Unknown Unknowns

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Bradlaugh

Looking up something about postwar British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, I came across the following gem.

Attlee, in old age, is being interviewed by a biographer, Kenneth Harris.

Harris: Would you say you are an agnostic?

Attlee: I don’t know.

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3 Responses to Unknown Unknowns

  1. Florida resident says:
    May 10, 2013 at 3:18 pm

    Great to see Bradlaugh again, after 5 months of his absence at “Secular Right”.
    The post above reminded me, for no reason,
    the first publication by Steve Sailer, 14+ years old at the time(March 1973):

    Having read Ernest van den Haag’s article on Christopher Jencks, I am reminded of an old psychiatry joke: A psychotic (egalitarian, in this little morality story) says. “All people are equal, and I’ll fight anyone who says I’m wrong.” A neurotic (Jencks) says, “People aren’t equal, and I just can’t stand it.”
    STEVEN SAILER,
    http://isteve.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-was-forty-years-ago-today.html
    Your respectfully, F.r.

  2. Mark in Spokane says:
    May 19, 2013 at 6:16 am

    Given that Atlee was a “frozen chosen” Anglican, perhaps some of his hesitance in describing himself as an agnostic was due to the fact that it is possible to be a perfectly devout (by Anglican standards) member of the Church of England without being required to explicitly believe in God?

  3. Florida resident says:
    May 19, 2013 at 7:48 pm

    Interesting (for the lack of other characterization) article at “Scientific American”:
    “Should Research on Race and IQ Be Banned?”

    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/05/16/should-research-on-race-and-iq-be-banned/
    From there (it is actual citation, and not a parody):

    “*Clarification: Some readers may wonder what I mean by “ban,” so let me spell it out. I envision a federal prohibition against speech or publications supporting racial theories of intelligence. All papers, books and other documents advocating such theories will be burned, deleted or otherwise destroyed. Those who continue espousing such theories either publicly or privately (as determined by monitoring of email, phone calls or other communications) will be detained indefinitely in Guantanamo until or unless a secret tribunal overseen by me says they have expressed sufficient remorse and can be released.”
    –
    Razib Khan posted recently important considerations:
    “Why race as a biological construct matters”,
    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/?p=21046#.UZkqcqI-ajM

    Respectfully, F.r.

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