This Is Not Normal
Donald Trump Is The Dunning — Kruger Effect Personified
He’s pretty much an imbecile in everything, only he doesn’t know he’s an imbecile.
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From time to time, each of us has the tendency to overestimate our competence, to think we’re better at something than we actually are. This manifests in everyday moments that can often be chalked up to pride. Like, when you struggle to assemble, say, an IKEA bunk bed, but also refuse to look at the instructions for assembly because you’re positive you don’t need them. Or when we can’t objectively discern at work — office politics aside — why someone else got the promotion we just knew we deserved.
When we aren’t overestimating ourselves and our abilities, most of us can also be prone to bouts of uncertainty. The majority of us have no shortage of self-doubt or regrets, and at times, it’s overwhelming how much we can be our own worst critics. The negative self-talk rears its ugly head when we least need it to. Yet somehow, this all balances out in the complex yin and yang of the human psyche.
But what happens when a person isn’t balanced in this way, when a person can’t (or won’t) admit they don’t have all the answers? When they don’t ever humble themselves, correct mistakes, apologize, or confess wrongdoings — even when everyone around them can see it? What happens when a person is both overconfident and incompetent at the same time? Moreover, what happens when that person is also driven by a toxic mix of rage and narcissism, has a fragile ego, and lacks empathy and remorse? This is a very dangerous combination of traits, and it typically yields our society a dangerous psychopath.
Prime examples of narcissistic, unremorseful psychopaths include notorious serial killers like Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader (the BTK murderer), and John Wayne Gacy. Other famous psychopaths include evildoers such as the orchestrators and perpetrators of the Holocaust, like Heinrich Himmler, Josef Mengele, and Adolf Hitler; various tyrants of the world, perpetrators of mass gun violence and school shootings, and miscellaneous…
