You seem to be congratulating yourself on having the clear sightedness to see that people who disagree with you are stupid.
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I do use the word “idiot,” and by that I mean gullible and credulous and easily manipulated. So, if by “stupid,” you mean, “gullible and credulous,” then, yes, I do feel that I’m more clear-sighted (on this issue) than them. Not sure where you get “congratulating yourself” from, though.
And it’s not that they “disagree”with me that makes me think I’m more clear-sighted than them:
Say you’re walking down a street in New York with a friend. Your friend has never been out of Iowa before, and you’ve seen him be duped before. Your friend watches another guy win at three card monte, and your friend insists he can win money at three-card monte, and he gets out his money to bet. You are virtually certain that the guy who just won is a shill. You know that that’s how that works. You try to explain it to your friend. Your friend doesn’t believe you and insists that he can win. Is your friend gullible and credulous, or do you just disagree with him? Would you feel clear-sighted for seeing what was happening, and think that your friend was being less than clear-sighted?
While this situation isn’t quite as simple as that one, it’s really not much different. Trump has a very long history of behavior that indicates his lack of concern for anybody or anything but himself, he has a very long history that indicates his willingness to lie, cheat, and steal, he has a very long history that indicates that he has a thin-skinned, angry, unstable temperament… and the list goes on. To bet the future of this country on a “man” like that is foolish. Is that just my opinion? Yes. Same as your opinion that your friend shouldn’t play three card monte. Do I think I’m more clear-sighted (on this subject) than someone who can’t see what a loser trump is? Absolutely. Just like you (would/should) feel more clear-sighted than your friend when it comes to three card monte.
[quote=njtosd]
It reminds me of the title of my favorite book: “A Confederacy of Dunces”. The title is taken from the following quote by Jonathan Swift: “When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.” The humor is that the main character believes himself to be intellectually superior, which he is in many ways, but he has significant shortcomings.
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If I were the only person who felt this way, that might be a valid comparison. (But probably not, because there are many other differences between that character and someone who thinks almost everybody who voted for trump is a gullible dolt.) If I were the only person who felt this way, I’d take a harder look at it (than I already have, which is pretty hard). I’m far from the only person who feels this way. So that comparison doesn’t hold any water.
[quote=njtosd]
When are people going to get tired of feeling so self righteous? I think the ideal citizen of a politically corrupt state is someone who wants very much for others to think that s/he is good, but does not care whether it is true. Not to beat a dead horse, but the Germans are pretty bright, and you know what happened there. And I won’t start on the Cultural Revolution.
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I honestly don’t understand any of that paragraph or how you’re relating it to this discussion. I would like to respond, though, so if you could expound a bit, that would be great.
[quote=njtosd]
And here’s the other thing, and I’m not a Trump lover, but if intellectual good hearted people were guaranteed to make good presidents, Carter’s administration would not have been such a debacle – and if the opposite were true, the Reagan years would have been much worse.
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That’s like saying, “sometimes people who wear seatbelts are injured worse than they would’ve been if they weren’t wearing seatbelts. Therefore, wearing seatbelts isn’t a guarantee that you’ll have less injury than if you don’t wear a seatbelt. Therefore, I’m not going to wear a seatbelt.”
“There have been intellectual, good-hearted people who were bad presidents. So electing an intellectual, good-hearted person isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get a good president. So it’s ok to vote for a hateful, exceptionally selfish, simple-minded person.”
Is that what you’re saying?
Reagan, by the way, might not have been “intellectual.” But he generally thought before he spoke, and stuck to what he knew most of the time. Neither of those can be said for trump. Trump’s lack of intellectualness isn’t the biggest problem. In fact, that problem, isolated, is buried deep under other concerns I have about trump. But combined with his lack of impulse control and so many other problems, his lack of intellect is, to me, a big problem.
[quote=njtosd]
I do not believe that I can predict the future – those of you who believe that you can are either lucky or misguided.
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If someone said, “I can predict everything that’s going to happen in the future with 100% accuracy,” then clearly they’d be delusional.
If someone says, “I predict trump will be a horrible president,” that’s not saying, “I can predict the future, and what I predict will come true.” It’s just a prediction, and obviously there’s no certainty that it will happen. As I’ve said before, I desperately hope that my predictions about trump are wrong.
You make predictions about the future – and take action based on those predictions – a hundred times a day: “That guy has his left turn signal on. I predict he’s going to turn left, and I’m going to adjust my driving accordingly.” “It’s 5:30 and the garage door just opened. I predict my spouse will walk in in about 20 seconds, and I’m going to get up and go to the door for a hug.” “Two jehovah’s witnesses are walking up my driveway. I predict they’ll ring my bell and want to talk to me. I’m going to pretend I’m not home.” “My derelict sister asked me to lend her money. I’m not going to, because I predict she won’t pay me back, and I predict it won’t help her in the long run anyway.” “I’m going to buy stock in company x because I predict that will be more profitable than a CD.” “I’m going to vote for Smith for congress, because I predict she’ll be better for my district/the country than Jones.” Etcetera.
