# So tell me about Ben Carson... **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 2, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154 "2014-12-02T19:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/181 "2015-02-17T18:38:13Z")
Yes, and that makes us unique among all the countries of the world. Wait, no it doesn’t. I am not taking a position on whether we ought to accede to the ICJ Statute. I’m just pointing out that refusing to do so leaves us in rather poor company. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/182 "2015-02-18T20:51:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Not sure how dumb that is. How many Americans got prosecuted for war crimes during WWII? Not a whole lot, and there was no shortage of war crimes. It’s just that when you’re in a war for survival, there are more important things to worry about and taking effective soldiers out of the line for being too severe towards the enemy isn’t exactly a winning strategy. > > [United States war crimes - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes#World_War_II) > > Also, I doubt Carson is referring to real war crimes, but “political correctness”, such as disrespect towards religious symbols like Korans. I understand why the US is doing it(hearts and minds and all that), but I don’t think it’s crazy to argue that it’s stupid and counterproductive. Why would you believe this? What reasonable would consider being disrespectful or mistreating a book as a war crime? War crimes are unjustified killings, or phsyical mistreatment of enemy soldiers or civilians. In some circumstances it is also the use of weapons that have been banned by treaty. It is also idiotic to imagine that the US would be fighting a war for ‘survival’. The US enters wars by choice, and its survival hasn’t been at stake since the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/183 "2015-02-18T21:06:51Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I would consider Carson more **ignorant** than idiotic. Eh, I would say opportunist rather than either, really. But anything is irrelevant. As is Carson as a candidate. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/184 "2015-02-20T18:55:05Z")
[Ben Carson: War Against ISIS Should Have No ‘Rules’.](http://www.salon.com/2015/02/20/ben_carsons_sick_torture_rationale_is_this_2016s_most_deluded_contender/) ---
**Author:** ![Steely\_Dan\_Fan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Steely\_Dan\_Fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steely_Dan_Fan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/185 "2015-03-02T07:59:31Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > As a matter of fact I almost posted my regrets that there appears to be no Ronald Reagan on the horizon to lead the country back into the light. 🙂 You’re kidding, right? Reagan was a destructive, cancerous piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Steely\_Dan\_Fan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Steely\_Dan\_Fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steely_Dan_Fan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/186 "2015-03-02T08:06:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It is, but so is prosecuting soldiers for it. Prosecuting soldiers for violating a perfectly reasonable military policy is “stupid and counterproductive”? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/187 "2015-03-02T13:31:36Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Eh, I would say opportunist rather than either, really. Maybe not even that. He enjoys getting his ego stroked by all the GOP handlers who went looking for a black candidate of their own, came across him, and went to work. Who _wouldn’t_ like that? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/188 "2015-03-02T15:16:48Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Why do you like him a lot? To me, he’s a smart and skilled neurosurgeon and an absolute idiot, Palinesque in his stupidity, as far as politics. Like really, really dumb. I don’t think he is Palinesque at all. Palin like Trump and right wing talking heads are out there spouting stupid shit because they know it’s what the base wants and it makes them millions. Carson is Bachmannesque, he is saying stupid shit because he honestly believes it. He is one of the morons the Palin types conned. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/189 "2015-03-02T15:55:40Z")
Funny story about CPAC – [they put a picture of the wrong black guy on Ben Carson’s bio page](http://www.salon.com/2015/02/25/cpacs_unfortunate_mix_up_dr_ben_carson_is_not_sen_tim_scott/). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/190 "2015-03-02T15:59:49Z")
Hey, they all look alike, right? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/191 "2015-03-02T16:03:02Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I don’t think he is Palinesque at all. Palin like Trump and right wing talking heads are out there spouting stupid shit because they know it’s what the base wants and it makes them millions. Carson is Bachmannesque, he is saying stupid shit because he honestly believes it. He is one of the morons the Palin types conned. Can’t you both be right? Palin is spouting talking points for the base, AND is an idiot, because she clearly doesn’t understand what she herself says. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/192 "2015-03-02T16:33:15Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Funny story about CPAC – [they put a picture of the wrong black guy on Ben Carson’s bio page](http://www.salon.com/2015/02/25/cpacs_unfortunate_mix_up_dr_ben_carson_is_not_sen_tim_scott/). They had to choose from all the black Republicans available, so they had a 50/50 chance of getting it right! