Fruit Cake

In the aftermath of the 2008 election and her resignation as governor of Alaska, it is interesting to look again at vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin’s concerns over her treatment at the hands of the media. Someone (I forget who) much cleverer than I, once remarked, “Intelligence is relative, it depends on the company you keep.”

It is certainly unfair and probably untrue to label Governor Palin as unintelligent or uneducated. People do not get to hold and retain public office without some degree of ability and the GOP would surely not have endorsed a candidate who was considered unintelligent or uneducated. So what was the problem?

Most dictionaries define unintelligent as “without intelligence” and uneducated as “without education” – well duh! Educated simply means “having received education” so, as a general understanding, educated means schooled or perhaps trained. Intelligence however, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as, “Understanding as a quality of admitting of degree; quickness of mental apprehension, sagacity.” Quite clearly, Governor Palin is neither uneducated nor unintelligent but, equally clearly there was a very serious deficiency in her ability to respond effectively to journalists’ questions.

Here is a somewhat gauche and clumsy word for consideration - unknowledgeable. Microsoft’s spell-check does not appear to reject this word, but my OED does not list it. Accepting that this possible non-word is the antonym of knowledgeable, the definition of unknowledgeable would be: “not possessing, or showing knowledge or mental capacity and not well-informed.”

The difference in meaning between unintelligent and unknowledgeable might be considered subtle, but the difference is nevertheless significant and crucial. For example, a graduate with a cum laude degree in journalism is highly unlikely to be unintelligent, yet may very well be unknowledgeable. Knowledge in this context is concerned with worldly matters. It is an accumulation of knowledge from a rich and varied array of sources over an extended period of time. It is also a never-ending mission and desire to know about “stuff” and to be able to use an inherent intelligence that allows an appropriate and contextual appraisal of that “stuff”.

This is, in my opinion, where Palin had difficulties – she doesn’t have knowledge of the subjects necessary to be an effective statesperson and showed little inclination to become absorbed and involved in those subjects. I get the distinct impression that, like many ideologically confined individuals, Palin’s views and beliefs have been formed and are now set in stone. She sees no need to absorb or assimilate new information or additional knowledge, especially if that information is at odds with her particular doctrine.

Prefabricated opinions and cute one-liners are no substitute for a deep and worldly knowledge.