Stupidity (apparently) is a virtue in the United States

© 2017 Peter Free

 

03 November 2017

 

 

Premise

 

Stupidity is an evil. Intelligence's virtue depends upon how it is used.

 

Consequently, one would hypothesize that starting from the basis of "smarts" would be desirable. At least that way, virtue might emerge.

 

 

An experiment going on in the United States today — assumes that stupidity is a fungible good

 

Cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian has written that:

 

 

A new study published in the journal Translational Issues in Psychological Science has shown that Donald Trump stands out amongst other politicians, including fellow presidential candidates and past presidents, as being exceptionally low in analytic thinking.

 

By using intelligent text analysis software to interpret language data from speeches, debates, and written documents, the researchers were able to determine the point where Trump falls on an analytic-narrative continuum.

 

Trump’s average analytic score was more than 3 standard deviations [see definition here] below that of the average Democrat or Republican from the last five election cycles, making him a clear outlier.

 

[H]e does fit an overall general trend of presidents becoming progressively less analytical, at least in terms of how they speak, since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Interestingly, most presidents in the 18th and 19th century consistently scored high on analytic thinking.

 

Perhaps presidents are just becoming better at simplifying complex information into direct, simple language. But the case of President Trump seems to tell a different story. It appears to indicate a thriving movement composed of individuals who are anti-intellectual and anti-science, and who want a president who is the same.

 

Essentially, among Trump supporters, it’s just not cool to be smart.

 

© 2017 Bobby Azarian, Psychology Study Finds Trump Stands out as a 'Low Analytic' Thinker, AlterNet (01 November 2017) (excerpts)

 

 

Exactly.

 

Anyone who has read past presidents' talks recognizes their superior intellectual capacity versus that of the prosimian currently occupying the White House.

 

 

The moral? — Regarding this experiment in societal direction, we will see

 

As I've said before, President Trump is merely a manifestation of the ugliness that underlies a good deal of American culture. In the past, we had the self-preservative sense to mask that slimy murderousness with velvet gloved hypocrisy — as (for example) President Obama so skillfully did.

 

The two key questions (now) are not whether gobs of baseness are there, but whether this American era's idolization of stupidity will:

 

 

motivate grossly self-destructive failures — like (a) starting wars with North Korea, China and the Russian Federation and (b) reversing all communitarian effort in the United States —

 

or

 

fully bury the largely myth-based, but historically abiding hope that American "smarts" will someday roam free to do abundant actual good in the world.

 

 

With President Trump powerfully flaunting brain's absence, we evolutionarily regress, to use an unscientific metaphor that fits well enough to make its reversed direction point.