Billy & Barbie discuss the worst part of #Trump in the #WhiteHouse

Click here to see the full-size comic strip!
This has always been my biggest problem with unintelligent people.  It's like that ridiculous "unknown unknowns" argument Donald Rumsfeld used back when the Iraq war first started to go south.  He said something like "we don't know what we don't know!" At LEAST this indicated that Rummy knew the limits of his...

...intelligence.

True idiots, don't know there are limits.

This is where we are with Trump.  He thinks (and reminds us of this regularly) that he is a smart guy.  The thing is, he isn't.  He is disconnected from reality thanks to his money.  This is what makes him a terrifying prospect for a leader.  He doesn't know what reality really is so how will he react to it when reality grabs HIM by the pussy?

It's like those Christians that say we don't need to do anything about Global Warming because God gave us this Earth to do with as we please.  Christians of that ilk are also disconnected from reality but in a different way.  However, those kinds of Christians, Donald Rumsfeld, Donald Trump and you and me, do have one thing in common and that is confirmation bias.

Put simply, confirmation bias is the completely built-in urge for people to seek out confirmation of their previously existing beliefs.  So, say you think Trump is an idiot.  You read something posted on Facebook and shared with you by a friend that talks about how Trump is a fool.  You immediately friend the person who originally posted it.  Or you read an article on CNN that points out all the failings of your most hated politician, so you keep coming back to CNN for your news.  Go read Wikipedia's page on confirmation bias for more of an explanation but hopefully you've got the idea.

We all have this compulsion to confirm our own beliefs.  What we need to do is foster a compulsion to find accurate facts.  When Christians are afraid of trans people using the "wrong" bathroom, this is them feeding their own confirmation bias.  They should be finding out facts by asking questions like "do trans people actually hurt anyone?' or "has a trans person ever been convicted of molesting or raping someone in a bathroom?"

Instead they read content that confirms their fears, not understanding how their own mind works.  Likewise: Trump.

We're in trouble as a country and as a planet, because this guy doesn't realize how stupid he is.  The good news is that most people can learn and grow and realize their own flaws.  Let's hope Trump can do this too.


No comments:

Post a Comment