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Thread: 'Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?'

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    Default 'Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?'

    This is fascinating. Examples are mainstream today. Media and social media not only show the incompetence, but they both show the reasons. The contorted apologetics, the excuses for incompetent acts abound. Tribalism has a part here too.





    “It’s a law of the universe that 87 percent of all people in all professions are incompetent.” John Gardner
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    Years ago I read Francois Lyotard’s 'The Postmodern Condition' I have to check if I still have it. While a bit off topic it covers the society we now live in. The article below is excellent. We all appear today to live in bubbles but bubbles can be both helpful and blinding.

    "Citizens were shape-shifting into consumers and actively participating in their own marginalization. "

    'Postmodernism predicted our post-truth hellscape. Everyone still hates it.'

    https://www.vox.com/features/2019/11...rd-baudrillard


    "The ruling class is and will continue to be the class of decision makers." Jean-Francois Lyotard
    Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.

    "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." Voltaire

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    Hello Midcan5,

    Excellent.

    And over the head of Trump fans.
    Personal Ignore Policy PIP: I like civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Mouth off to me, or express overt racism, you will be PERMANENTLY Ignore Listed. Zero tolerance. No exceptions. I'll never read a word you write, even if quoted by another, nor respond to you, nor participate in your threads. ... Ignore the shallow. Cherish the thoughtful. Long Live Civil Discourse, Mutual Respect, and Good Debate! ps: Feel free to adopt my PIP. It works well.

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    midcan5 (12-19-2019)

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    "'Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?' "

    Ask President Trump.

    He's got a lot of insight into this.
    Personal Ignore Policy PIP: I like civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Mouth off to me, or express overt racism, you will be PERMANENTLY Ignore Listed. Zero tolerance. No exceptions. I'll never read a word you write, even if quoted by another, nor respond to you, nor participate in your threads. ... Ignore the shallow. Cherish the thoughtful. Long Live Civil Discourse, Mutual Respect, and Good Debate! ps: Feel free to adopt my PIP. It works well.

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    midcan5 (12-31-2019)

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    You think he knows? 'Donald Trump May Sound Like ...'

    https://thinkprogress.org/donald-tru...-ac40fd1cda79/


    "These are just words. A bunch of words. It doesn't mean anything." Donald John Trump
    Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.

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    Smart people are full of doubts, stupid people aren't.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PoliTalker View Post
    Hello Midcan5,

    Excellent.

    And over the head of Trump fans.
    It is so laughable that you hold yourself out as holier than thou crusader of online decorum who doesn't insult, yet you level these types of attacks. I suspect that the irony will be lost on you

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bull Durham View Post
    For the sake of this discussion, are we going to regard women such as Elizabeth Holmes to be outliers?
    There is difference between incompetence and dishonesty. Of course Trump exceeds simple incompetence as he is too unread and uneducated to be judged as only incompetent. His business failures demonstrate the incompetence fact but his conversation and reasoning enter a world in which only the easy led and equally unread can enter. Groupthink is a powerful tool in the hands of a man who says anything and whose adherents believe and follow sans thought.
    Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.

    "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." Voltaire

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    Quote Originally Posted by midcan5 View Post
    There is difference between incompetence and dishonesty. Of course Trump exceeds simple incompetence as he is too unread and uneducated to be judged as only incompetent. His business failures demonstrate the incompetence fact but his conversation and reasoning enter a world in which only the easy led and equally unread can enter. Groupthink is a powerful tool in the hands of a man who says anything and whose adherents believe and follow sans thought.
    She used dishonesty as a cover to buy her more time to experiment. She thought she would ultimately succeed, in the mold of past inventors, who lied to investors while they were still working on their experiments.

    I agree that Douchebag Donald was an incompetent business man. His presidency has been the opposite of incompetence (economy, trade deals, war on terrorism, liberal judicial appointments (as opposed to your preferred illiberal variety), arming Russia's neighbours, etc.).
    Last edited by Minister of Truth; 12-31-2019 at 06:38 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bull Durham View Post
    She used dishonesty as a cover to buy her more time to experiment. She thought she would ultimately succeed, in the mold of past inventors, who lied to investors while they were still working on their experiments.

