Malcolm Gladwell, the esteemed American-Canadian author, made his first premier on Ted.Com recently, with the intent of providing the comeuppance that all biblical historians deserve. With a talk that was equally informative and pedantic, the pompous New York Times staff writer took his thoughts to one of the most prevalently cited story that manifests the “inequality” that exists between any underdog and the prime competitor. However, this time, the story wouldn’t be conveyed that way; rather, Malcolm Gladwell has officially redone the story of David and Goliath and is ready to show off.
The story of David and Goliath- or at least the way that the general public ascertains the tale- is as follows: the story of David and Goliath is one to prove that David should become the next king of Israel. Goliath is an enormous character, practically a monstrosity that suffers from acromegaly, a syndrome that leads a body to produce excess growth hormones. He is chosen to battle the representative from the Israelites, since the icon of paganism and the much smaller boy demonstrate the policy of Ancient Warfare: where one man fights another in two-person-combat as a vehicle to evade the insidious bloodshed that can easily be incurred by full-fledged warfare.
Despite this well-acknowledged standing of the story, Malcolm Gladwell attempts to reform the way that people construe this allegory. Malcolm Gladwell starts with the pellucid statement that the people of the Israelites were wise in choosing David since he has a previous history of nailing people in the head with the great accuracy in the way that he does so when the time comes. Additionally, Mr. Gladwell points out the giant was also physically disadvantaged; thus, when he calls David to come forward to fight (while he is preparing to unload the element of his weapon) he is really trying to see David- not just taunt him. Another testament to the fact that the giant suffered from the byproduct of the syndrome that gives you poor-eyesight is that he must be guided to the place where he is destined to fight by another man.
So while it may be a gaudy display of knowledge that accomplishes very little in the grand scheme of things (when our bigger problems may be the impasse of our country’s government), Malcolm Gladwell does solidify how to rectify the mistakes in some of the misconceptions involved in the story. And so while the majority of the population may not be cognizant of all of the details that are beginning to permeate throughout other sources now like the Huffington Post, Mr. Gladwell may be able to sleep at night since another soul has listened.
