The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Marxist and is narrated by Brock Armstrong.

The definitive guide to conventional wisdom.

Every story needs a villain and every protagonist needs an antagonist. Here at Mark's

Daily Apple, my regular nemesis is none other than conventional wisdom. But first, let me qualify

that statement. Conventional wisdom isn't necessarily evil. Take the current medical position on smoking. It seems like common

sense to us now that inhaling superheated carcinogenic vapor on a regular basis leads to health issues,

but 50 years ago, doctors swore up and down that it wasn't harmful. They'd light up while

taking your temperature, and it was

common for pregnant women to enjoy a nice smoke. That was the conventional wisdom regarding

smoking for years, though I wonder what kind of moneyed interests were behind that one. Eventually,

the lung cancer smoking link became undeniable, and scientists now unanimously agree that smoking is bad for your health.

It took them a while, but they did get it right, and conventional wisdom shifted to acknowledge this new reality.

That's rare, however.

In most cases, conventional wisdom is a lumbering beast, slow to move, but difficult to alter course once its big bullish head is set on moving in a certain direction.

It's the pig-headed, stubborn curmudgeon yelling at those darn kids to get off his lawn.

It's loud, pervasive, and impossible to ignore

and avoid. Oftentimes, entire careers are staked on maintaining its veracity. When that veracity is

challenged, either by critics or by experiment, the challenger is often silenced. No, I'm not talking about some conspiracy theory

wherein a rival scientist is snuffed out

by a cabal of evil scientists.

Rather, it's that a conforming chorus of assent

can be mobilized to drown out

...