    I agree that Douchebag Donald was an incompetent business man. His presidency has been the opposite of incompetence (economy, trade deals, war on terrorism, liberal judicial appointments (as opposed to your preferred illiberal variety), arming Russia's neighbours, etc.).
    Threedee, what is the appeal of Bull Durham? And 'in the mold of past inventors' Huh, who, you know what they say about assumptions by now. I give Pres Trump no credit for the current economy as he inherited it from Pres Obama. His tax policies and deficits will eventually crash as most republican policies have - that is an econ history lesson. You do remember 'it's the economy stupid' and the crash that Pres Obama corrected, or the Saving and Loan debacle. We could add the great depression to the great recession. But history is forgotten today.

    I'm not sure what your parenthetical items mean? I'd hardly declare his scotus choices liberal? Check out their decisions so far, pro money, pro business. But you are a member of a tribe and I understand that there is comfort for some on the reservation.

    Re: SCOTUS for the reader

    "Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. Since its inception, the justices of the Supreme Court have shaped a nation where children toiled in coal mines, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where a woman could be sterilized against her will by state law. "

    'Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted' Ian Millhiser

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22715946-injustices
    Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.

    "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." Voltaire

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    Quote Originally Posted by midcan5 View Post
    Threedee, what is the appeal of Bull Durham? And 'in the mold of past inventors' Huh, who, you know what they say about assumptions by now. I give Pres Trump no credit for the current economy as he inherited it from Pres Obama. His tax policies and deficits will eventually crash as most republican policies have - that is an econ history lesson. You do remember 'it's the economy stupid' and the crash that Pres Obama corrected, or the Saving and Loan debacle. We could add the great depression to the great recession. But history is forgotten today.

    I'm not sure what your parenthetical items mean? I'd hardly declare his scotus choices liberal? Check out their decisions so far, pro money, pro business. But you are a member of a tribe and I understand that there is comfort for some on the reservation.

    Re: SCOTUS for the reader

    "Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. Since its inception, the justices of the Supreme Court have shaped a nation where children toiled in coal mines, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where a woman could be sterilized against her will by state law. "

    'Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted' Ian Millhiser

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22715946-injustices
    Bull Durham is a play on words. That's not Kevin Costner in my avatar.

    Democrats do far worse than try to implement market liberalism (which you seem to dislike). They give us civil wars and Vietnam. They wreck our courts with illiberal appointments. Right now they seem determined to make every metropolitan area unlivable.

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    The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their "level of incompetence"
    "Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Joseph Stalin
    The USA has lost WWIV to China with no other weapons but China Virus and some cash to buy democrats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bull Durham View Post
    Bull Durham is a play on words. That's not Kevin Costner in my avatar.

    Democrats do far worse than try to implement market liberalism (which you seem to dislike). They give us civil wars and Vietnam. They wreck our courts with illiberal appointments. Right now they seem determined to make every metropolitan area unlivable.
    Threedee, ah, come on surely you realize Vietnam was more complicated than your pointing fingers. History can be your friend. Check out the 'domino theory' as a start. Didn't know you were into romantic comedies and name changing may appeal to some or be useful as a movie topic but....

    And a little history to help you along. And I am a fan of Ike.

    https://www.history.com/this-day-in-...-south-vietnam


    PS and do we connect the dots after Trump's killing of an Iranian bad guy with the shooting down of a the airline? Incompetence?
    Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.

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    Quote Originally Posted by midcan5 View Post
    Threedee, ah, come on surely you realize Vietnam was more complicated than your pointing fingers. History can be your friend. Check out the 'domino theory' as a start. Didn't know you were into romantic comedies and name changing may appeal to some or be useful as a movie topic but....

    And a little history to help you along. And I am a fan of Ike.

    https://www.history.com/this-day-in-...-south-vietnam


    PS and do we connect the dots after Trump's killing of an Iranian bad guy with the shooting down of a the airline? Incompetence?
    As I said, the user name and the avatar are not a reference to the movie.

    Some people think that the containment plan itself was a misapplication of George Keenan's advice and famous policy memo. Either way, many of the numerous conflicts we entered into were incompetently managed, regardless of why we undertook them.

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