University of Virginia, an inventor, agronomist, and architect...and the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Independence is a key to being a multi-faceted boon to society.  The Thomas Jeffersons and Elon Musks of the world think outside the box.  They don’t simply believe — and do — what those in power want them to believe and do.  They refuse to be indoctrinated and lobotomized.

And it’s a far better world because of them.

Image: Thomas Jefferson.  Credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.