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/193 "2015-03-02T16:59:39Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I would consider Carson more **ignorant** than idiotic. [The problem is that he is **obstinately** ignorant.](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/02/ben_carson_on_the_relationship_between_religion_and_science_maybe_its_just_propaganda/) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/194 "2015-03-02T17:15:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [The problem is that he is **obstinately** ignorant.](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/02/ben_carson_on_the_relationship_between_religion_and_science_maybe_its_just_propaganda/) I’ve found that to be fairly common for doctors. No offense to our resident Docs, but I’ve known way too many doctors who think they are experts at everything. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/195 "2015-03-02T18:14:50Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > I’ve had the chance to know a lot of specialty surgeons–cardiothoracic, neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists, and the like\*–some of whom could be considered hotshots. > > Obviously there aren’t any outright dummies in those jobs. But while a medical education teaches many things, critical thinking is not high on the list. And the training to achieve such a position requires a level of tunnel vision that means blocking out even the parts of medicine that aren’t relevant to that specialty, much less everything else going on in the world. Someone driven to be well-rounded and knowledgeable about multiple things will have a difficult time with such a career path. > > Even more than that, becoming a surgeon at that level requires a truly absurd level of self-confidence. It’s hard to imagine cutting into someone’s brain or heart or eyeball if you have any doubts about what you’re doing, so in my experience doubt is simply something they don’t do. So when they encounter things outside their specialty that they don’t know much about, but something seems right to them, then in their mind it almost has to be right–in a way it _becomes_ right. > > I see this in folks like Dr. Oz and Rand Paul. Carson may be in that camp as well. > > Good doctors are typically not good adminstrators, managers, or businessmen, for pretty much the same reason that pitchers can’t hit. Carson deserves a ton of respect for his career, but the traits necessary to build that career are mostly ones I wouldn’t want in a President. > > - Urologists and otolaryngologists usually don’t fall into this personality type, probably because of the mundanity of most of what they do. You’d think ophthalmologists would be excluded for the same reason, but in my experience they’re among the worst. It’s possible I know a bad sample, but I doubt it. Anecdote: I used to work with a woman whose husband is an ophthalmologist. She said that the ones they knew had the same rate of personal and family dysfunction as the general population - as in one of the lowest rates of divorce, substance abuse, etc. among physicians, period. However, she’d never heard of a cardiologist who had a happy family life. As she put it, the job takes so much out of them that they have nothing left to give their spouses, and especially their children. I believe, as did she, that there are some occupations whose participants should not have children, and she said this was one of them. I would have expected the same thing from OB/GYN too, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. However, every OB/GYN I’ve ever encountered who had children, whether male or female, had a SAHP who maybe did some freelance or contract work. You can be a single parent and a GYN but not an OB, unless you have a 24/7 nanny or some other live-in adult. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/196 "2015-03-02T18:23:12Z")
As for the prospect of a physician being POTUS, remember when Howard Dean tanked his campaign with the “RARRRGGGGH” speech? OTOH, my father lived (still does) in Des Moines and was a huge Dean supporter, to the point where he would have worked for the campaign had he been the candidate, and he was at that rally and said it made sense in a full context. One other thing. Dr. Carson was never in the military. I can’t believe this hasn’t been addressed. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/197 "2015-03-02T18:27:51Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > One other thing. Dr. Carson was never in the military. I can’t believe this hasn’t been addressed. Neither was Romney. Or Obama. Or Hillary. Why should it matter? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/198 "2015-03-02T18:49:54Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Neither was Romney. Or Obama. Or Hillary. Why should it matter? Of course it matters - ideally, a President should have some military experience. Being Commander-in-Chief is an important part of being Presient. That’s why the SDMB generally supported Dole over Clinton, and McCain over Obama, as well as the support they give to Ron Paul and Rick Perry. 🙂 Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/199 "2015-03-02T18:58:36Z")
It also explains the great respect showed by republicans for John Kerry’s military service, and the complete rejection of noted draft-dodgers George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154/200 "2015-03-02T19:15:25Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > It also explains the great respect showed by republicans for John Kerry’s military service, and the complete rejection of noted draft-dodgers George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. No, you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tell-me-about-ben-carson/706154.md?page=11)