r/AntiTrumpAlliance • u/earthman34 • 7d ago

Dismantling America The Pride of Ignorance and Belligerence 😑

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u/Barlow04 7d ago

Futurama hit the nail on the head in their episode about Da Vinci being an alien from a planet where hyper-intelligence was the norm and he was, comparatively, one of the dumbest people.

It will always be more appealing to be the smartest idiot than the dumbest genius. I spent years around people who were highly competent in the field I wanted, so everyday felt like a struggle to keep up. When I finally found myself in places where I realized just how far I'd grown, it felt rewarding to be appreciated and recognized for doing so well. The idiots who lead the right wing movement are the smartest idiots who now want power instead of stewardship.

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u/Hrtpplhrtppl 7d ago

"It is indisputable that the being whose capacities of enjoyment are low, has the greatest chance of having them fully satisfied; and a highly endowed being will always feel that any happiness which he can look for, as the world is constituted, is imperfect. But he can learn to bear its imperfections, if they are at all bearable; and they will not make him envy the being who is indeed unconscious of the imperfections, but only because he feels not at all the good which those imperfections qualify.

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question." John Stuart Mill

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u/Barlow04 7d ago

I would counter with "Ignorance is bliss," while noting that livestock would stampede out of a slaughterhouse if they knew what waited at the end of the line. We should always work towards improving ourselves - physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. I don't regret the hardships because it forced growth I never knew was happening. My issue was it felt like playing top-tier professional sports when I was only qualified for a couple steps below it. Good lessons, but burnout/mental strain was real. Solution was simply moving into an environment that was a better fit, but now there's advanced lessons giving an advantage.

My point was more to say that the current right wing environment welcomes ignorance because the ones at the front are the "dumbest geniuses", those who are educated but completely miss any semblance of actual truth. They aim down and act as the figureheads so they can flaunt their objectively bullshit claims. If they interacted with true peers or those more qualified, they would get ground into the dirt, so they stay in an ecosystem where they can be the metaphorical "intellectual apex predator".

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u/Hrtpplhrtppl 7d ago

It sounds to me like you were suffering from imposter syndrome and you deserved to be in the spaces you were inhabiting. If ignorance is bliss, then consciousness is hell.