Hey, guys. I have a bit of a personal observation.

I've spent some time on Twitter lately...

And if you have also, you might have noticed one thing: people are getting stupider.

If you check the comments of any major political figure or icon, it will be filled to the brim with some of the dumbest, embarrassing, eye-rolling comments... like, stuff so bad you couldn't make it up.

People on "both" sides of the political spectrum (I use quotes because I believe that political ideology is more closely analogized with a sphere than a wing) saying the dumbest, most cognitively biased garbage with the most terrible grammar and punctuation.

It's really quite shameful, and I've seen it happening for as long as I've had any interest in the public political zeitgeist.

The Dunning–Kruger effect

In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority derives from the metacognitive inability of low-ability persons to recognize their own ineptitude.

Without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence.

Wiki

The most common thing I see being thrown around in these useless political posts is the claim from one side that the other side is "ignorant". The ironic part about this is that both sides, more often than not, are ignorant and unqualified to speak.

So many of these people are not even aware of how much they actually don't know or understand, which is clearly demonstrated by their lack of humility and readiness to peg-down their perceived opponent, and this lack of awareness in the face of opposition strengthens their emotional conviction.

It happens to me personally all the time. I'll see someone who's ideological point I could probably agree with making massive grammatical mistakes (wrong "your"s, punctuation so bad that the point is unclear, etc.), and when I correct them I am automatically assumed to be a member of the opposition and subsequently mocked and dismissed (claims of "snowflake" and "grammar nazi" get thrown out liberally.) Or I will pursue a line of questioning to get to the root of someone's point, and my questions alone are enough for them to attack me personally ("I meant [this], obviously, idiot!).

:/

Galvanization

Galvanize was originally a scientific term that described the movement of inert muscular tissue when electrocuted by an external current. Specifically when Luigi Galvani discovered that sparking a frog's leg made it move.

Today, this term is applied to political movements by representing how people increasingly adopt a political position because of the pressures put on them by external forces (such as partisan media or perceived political opponents), intrenching them into an ideology without reflecting on it internally first.

One unfortunate byproduct of political galvanization is that neither side is able to evaluate themselves because they are constantly attacked by the other side.

Absence of self-reflection

I have made it a habit of reflecting on my own biases whenever I find them and have the time to do research.

For instance, if I see someone posting an opinion that gives me an instant emotional reaction, that's a red flag to check for biases. And I will typically follow up on this by doing research and personal reflection with an open mind.

This sort of practice helps me to be more assured that what I actually believe is well-thought-out and that it's based on some kind of evidence or logic.

I don't want to be emotionally led to any political position. That's how the powers-that-be control the rest of us, and I try to keep in mind that those that would seek to control my life to fulfill their own aims are my enemies, not the people they've brainwashed.

Partisanship

Partisanship is a human impulse and also the preferred tool of the controllers.

I have rejected partisan politics for decades. When I was younger (18-20) I was a Liberal because of my family, who were blue-blood Democrats. But after I moved out on my own for a few years, I began to become disgusted with what I saw Democrats doing. I was still disgusted by Republicans, but Democrats were also disgusting. So I quickly dropped partisan affiliations and started reading the older source material of political philosophy (the origins of property rights, Marx, Rand, the Bill of Rights, etc.) and more contemporary philosophers who were saying interesting things (John Zerzan, Ron Paul, etc.)

For a long time I had also given up on politics in general. It seemed that I was more of a Green Anarchist or Libertarian than anything else, and those philosophies are not the types of things that come about through voting.

Schadenfreude and Donald Trump

Schadenfreude is defined as:

pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.

It is a word that has become prominent over the past few years... surprisingly.

I had adopted a position of schadenfreude towards State Power with a simultaneous distain for the objects that were destroying the State.

Let me give an example. I thought that Obama was a terrible president. He added to the endless wars, was a complete puppet of Deep State, and increased the size and power of the government. These are all things that I hate... however, these are also attributes which will eventually collapse the State. So as Obama came to power and was re-elected, I despised it because it was so strongly opposed to my own views, but I also was happy to watch the foundation of the collapse of the State which had grown out of the control of the People.

So, schadenfreude.

Now, regarding Trump: when I saw him, I knew I wanted him as president. He was a figure that represented a slap in the face of political power and establishment control. He was a Loki-type force of nature: a creature of incredible power who's purpose was to make a joke out of those who wished to control the world.

How could I not be endeared by that?

So I voted for him. And I knew the polls were wrong and he would win. I didn't have a doubt, much to the surprise of my family, who all believed the polls and the media. So when he won, I laughed a hearty laugh until I cried, and then I laughed some more. I laughed for days. The week after Trump's election was the most amusing 7 days of my life. I could literally see the cognitive dissonance on the faces of everyone around me -- IT WAS HILARIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL!

The CHAOS of Trump is, to me, the essence of * schadenfreude*. I get to watch as everything and everyone I've hated about the Left AND the Right get exposed, embarrassed, made a fool of, cry, scream in frustration, impotently try to attack a TROLL KING as he laughs in their faces.

Trump is the opposite of political galvanization, because he is not a partisan figure. Trump is only tangentially a Republican or a Conservative -- he's more of a Business Democrat than a Republican. Or rather, he is anti-neocon-neoliberal. Neocons/Neoliberals want globalist bodies controlling the policies of all nations on the planet, so what does Trump do? He kills the TPP, rejects further globalist agendas, and positions to renegotiate existing globalist agreements. The neoliberals want illegal immigrants because they love voter fraud, and neocons want illegals because they love slave-labor, so what does Trump do? "The WALL just got 10 feet taller!" I don't even care about what the policies are so long as the people I know to be liars and destroyers and snakes in the political system oppose them.

What do you think?

Have you noticed how people have gotten dumber politically? It almost seems like it's no longer ok to just not have an opinion about something.

Tell me your thoughts below! :D

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