"I have a good mind."


When President Trump was still just a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination a reporter asked him how he would bring himself up to speed with the complex matters a President has to deal with. A Presidential candidate would ordinarily answer by saying he/she will bring in experienced people to give him/her advice and study matters thoroughly. Instead Trump brushed the question off by saying, "I have a good mind."

To me at the time, that singled he did NOT have a good mind. Someone with a good mind would not say that about himself. Instead, he would have someone else say it--paying the person if necessary. Trump has plenty of money to pay such a person.

Most everyone thinks they have a "good mind." And, most of us know other people think their minds are good--usually better than ours. That is why few of us would brag, "I have a good mind."

The are many tomes written comparing the words "mind" and "brain." I don't find this field very interesting so won't go into it.

Most atheists are proud they do not allow their minds to be persuaded there are invisible beings and places. They, instead, see humans as better off by dealing with reality.

Avoiding reality, however, is a skill that comes in handy sometimes. With the track season coming on us I'm reminded of how some athletes can push pain out of their minds and even increase their pain in order to run longer and faster. Believing invisible beings, like gods, are present and invisible places, like heaven, exist helps some people through life.

It cannot be good, however, for leaders of countries to believe something other than reality. When the President thought he understood world trade and raised tariffs it illustrated he does not see reality.

He does not have a good mind.

Comments

  1. Ardy BSeptember 3, 2019 at 5:23 PM

    Trump's thinking could be subject to the Dunning-Kruger effect: "In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of metacognition, people cannot objectively evaluate their competence or incompetence.", Kruger, Justin; Dunning, David (1999). "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 77 (6): 1121–1134.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenSeptember 3, 2019 at 5:41 PM

    Ardy B Decades ago there was a phrase, "Delusions of Grandeur." I remember reading it was easy to diagnose but difficult to cure because "want is wrong with these people who cannot see how great I am."

    ReplyDelete

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